Terasa* was married when she was about 20 years old, but isn’t certain of her age then (or now). What she does remember is that on December 7, 2007, her husband died suddenly and her whole life changed.

Terasa has a Master in Philosophy from Rajshahi University in Northern Bangladesh. Well-educated, this mother of two boys was able to find a job with a non-governmental association. For a time. But the agency ran out of funds. Not only does she no longer have a job, but she has no home, either.

One of her young sons is in the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) child sponsorship program in Bangladesh. Terasa, who is a Christian, has a dream to move her family beyond survival to making their lives better.

A local Nazarene church in Korea shares Terasa’s dream.

In 2009, KNU International English Church, at Korea Nazarene University in Cheonan, South Korea, initiated a partnership with the Church of the Nazarene in Bangladesh to help develop a safe haven for widows and orphans like Terasa and her children.

Working closely with Dr. Hermann Gschwandtner, the strategy coordinator for the South Asia Field, and Nathan*, Bangladesh National Director, the congregation is supporting Bangladesh Nazarene Mission’s plans for a self-sustaining village of 30 homes, each home with two widows and 10-14 children gathered into a new family.

The congregation is among a number of other individuals and local churches around the world that have partnered with Bangladesh Nazarene Mission in making this vision a reality.

The idea of matching orphans with widows is inspired by experts in child development, who recommend integrating orphans into a family structure whenever possible, said Josh Broward, pastor at KNU International English Church.

The village would be connected with a child development center (CDC) that doubles as a church on Sundays. Planners also envision a Nazarene elementary school, a medical clinic and a vocational training center. The new families would harvest crops in the surrounding lush fields.

Many of the widows expected to live in the village are not Christian. According to NCM plans, Kishur*, a Nazarene pastor, and Bijoli*, a former principle of a Nazarene school, have already moved their families to the village to provide emotional, psychological and spiritual support to the women and their families, while participating in the day-to-day work of the village.

If this village is successful, it could provide a model for similar projects elsewhere in Bangladesh and even in other nations.

The project is considered a partnership, a recent paradigm in missions that allows a local church in one country to engage in a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with a church or other group of people in another country. Many Nazarene churches are engaging in such partnerships.

In a partnership, the entities aim for achieving specified Kingdom goals through shared responsibility and cooperation. The Church of the Nazarene is actively developing this mission strategy, encouraging local churches to engage in this more long-term, relational form of missions, and helping to match interested churches with each other.

The KNU International English Church chose the widow and orphan village from a variety of possible long-term projects. They were persuaded to work in on Bangladesh for several reasons: 

• 83% of people in Bangladesh lives on less than $2 a day.
• Only 0.5% of Bangladesh is Christian.
• The Church of the Nazarene in Bangladesh is growing quickly and is extremely well organized.

The church is sending special offerings, mission teams and designating 5 percent of its general income to the project.

Nathan and Hermann traveled to Cheonan to speak at a leadership conference at Korea Nazarene University. The encounter helped the congregation take the “role of learners and recipients, making the partnership more reciprocal,” Broward said.

“Bangladesh Nazarenes, and particularly the widows and orphans in this village, are increasingly woven into the fabric of our church. We are joyfully exploring how to grow closer and how to open our people for deeper transformation through this amazing adventure in missions. We are changing the world starting with local action in a small village in Bangladesh.”

*Last names withheld for security reasons.