This was the first time that we could visit this amazing country that has been a near neighbour of ours for the past ten years. Though separated since 1947, the culture, food and languages are so similar. Indeed, many of our new friends kept on saying: “How come you are so at home here, when this is your first visit?”
We were in Pakistan because we had been invited to help train pastors and church leaders in two very different areas: Kasur, a more rural area and Lahore, a city of over 12 million people.
We were very taken by the eagerness of the rural pastors to learn from God’s Word and the joyousness of their worship. The believers were so thankful for our visit that we were invited to a different home each night for hospitality. To eat wonderful Punjabi food was not a hardship!
As part of this Kasur training we also visited a remote brick-making village. These people are some of the poorest in the area and the Kasur churches are reaching out to several local brick kiln villages. It was a joy to share the gospel with a very enthusiastic group of around 40 children and 30 adults. With so many children present, I abandoned the sermon that I had planned to preach and used a trusty Jungle Doctor gospel story. My translator had said that he didn’t do children’s ministry and was not going to find it comfortable. Afterwards he thanked me for showing how to simply preach the gospel to any age group.
Our second week was in the largest Christian enclave in Lahore, Youhanabad, with a population of 200,000. We did Bible ministry in several churches on the three Sundays, in both English and Urdu, and also spoke in the Bishop of Faisalabad’s church in Godjra. He is the first evangelical bishop in this Church of Pakistan diocese for many years and is keen on Bible teaching for his people and priests.
We also had a 5-day conference for Lahore pastors and church workers, many of whom also travel into the Sindh province to preach the gospel to many poor Hindu villages. It was a great privilege to share God’s Word and fellowship with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
… their bravery and joy in the LORD is very evident and a great challenge to us
Many of our dear friends spoke about the emotional weight and threat of the antiblasphemy law that they live and labour under every day. Christians face 25% of all blasphemy accusations despite being under 2% of the population.1 Every church has armed guards since the church bombings of 2015. However, their bravery and joy in the Lord is very evident and a great challenge to us.
Please pray for …
- Courage to reach out with the gospel.
- The many evangelists who work among the very poor Hindus as well as reaching out to Muslims.
- Safety, especially for those involved in discipling those from Muslim backgrounds.
- Spiritual growth among the many nominal, cultural Christians.
Pakistan is …
244 million (5th most populous country in the world)
97.6% Muslim
1.3% Hindu
1% Christian (3% Evangelical growth rate)
Other religions: less than 1%
Churches operate in over 20 languages including Punjabi, Urdu, Pashto and Hindi
8th on the Open Doors World Watch List for severe persecution
Over 1,000 Christian and Hindu girls are kidnapped and/or forcibly converted annually2
Leading textile exporter – a top producer of cotton globally
Home to K2, the world’s second-highest mountain
- Sources: 1Joshua Project. 2Open Doors.
M&K are itinerant workers, involved in theological training across South Asia.
Main photo Uch Sharif, Pakistan by Ali Kazim/unsplash.com