Big Life Kolkata visit 2025

  Off we set at 1pm “Indian” time i.e. more like 1.45pm to a relatively “new” village for the local team, much nearer to where we have been staying. The medical table was set up with a short introduction from a supported worker who radiates his faith (and whom has been beaten for it to a hair’s breadth of his life).   Things happen as the Holy Spirit leads – the Bible story of the lost sheep again attracted the children as well as being surreptitiously listened to by those queuing for the meds- followed by the stories of the lost coin and the Prodigal son.   These were interspersed with personal stories of coming to faith as well as action songs and   fun games.   One child made a commitment to follow Jesus – praise God! A few of the team went to two houses sharing faith and one experienced the privilege of leading a prayer of personal commitment.   This new believer will be discipled by the local team. We also had an encounter with a woman at the well (Joh...

  Today we headed South and worshipped with a group of people from three village fellowships, there were around 100 people! We are now used to singing, reading the bible and praying in Bengali! Luckily we have translators!  It was good to be able to share in these times with our reflections on the Bible passage, using a Discovery Bible Study approach.  Hearing the range of different perspectives as we read the passage was so enriching. After the worship we split into three groups and visited houses. We were asked to pray for their families, their houses and some difficult situations.   Some people’s needs are very basic and they just ask for work to bring money in to buy food for their families. This time away has made us realise how much we take for granted.   But being able to pray for people is so humbling and the way we have been welcomed is amazing.   There is true faith that Jesus will heal people and mend situations through us. We started the day wit...

We started the day reading the Bible together, with the birds and the Kolkata traffic singing away. Creation making a joyful noise to the Lord! We headed up to the north near the airport having amazing conversations in the car. Brother Benjamin was sharing about the closeness and faithfulness of his team - want to go fast go alone; want to go far, go together. But how do you find, sustain and keep a team over 10 years? He shared passionately about modelling his team around Jesus' and his lifestyle. Jesus prioritised being relational, always seeking to honour the person in front of them; Jesus was intentional, he had purpose and intent everywhere he went; and lastly Jesus was missional, his team had an aim and together they brought God's kingdom. We want to build teams like this! We paused at the side of the road waiting for our local motorbike guide to find us and help us locate the village. It looked like a jungle when we got out but quickly we were led to a home and welcomed ...

  Today we split as a team and went to two of the Biglife celebrations.   These are times when people from groups across the city gather together to celebrate Jesus.   As with the groups these celebrations take a three thirds format.   We look backwards with worship and sharing of stories of how the Lord has been at work in the past week.   Then we look up and a brother or sister shares a message from the word before people break into groups to consider the passage more using the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) questions.   Finally we look forwards and consider our response to what the Lord has said to us, and close in worship and prayer. We were struck by the tangible sense of the presence of God, and the heartfelt worship.   The worship cut across the language barriers with songs in Hindi, Amharic and English, with a real sense of the presence of God.   One of the songs has the words of God manifesting himself, and it felt so true for us this mornin...

Our day kicked off with the team’s three thirds bible study. We aim to meet for half an hour -we started at 9am and finished at 10:40am -God blessing us with things to share! Peter, Ashenafi and Ben went for a boys day out - discussing Biglife principles and enjoying authentic Italian cuisine -yes you did read that right -Italian. But fear not we have been delighting our taste buds with wonderful culinary Indian delights! At 11am the ladies on the team headed up to the conference room and were greeted by sisters from within the Biglife family. The ice (no chance of this over here -lol -not when temperature is tickling 20 degrees each day -sorry folks!) So, the ice was broken with some fabulous games which got us all giggling, grabbing and having a massive amount of fun. We worshiped God in Bengali, Hindi, and English. We were honoured with an amazing welcome dance from a young lady -which was so special and made us feel really privileged to be joining these women today. The team ...

  Over recent years I have had the privilege of taking teams from the UK for an immersive experience in the Biglife movement in India, where over the past 21 years we have seen the Lord work in amazing ways.   One of the key lessons for me has been to see people coming to faith and straight away being equipped to share their story of faith.   I am reminded of the Woman at the Well (John 4) who simply returned to her village and said “Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did” , or the blind man who said “I once was blind, but now I see” (John 9).    In India we are hearing stories of new believers immediately sharing their story and then seeing their family, friends and neighbours come to know Jesus.   Both teams have had some simple training in sharing their stories of faith, and it is a joy to see them doing this.   Stories are a powerful way of sharing the Good News.

This morning, after a time in prayer, team 2 was ready to embrace the unknown of what today’s visit to the North 24 village held. A carriage awaited us on the river! We boarded the boat. This was a journey of stepping out in faith as we held on to a bamboo stick held by 2 of Gillian’s team.  In the village we visited people seeking a true God. They shared their stories of how they worshipped different idols ; but all that changed when they met Jesus . He met each one of them in powerful and wonderful ways, healing them and giving them peace. The women were fascinated by our differences and came to realise our difference and uniqueness is what makes each one of us, God’s masterpiece. We played games with children. They enjoyed it and for the winners, they received prizes. We prayed with people and handed out New Testaments as well as tracts .  At the end of our first day on the field we were shattered but moved by what we’ve seen and heard God doing in the lives of these people...

After a time of prayer, we headed out to visit a final village and engage in our last three thirds fellowship of this trip.  We were humbled by one of the ladies who had travelled 3.5 hours for the fellowship in the knowledge that we would be there.  When a previous team came to Kolkata last year, she shared her story of violent persecution by her husband who then came to faith and is now a supporter of her ministry, cycling her around village to village.  We were inspired by how her faith and ministry has grown and developed even from then, where she continues to risk persecution from her neighbours and crosses 2 rivers to care for the 50 fellowships that God has grown through their faith.  She asked us to now pray for her daughter who she hopes will join her in this ministry.  We in turn asked her to pray for our children.  Zoey had shared in previous fellowships about her coming to faith through Biglife.  We had been inspired by the woman in the vil...

As part of our adventures, everyday we've been doing a three thirds group. An element of this has included looking back at the previous day and writing the blog which has not only been a great tool for sharing our experiences with others but will be crucial to us remembering what God has done during this time.  In the looking up section we had a simple discovery Bible study, before looking forwards at what we could put into practice or share with others. We were late in realising that BMS Guesthouse has a 50 year old prayer room.  Visiting for the first time today, we met a man who told us they currently have 4 people volunteering from 9:30am until evening praying continually in that time for regions of India, and prayers for the world.  We were impressed by their diligence, excitement, emotional depth, joy and persistence of prayer. They will be particularly including Yorkshire in their prayers 7-8am GMT daily.  They pray here despite the persecution they receive in...

  This afternoon, after some sightseeing in Kolkata (including the Victoria memorial, the River Hoogley and the Second Hoogley Bridge), we went to visit street schools set up and run by Biglife. These schools were created for children living in deprived areas of Kolkata who otherwise would not be able to access education. This opportunity for education is important as it may be the only way for these children to get out of that lifestyle. The children and teachers warmly welcomed us with flowers and songs, both in their native language and ones they'd learned in English. This included a song called "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made" sung in both languages. We then sang "Our God is a Great Big God" for them and taught them the actions. Songs (especially with actions) are a great tool for breaking down language barriers. The children were keen to tell us about all the subjects they were learning: maths, Bengali, English and the Bible. They enjoyed telling us...

We were well prepared for the walk from the cars to the house where this evening's fellowship was held. We were warned that we were going into a poor community where there were people who may not receive our presence well. We were warned of danger and told to walk fast through narrow alleys and keep close to our team. We did not see visually any danger, but there were obvious moments were we knew we were being hurried not out of concern for timeliness but for our safety. We placed our trust in God and our team. This was a maze which we knew we would not easily find our way in without them. How often do we feel like life is a maze and need to rely on God and others to find our way? Matthew 7:13 and 14. Taking the narrow road is not meant to be easy and as we have seen here can be fraught with danger, the stories of persecution are a regular experience to our Brothers and Sisters of faith in India. Brutality towards, possessions, home and person; murder and rape are not unheard of in...

This morning was a new experience for me (Zoey). I was asked unexpectedly to speak at a devotional. The staff at the BMS Guesthouse, where we are staying, meet for a devotional each morning at 9am to worship, praise God, pray, read the Bible and gain some teaching about scripture. I was asked to speak on Matthew 21:1-11 which is about Jesus' last entry into Jerusalem, riding on a small donkey, where the crowd (who later shout "Crucify Him!") welcomed and adored Him. A couple of points that stood out to me from this passage, were that Jesus entered Jerusalem humbly on a donkey; He taught about being humble and then demonstrated His teachings through his own actions. He didn't want to be high and might above the people; Jesus wants to be with us, to journey with us, not above us but alongside us.

  What has really moved our heart this trip is the welcome we have received in all the villages and houses. Being welcomed with gifts of flowers, food, prayer and praise. In the first Village of the day we were greeted by the village children. One little boy was very excited to introduce Tom to friends, getting them to tell Tom their names and shake his hand. The boy was very keen to explain the game to Tom. Although tom couldn’t understand a word said. The boys enthusiasm and welcome was infectious. A prompt that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.    We had several opportunities to share about Jesus and found the person of peace (Luke 10) in unexpected ways. One such was a bathroom trip. On the way to the Village toilet that had been checked out in advance we were invited into another house to use their facilities. After checking with our team member we would be safe we accepted even though we did not know what might await us. In truth this was the most ba...

Colinga Baptist Church Established in 1821, Colinga Baptist Church, is the oldest Baptist Bengali church in Kolkata. At this first service of the day, it was good to fellowship with brothers and sisters in India. We were received with a warm reception to an involved service, where Psalm 27 was read by everyone at the same time, in their own language. Thoughts were then shared and commented on by Pastor Asis. We were humbled and touch by their efforts in English not only translation but also songs learnt in English, sung with such passion for Jesus.   Celebration service at BMS guesthouse We spent an extended time of sung worship in both English and Bengali. A reminder again that we are a global church a world-wide family and God transcends language. This was our first experience of seeing the Big Life Sunday celebration. This isn’t the same as the services we are familiar with. Their emphasis on spiritual nourishment comes from looking back, looking up and looking forward in ...

  Today, we spent time with three Big Life groups in the suburbs. With opportunities to share our faith stories and pray for people. One woman was wanting prayers for protection from her neighbours who wanted to kill her and her family for their faith. We have it so easy!!! The faithful people we met were so welcoming and were keen to speak with us practicing English when it was known to them. In two of the groups, the rooms were so full people were standing outside the doors. Each group has a leader and each leader is looked after by someone in a more experienced group. Several groups are then cared for by a group leader and then a regional leader. This provides a method of discipleship compassionate support and accountability. One group had many children so Peter told a funny story about a bridge over a river full of crocodiles which was about trust and then reflected that we can trust Jesus but we need to step forward in the trust for us to get where we need to go. This evening,...

Four of the team share their reflections: I discovered that the village that we visited yesterday did not have a name, as it was a relatively new settlement.  Names are a central part of our identity.  When someone asks who we are, we tend to give our name first.  So, not having a name implies a lack of identity.  In Isaiah 43 vs.1 we read that God has called us by name – he knows who we are, he sees our identity.  I was reminded of how God both sees me and also sees others individually and also those in the town with no name – they are not nameless to him, but loved by him. For me, India is a very new culture and context.   It was good to see the “entry strategy” for Biglife where they express God’s love in practical ways offering basic healthcare, and fun and games for people in the village.   In this and in walking around the village we prayed to meet people of peace (Luke 10) who welcomed us and were interested to hear our stories of faith and re...

Friday was our first full day in West Bengal, a state in the North-East of India with a population of over 100 million.  The day started with a "Three Thirds" team time where we looked back at first impressions, looked up by together considering Acts 1:1-11, and then looked forwards in terms of considering our practical response. Some of the first impressions were as follows:- 24/7 lived out faith, evident joy and celebration of believers, relationships before programmes and organisation, openness to have plans disrupted by the Lord, essential obedience and responding to the promptings of the Lord, and questions about the nature of church. More will be written by team members in the days ahead, but we wanted to put something out there.