Big Life Kolkata visit 2025

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...