Dinajpor, Bangladesh -- With outside temperatures climbing into the 30s C (90s F), more than 2,000 people gathered in an auditorium cooled only by fans to make history during the 17th Bangladesh District Assembly March 23-24.
Electricity flickered on and off as Nazarenes sat shoulder to shoulder on the floor, or crowded around doors and windows outside, to witness the largest ordination in the Church of the Nazarene's 100-year history.
One-hundred and ninety-three men and women of all ages, who had graduated from South Asia Nazarene Bible College the day before, lined up in groups of 10, waiting their turn to climb onto the platform. They knelt at an altar before four general superintendents and local elders to receive anointing as an elder in the church.
The ordination candidates included 30 women -- the largest group of women to be ordained in denominational history. This, in a culture where women are not traditionally allowed to hold positions of leadership. According to District Superintendent Sukamal Biswas, the denomination is the first in Bangladesh to ordain women.
Through the following photo essay, experience the celebration.
More than 1,200 delegates, plus the graduating class of South Asia
Nazarene Bible College and many interested pastors and lay people
gathered March 23-24 for the 17th District Assembly in Dinajpor, Bangladesh.
People traveled from across the country by bicycle, rickshaw and bus. Many
slept on floors or the ground during the two-day event.
The SANBC students lined up outside in two long rows, wearing white,
preparing to enter the auditorium for their graduation.
As the first musical notes were struck, the students marched inside, stopping
first to remove their shoes, as is customary in Bangladesh.
The graduation was a celebration of hard work and a growing church.
Numerous leaders from within and without the country assisted in graduating
the students, including Dr. James Diehl (left), an emeritus general
superintendent.
Bangladesh is just one of five countries in the South Asia Field that will
graduate a total of 258 students, who study at 85 education centers in 14
languages. The program involves 30 courses, which exceed the denomi-
nation's requirements for ordination. The students' tuition was sponsored
by the Canada Church of the Nazarene.
District Assembly and Ordination
The 17th Bangladesh District Assembly concluded with the ordination of 193
new elders. The unprecedented size of the ordination required two sitting
general superintendents, from left: Jesse Middendorf, Eugenio Duarte, and
two emeriti general superintendents, Nina Gunter and James Diehl.
More than 2,000 people packed into the auditorium, where 1,200 delegates
voted to create two more self-supporting districts out of the mother district,
and celebrated the milestone of having organized more than 1,200 churches
in the past 17 years.
The crowd overflowed to windows and doors outside the building.
Two groups of children performed cultural dances as the assembly started.
At 3 p.m., the ordinands began lining up in groups of 10 beside the platform,
waiting their turn to be anointed as an elder. The historically large group
included 30 women -- the most women to be ordained at one time in the
denomination's 100-year history.
Surrounded by local and regional elders, Jesse Middendorf, who presided over the
assembly, took turns with his colleagues in ordaining the new elders.
Each pastor has been trained in disaster relief and compassionate ministries,
which are key to ministering in Bangladesh, a low-lying country frequently
hit with cyclones and floods.
It took four hours to ordain all the new elders, many of whom were joined
on the platform by their spouse and even infants.
Following the ordination ceremony, the assembly shared the Lord's Supper.
The three new, self-supporting districts in Bangladesh look forward to another
year of rapid growth not unlike the biblical book of Acts--meeting together,
sharing Christ and adding to their number daily.