Only seven countries have more people than Bangladesh, a country with a population of 171 million. And it is for this multitude of people that Harun Simsang’s heart burns. He is passionate about being a pastor, says Simsang: “I love it, sometimes I’m like Peter.”

Simsang said: “I wanted to be a police officer. But God’s plan was different. He called me into Christian ministry. Now I see that God has chosen me to evangelize and build leadership.”

GO Movement Needs Leaders to Continue

Pastor Harum Simsang asks the groundbreaking question: “If we don’t build leaders for the next generation, what will happen? That’s why I’m always focused on building more leaders. Because what happens if we build the GO Movement and we don’t have more leaders?”

It is important to reach Bangladesh. Pastor Simsang estimates: “Most of the inhabitants of the country are Muslims. Christians make up less than one percent of the population.”

Nevertheless, there is a certain freedom in the country: “We can celebrate Easter and build churches.”

All good things come in 64

In total, there are 64 districts in Bangladesh. “We want to reach all of them,” says Simsang, looking ahead. I haven’t been to every district myself, but I have connections to every one of them, through pastor friends and church planters. It’s easy for me to work with them, I have good access to them. Now we are working on a timetable to gather pastors and church planters for the GO Movement.”

An encouragement for the local pastors is to see how the GO Movement is growing worldwide.

Public appearances possible

Although Bangladesh is a Muslim country, there are no restrictions, according to Pastor Simsang. “But there are radical groups that want to slow us down. These fundamentalists cause problems – but not always.”

There are opportunities to spread the gospel publicly, “we can, for example, appear in marketplaces.”

Bangladesh is big, “I can’t go everywhere. But in turn, I can reach others. Now we are trying to mobilize the districts. As Christians, we are free to share the gospel.” Simsang has one request: “Pray for us. As a minority, we are discriminated against.”