Building a bridge to Hindus and Muslims By Adam Miller In his native language Paul Biswas’s last name means "faith." But this wasn’t always the case. Paul’s father became furious with his son when—after becoming a Christian—Paul decided to change his last name from "Vishnu" (one of the major Hindu gods) to "Biswas." That was 1973. Among Hindus, being the oldest son brings extra respect and responsibilities. While still in elementary school, Paul learned the religion at his grandfather’s knee. Rejecting Hinduism as the oldest son brings absolute family rejection, legal disownment and persecution. At 21 Paul could no longer believe in a religion based on reincarnation, 300 million gods and goddesses—three major ones—predestination and "Karma." "From the Bible I came to know that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone," Paul says. "It is by faith only. I don’t need to do Karma. I don’t need to show my good works and prove them." Disowned by his father and kicked out of the house, Paul endured years of persecution, humiliation, hardship and even physical torture because of his Christian faith. "Before I left my father’s home, I told my father he could disown me, but that my Eternal Father would not disown me." Paul and his father have since reconciled, but even today his parents won’t hug him because he’s considered an outcast. Today Paul ministers to other Hindus and Muslims as a church planting missionary and founding pastor of the Boston Bangla Church in Boston, Massachusetts. About 1 million Bengalis live in the United States but only four SBC-Bengali churches nationwide serve them. Some 20,000 Bengalis live in New England, reached by only one Bengali Baptist church. About 7,000 Bengalis live in Greater Boston—4,000 in the Cambridge area. "The biggest challenge for my ministry here is to mobilize the local churches," says Paul. "We have more than 150 people groups here in the Boston area and the American churches are getting a new experience. They don’t know how to reach out to the vast number of Muslims and Hindus." Paul doesn’t find it difficult to reach Muslims in the U.S. "It’s much harder back in Bangladesh, a country of 150 million people. But here, Muslims hear the gospel and are responsive. It depends on your approach. It’s important to speak to them in their own heart-language and to know and understand their culture." Language is not a problem for Paul. He understands Hindi and Urdu, and speaks Bengali and English fluently. "Muslims have a high regard and respect for Jesus. They consider him as one of four Major Prophets. The Qur’an has 22 different titles for Jesus—‘Messiah,’ ‘Spirit of God,’ ‘Word of God,’ etc. Muslims cannot deny what’s in their own book." Paul uses the Qur’an as a bridge to reach Muslims. A key problem with witnessing to Bengalis in Boston is merely finding a time to coincide with their busy schedules. "It’s hard to reach the Bengali immigrants because they work so hard—seven days a week. We have one group that meets at midnight because that’s when the people come home from work. At midnight or 1 a.m. they have their Bible study meeting, eat together, go home by 3 a.m., sleep a few hours and then get up and go to work again," he explains. Paul is partnering with three local churches, but needs the prayer and financial support of four more churches in 2009. Paul’s two biggest partners in sharing the gospel are his wife, Elizabeth, and Abu Mansur, a converted Muslim he first knew back in Bangladesh. "Mansur is a wonderful guy with a great passion to reach out to his own people because he himself came from a Muslim background," says Paul. "We have a good combination. I can reach the Hindus and Mansur can reach the Muslims." A Mission Service Corps (MSC) missionary, Paul is jointly supported by the North American Mission Board, the New England Baptist Convention and the Greater Boston Baptist Association. As a NAMB MSC missionary, Paul must raise most of his financial support through local churches. But his ministry to Bengalis is supported by AAEO. "We started our ministry in 2003 without the help of NAMB or the Annie Armstrong offering," recalls Paul. "Today, Southern Baptists’ support is a real blessing for us." OMAdam Miller is associate editor of On Mission magazine.
Paul Biswas– North American Missions Emphasis Worship segment Download