Pakistan: Courage in the Face of Persecution
Written by andy johnston
Over the past 7 years we as a church have had an increasing involvement in the Lahore area of Pakistan. This began through a friendship that Nigel Paterson made with Ameir Masih who contacted him because of a mutual interest in Christian education. Since then, the Christian school that Ameir founded has become a CRY project. It provides an excellent Christian education in an Islamic Republic – so good, in fact, that it even attracts local Muslim families who send their children to a school which is explicitly Christian.
Ameir has also planted a network of 55 house churches. This is a remarkable venture of faith. It requires courage in the face of persecution. It is not unknown for followers of Jesus to have their hopes or church buildings burned to the ground following spurious charges of “blasphemy” by local mobs. It also requires time to train pastors of these house churches. One of the things we have been doing with Ameir in the last 12 months is providing funds for him to gather and feed the house church leaders for a couple of days at a time. Once he has gathered these leaders, he uses the Catalyst God’s Big Story material which he translates as the videos are shown. In the next 12 months we are hoping that we get it translated into Urdu which will greatly improve the training sessions.
Nigel Paterson is planning a visit to Lahore to see Ameir in May. Please pray:
Ameir has also planted a network of 55 house churches. This is a remarkable venture of faith. It requires courage in the face of persecution. It is not unknown for followers of Jesus to have their hopes or church buildings burned to the ground following spurious charges of “blasphemy” by local mobs. It also requires time to train pastors of these house churches. One of the things we have been doing with Ameir in the last 12 months is providing funds for him to gather and feed the house church leaders for a couple of days at a time. Once he has gathered these leaders, he uses the Catalyst God’s Big Story material which he translates as the videos are shown. In the next 12 months we are hoping that we get it translated into Urdu which will greatly improve the training sessions.
Nigel Paterson is planning a visit to Lahore to see Ameir in May. Please pray:
- That the situation in the Middle East is stable enough for Nigel to travel
- For God’s protection on Ameir and his family in a volatile situation
- For the translation of the God’s Big Story material into Urdu
- For funding to build a church office so Ameir’s group of churches can function legally