Harvest Bridge Podcast

Content note: This episode includes discussion of child begging, sexual exploitation, and persecution.

Why are these leaders being opposed?

Christian leaders in Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal help us understand the pressures behind the persecution they face. Their accounts reveal different contexts, including the close relationship between religion and cultural identity, ethnic prejudice, and opposition to work that protects vulnerable children.

Jagan* describes how religion and culture overlap in Bhutan. In India, Priya* explains why helping children leave begging and protecting girls from exploitation can bring resistance. Mandar* shares his congregation’s struggle to find a place to worship. Nagma* and Shalva* describe the opposition they encounter and how they continue responding through patience, forgiveness, and prayer.

These accounts invite us to listen carefully, understand the circumstances our partners describe, and pray alongside them as they love and serve their communities.

In this episode

00:00 Content warning
00:10 Opening account and introduction
01:14 Understanding the causes of persecution
03:07 Bhutan: Jagan on religion and culture
04:30 India: Priya on children, families, and opposition
08:05 India: Mandar’s congregation seeks a place to worship
10:05 Encouragement for a congregation in Central India
10:49 Romans 8
11:36 Bangladesh: Nagma responds to rejection
13:10 Nepal: Shalva describes pressure and prayer
13:54 Closing reflection
14:38 Prayer

Pray with these leaders

Pray for safety, wisdom in danger, places to worship, provision for families, and comfort for frightened children. Join Mandar in praying for the people opposing his congregation.

Learn more about Harvest Bridge and ways to support local leaders across South Asia and Myanmar at https://harvestbridge.org/.

Names have been changed for security. Accounts include recorded interviews and readings from written reports.

Scripture excerpts: Psalm 46 and Romans 8:28–31. Scripture audio: Thru the Bible.

This episode discusses natural disasters and their impact on vulnerable communities, including children. Listener discretion is advised.

Disaster relief is often pictured as a single moment.

But for Harvest Bridge’s local partners, relief begins before a crisis, moves quickly when danger comes, and continues long after the headlines fade.

In Bhutan, hear how a household package provided food, cooking supplies, hygiene items, and a month of stability after severe flooding.

In Myanmar, local leaders helped families facing armed conflict, repeated displacement, and earthquake damage.

In India, years of advocacy helped historically marginalized families move toward safer housing after repeated floods.

Together, these stories show how trusted local leaders respond quickly and remain for the long work of recovery.

Learn more about Harvest Bridge and support disaster relief and recovery efforts across South Asia and Myanmar at https://www.harvestbridge.org.

Joshua serves as an assistant pastor in Bhutan. His ministry takes shape through worship, prayer, home visits, and personal care.

In this episode, hear how a prayer over an empty piece of land became the beginning of a church. You will also hear how Pastor Dawa’s investment in Joshua continues through the people he now serves.

Joshua’s story shows what it means to do much with little. It is a story of faithful discipleship, steady presence, and hope taking root in unexpected places.

Learn more about Harvest Bridge and support local leaders across South Asia and Myanmar at https://www.harvestbridge.org.

Listen as the ministry leaders of Harvest Bridge share how your support made a difference in 2025.

This month at Harvest Bridge, we have been sharing stories from women who are living in some of the hardest places in the world, facing poverty, violence, and isolation. But through the ministry leaders of Harvest Bridge, they are finding hope. In this episode, we want to share just a few of these stories. We’ll hear from Jandi* in Nepal, Pastor Pan* in Myanmar, and Priya* in India.

Listen as Pastor Thang* and Pastor Pan* reflect on the years since the military coup in 2021 and what ministry looks like in Myanmar today.

In this month’s podcast, you’ll hear about pastors who decorate their homes on December 1st because the children they care for simply can’t wait, feasts that begin fifteen days before Christmas, and the preparation of traditional food. You’ll also hear about Christmas ministry as churches fill beyond capacity and believers stand outside so neighbors and friends can have a seat. Carolers walk village roads and gifts are shared with widows, gypsy families, and abandoned older adults. House-to-house visits are offered quietly in places facing violence or persecution. Our partners describe Christmas as a season of joy and excitement, but also a season of courage. In some communities, simply gathering for worship or offering a Christmas lunch invites opposition. Yet year after year, they open their doors, their tables, and their hearts so others can hear the good news that God has come near. This is Christmas with Harvest Bridge.

Hear from Pastor Pan* how the leaders in Myanmar are living out the call to serve the stranger in their ministry to refugees. This is just one of many ministries you are making possible.

This fall, Nepal has been gripped by a wave of political unrest unlike anything the country has seen in recent years. In this episode, you’ll hear from the country leaders of Harvest Bridge’s ministry in Nepal and on the Nepal-Tibet border. They share their firsthand experiences of what life has been like during this tumultuous time. These are their personal reflections, not official reports, and they themselves acknowledge they may not represent the full picture. That is part of the complexity of this moment - there’s so much misinformation and uncertainty surrounding the government overthrow that it is difficult to know full causes and outcomes of the recent protests. Their stories offer a powerful glimpse into life on the ground during this crisis.

In Bhutan, missionaries and pastors share the hope of the gospel in their own villages and cities, as well as traveling to more remote areas of the country. In addition to evangelism, their ministry includes counseling, conducting sports ministry with young people, providing emergency food relief, and providing drug and alcohol rehabilitation. In a country where 84% of the population is Buddhist, understanding how to share their faith in this specific context is critical. Out of this need, a Bible school at the border of India and Bhutan was born. The Bible school students learn comparative religion, intercultural communication, and contextual theology, which ensures that they are well-prepared to engage with their Buddhist communities respectfully and effectively.

Listen as Badri, a missionary in Western India, shares about how he sees God at work in his village.

Hear the dreams of the ministry leaders throughout South Asia and Myanmar, and a special word from our Executive Director.

Hear more about the many ways Harvest Bridge is coming alongside of children in South Asia and Myanmar, and how your support is making a difference.

Hear from Pastor Darpan*, the Country Leader for Harvest Bridge in Bangladesh, as he shares about their ministry including anti-trafficking work, evangelism and the importance of church buildings.

In this episode, you will hear from two female leaders in Harvest Bridge. The first, Priya*, shares about her critical project to obtain identification cards for the gypsy and tribal people. The second, Jandi*, is leading efforts to start savings groups in churches throughout the country. These savings groups provide financial self-sufficiency for individuals in areas with tremendous poverty. These women are just two of the many women who lead throughout South Asia, changing their communities and sharing the hope of the gospel.

In this episode, listen to an interview that took place this month with Pastor Pan* and Pastor Thang*, the co-country leaders in Myanmar. The people of Myanmar have been living under a military coup for the past four years, and this is the first time Pastor Pan and Pastor Thang have been together since 2019. They will share about ministry and life in Myanmar, how you can help, and what gives them hope.

Listen to Harvest Bridge ministry leaders as they discuss the impacts of religious nationalism throughout South Asia and Myanmar. They are witnessing firsthand the rise in persecution and violence as religious nationalism grows.

If you missed our individual Advent podcasts, listen to hear the wisdom of four ministry leaders in South Asia as they talk about hope, peace, joy, and love. You will hear reflections from Jandi in Nepal, Thang and Pan in Myanmar, and Priya in India.

This Advent at Harvest Bridge we want to share the wisdom of four ministry leaders in South Asia as they talk about hope, peace, joy, and love. This week, you will hear from Priya, who leads the GATE ministry in India. GATE stands for Gypsy and Tribal Empowerment. Priya is not from the gypsy and tribal communities, but she has responded to God’s call to care for them and to fight the injustices they face. For someone who works alongside those who are below the lowest caste in the country, those who are considered untouchable, how has love been a guiding force for her ministry?

This Advent at Harvest Bridge we want to share the wisdom of four ministry leaders in South Asia as they talk about hope, peace, joy, and love. In this episode, you will hear from Pastor Pan*, who is our co-country leader in Myanmar. Ministry in Myanmar takes place in the middle of a violent military coup. In the middle of war and poverty, how has Pastor Pan found joy? Let’s listen as he shares this powerful word to us.