Mission Moments: Pakistan (May 29, 2013)

Schooling the spiritually poor

By Gary Fallesen
Climbing For Christ president

Christian children in Pakistan come from poor families or are orphans living with relatives and they are unable to help themselves. They cannot afford to go to school and they have no idea why they are among the persecuted.

Their existence has been described by another ministry as “living below the spiritual poverty line.”

But Jesus blesses the persecuted (Matthew 5:10) and God counts the tears of His children (Psalm 56:8). We believe this is why He gave our brother in Christ, Evangelist Najeeb, the burden to start Save Pakistan’s Children’s Bible School.

“If we want a good spiritual adult then we have to equip our children,” says Evangelist Haseeb, the founder of Climbing For Christ ministry partner Save Pakistan.

Children gather around Evangelist Najeeb with cookies given to them by Save Pakistan.

Fifty children began attending the Children’s Bible School in May. The school will meet for more than one hour twice a week for Bible study. “I think it is an incredible idea to sow the seed of God in their little age,” Haseeb says.

Save Pakistan estimates that 25,000 children have been forcibly recruited into illegally armed groups. “Here, the girls often suffer repeated rape and the boys are forced to kill even people they know,” Haseeb reports. “Others are forced to work the coca fields used to supply cocaine around the world.

“However, through the prayer, love and care of Christians, the lives of these children are transformed.”

Climbing For Christ and Save Pakistan have a dream: a church that also will house the Children’s Bible School. Haseeb speaks of a vision “to provide formal education, food, clean water, medical attention, and shelter.” He can see a ground floor worship center, a second floor school, and a third floor orphanage. “We have a big vision and have faith the Lord will make it happen,” he says.

To initiate this, Save Pakistan needs US$8,300 to purchase land for a church.

In Pakistan, the Hindu or Muslim ancestry of families has produced a syncretism that affects how Christians understand (or misunderstand) their faith. Being a Christian means wearing a cross, but not understanding the significance of the cross of Christ. Christians wear new clothes at CHRISTmas, just as Muslims wear new clothes on their religious holidays. They dress up the outside without knowing how to address the inside.

Open Doors ministry, which monitors and serves the persecuted, states that Christians have experienced “institutionalized persecution and discrimination, effectively blocking their educational and communal development” since Pakistan separated from India in 1947. Christians “remain the poorest of the poor, suffering daily humiliation and abuse. Their Christian identity excludes them from accessing the resources to rise out of their poverty, and leaves them vulnerable to the risk of violence, sexual abuse, drug pushing, and other illegal operations.

“Even more devastatingly, it places them below the spiritual poverty line because they do not have good access to the Word of God.”

Save Pakistan seeks to stand in this gap – and Climbing For Christ will stand with them as they attempt to disciple the next generation.

Save Pakistan teaching children about the Word of God.

“It’s about beginnings – starting to recognize the Bible as more than just a book carried to church,” Haseeb says. “It’s learning to respond to others with attitudes and actions of love and respect. It’s discovering a conscience – knowing what’s right and wrong based on what the Bible says.

“It believes that when you pray, God is listening. Most importantly, it’s about learning to love others because God first loved us. Children are at that age between learning to read and becoming a teen. But they’re also beginning to truly understand what it means to be a Christian.”

Haseeb’s grandfather was a pastor. “He reached thousands of people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, village to village and city to city by foot. After his death my father and my mother took this burden and started to work for God to reach thousands of lost. When I was young I started to work with them. Now my whole family is working for God, to reach the lost and needy people in Pakistan.”

The family has a small business to help them meet their needs.

“Life is difficult here, but we have to do work for the glory of God,” Haseeb says. “Persecution is increasing every day in Pakistan. But the Lord is putting His hands to His people in Pakistan, which are protecting us.”

On May 21, a bomb exploded near Save Pakistan. The sad news, Haseeb reports: it was allegedly done by a 15-year-old Christian boy. Fear has gripped the Christian community. Tensions have continued to grow between Muslims and Christians in 2012.

Save Pakistan is now praying and fasting for support to build a church. If any nation is in need of a church it is Pakistan.

This Islamic Republic lies at the heart of the unevangelized world. More than 350 people groups and castes can be regarded as unevangelized. Operation World, a prayer movement that measures challenges and successes for Christendom, states: “Many of these have no churches, no Christians, no missionaries and no witness. Pakistan is the world’s second-largest concentration of unengaged, unevangelized peoples and the world’s second largest Muslim population. Few countries, if any, present a greater challenge for missions.”

The Word

“…Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’” – Matthew 19:14 (ESV)