Shompa Roy is seeing change in Bangladesh thanks to you

Ever since she heard the gospel at a young age, Shompa Roy has been telling people about Jesus. She faces ongoing persecution, but thanks to your prayers and gifts, she and her family can have the resources and the strength to keep going.

Nothing can stop Shompa Roy from sharing her faith. Despite social isolation, discrimination and physical persecution, she continues to tell people about Jesus – and your ongoing prayers and support enable her to build up other women in their faith too.  

Shompa’s faith is ignited 

Shompa was raised as a Hindu, and married by the time she was 13 – which is not uncommon for girls in her community. By the time she was 16, Shompa was a mother.  

She was never very interested in the Hindu religion, preferring to play and eat and study to partaking in religious festivals and rituals. But one day, while she was running some errands, she overheard a Christian evangelist sharing the gospel. It took meeting him a few times to spark her curiosity, but she was eventually taken by his message. “The evangelist shared the gospel with me and told me that Jesus loves me, and He died for my salvation.” 

They began to meet regularly for discussions about Jesus. “I enjoyed listening to the Word of God and the story of Jesus Christ,” she remembers. “I realised that Jesus was occupying my heart.”  

Shompa then told her husband, and he too believed. Together, they began to share the gospel – with Shompa taking the lead – and within a year they had baptised 70 people from four different villages!  

The persecution begins  

But these amazing testimonies came with persecution. Their neighbours effectively threw Shompa and her family out of the village by blocking the only path to her home. When they passed her in the road, they would insult and mock her.  

One day, some Hindu women invited her to a neighbour’s house. When she arrived, they tied her up and tried to shave her hair, which is a shameful act in Hinduism. “By doing this they wanted me to renounce my faith,” Shompa says. “I was screaming and asking someone to rescue me. There were many Hindu men outside the house; they did not help me.”  

This attack shows how Shompa’s vulnerability as a woman was compounded by her conversion to Christianity – and how a whole culture can embrace and put into practice the demeaning of Christian women. 

Fortunately, another man was passing by and intervened. Shompa was rescued – but her troubles did not stop there. She bought some land and built a church. When the local community tried to evict them, the man who sold her the land beat her and her daughter. Since then, her husband’s taxi business has suffered, and their animals have been poisoned. Her children face discrimination at school too. 

The evangelism continues  

Thanks to your prayers and gifts, Open Doors partners have stood with them with persecution survival training and prayer support. “I have forgiven the enemies who harmed and persecuted us,” Shompa says. “When I fall in trouble and feel sad, I pray and sing worship songs: ‘Lord, light Your light in me, fulfil Your will in me.’”   

The training she has received has given Shompa the teaching and boldness to confront her community’s understanding that women are worth less than men. On one occasion, some elderly Hindu men were being derogatory towards the women in their community, saying they have no value in themselves or freedom. It’s these perceptions of women that Open Doors’ See.Change. campaign seeks to change. Shompa was able to challenge their remarks because of what she had learned through Open Doors’ training.  

“I challenged them, and I asked them where it is written that women are slaves, that they are not free, that they are completely dependent on their husbands?” she says. 

She also told them: “We Christians do not differentiate men and women based on gender the way other religious people do. We are equally treated and equally given priority to the Lord. We do not discriminate, and judge based on sex. We are created with equal rights and equal respect, so we are equally respected in the eyes of the Lord.” 

Shompa has helped lead more than 140 people to Christ, and is seeing more Christian women step up in their local church too. “Women in my church are growing spiritually. They are getting more active in the church. I want the women to be effective in leading the church.   

“You have prayed and supported my family and church,” she adds. “We are very thankful for your support.”