The Revd Barbara Bond: 1928–2026

Barbara Bond, Baptist minister and one-time missionary in East Pakistan and Bangladesh, has died in her adopted home of Luton at the age of 97

A singular individual and a strong woman, Barbara was tough but open-minded, a lover of conversation and debate, and while there was always doubt mixed in with her fortitude, she was never afraid to strike out on her own.

Her search for her place in the world continued into her adult life, and it was her faith and life in the Baptist church that ultimately gave greater direction and purpose, leading to an overwhelming feeling that she was being called to missionary work.

Born in Thornton Heath, south London, in 1928, Barbara was the oldest of three girls and developed an interest in religion from an early age. She experienced a gradual spiritual awakening and wrote of an early Sunday school memory: “A missionary who had been working in India visited them: ‘She brought a child-sized sari and one of the girls was dressed up in it. I would have liked to have been chosen!’”

During a disrupted education, Barbara was evacuated to Kettering towards the end of the war, where she and a classmate went on to join the Baptist church despite early allegiance to other churches. Thus began her lifelong commitment to the Baptist faith.

When Barbara approached her local church in Norbury, at the second time of asking, she received their approval and applied to the Baptist Missionary Society. In September 1960, Barbara was commissioned. She set sail for East Pakistan the same year and spent much of her initial two years there learning Bengali—a skill that would prove useful in her community work in Luton many years later.

Her work as a missionary took her to a first posting in Rangpur, a district in the north, where virtually all the people she was working with “were tribal with very limited Bengali.” Undeterred, she was introduced by a fellow missionary to churches in villages around the Rangpur District.

After five years away, Barbara returned home for a year in 1965. On her return, she was posted to the adjacent district of Dinajpur. It was a time of political unrest with frequent calls for a general strike in support of independence. Barbara worked alongside American Lutheran missionaries in Dinajpur during this period and was happy to collaborate with them.

Barbara was evacuated during the civil war and returned to England to live with her parents in Thornton Heath in 1971. She spent her final ten years of missionary work (until 1981) in what is now Bangladesh, including two short periods back home with her parents, who were then living in Lancashire near their other two daughters, Audrey and Pam.

Chris Smith (Chris Preston at the time she was working with Barbara) remembered their time in Bangladesh: “Barbara was an amazing role model for young single women. She was known as Pishima—Paternal Aunt—to generations of Bengali women called to ministry but frustrated at lack of opportunity: an encourager.”

In 1981, Barbara began two years of college training in Manchester, becoming a Newly Accredited Minister in 1988. She served as minister at Skelmersdale from 1987 until 1991 when, following the death of her parents, she left Lancashire for Luton.

Barbara remained a Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) Minister until her death in 2026, continuing on the accredited list of Ministers after her retirement in 1993 at age 65.

She was able to make good use of her skills in the Bengali language in Luton, playing an active role in the community, serving as a Governor at Beech Hill Primary School, and accompanying people on hospital visits to act as a translator. She led sermons at Luton’s Blenheim Crescent Baptist Church before its merger with the Methodists established the Olive Tree Church.

Barbara was deeply involved with interfaith work, attending Faith Walks to visit different places of worship and participating in Muslim-Christian dialogue. She worked with Grass Roots, a community engagement programme, for over 30 years with diverse faith communities on issues of peace and reconciliation, strengthening community relations and resilience.

She also served on the committee of Churches Together in Luton, who remember her as someone “not afraid of asking questions” and as “a feisty warrior for the kingdom.” She regularly took services at Baptist, United Reformed, and Methodist churches in the area and joined in national Baptist conferences and retreats.


Funeral Details

A funeral service celebrating the life of Barbara will take place on Tuesday, 25 August from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm, followed by a buffet lunch and reflections on her life at:

The Olive Tree Church
42–46 Blenheim Crescent
Luton LU3 1HB 


Greg Challis