AFWIS Joins Operation World in Prayer for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan - Asia

Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)

Home > Sep 27: Pakistan

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Sep 27: Pakistan

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Pakistan

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Asia

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 796,095 sq km
796,095 sq km, which includes 83,700 sq km of UN-divided Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. Arid mountains in the north and west. Desert in the east and southeast. Vast irrigation schemes in the fertile Indus River valley.
Population: 184,753,300    Annual Growth: 2.19%
Capital: Islamabad
Urbanites: 37%
HDI Rank: 141 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 463 (97% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: English is the official government language, Urdu is the national language and becoming widely understood by most Pakistanis    Languages: 77 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Muslim

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	4,526,456	2.45	1.8
Evangelicals	1,140,589	0.6	3.3
Muslim	176,993,661	95.80

Prayercast

Challenges for Prayer

Leadership training is a hugely critical need for the Church. Pray for educational and training institutions, for an increase in students, for wise and godly leadership, for sufficient qualified faculty and for adequate financial resources. Give thanks for the new generation of emerging Pakistani leaders, and pray that a higher proportion of them may be able to serve in national churches without needing the support of foreign agencies.
a) Residential training centres. There are 12 Protestant and six Catholic theological colleges and Bible schools, most significantly Gujranwala Theological Seminary, United Bible Training Centre, Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) Bible College, Zarephath Bible Institute and St. Thomas’ Theological College.
b) Church-based training centres. Most denominations also use TEE courses from the Open Theological Seminary in Lahore which has 3,000 students in more than 200 centres taking accredited courses up to the bachelor of theology level.
c) Bible Correspondence courses. The Pakistan Bible Correspondence Institute operates out of five cities, with around 3,300 enrolled. It also sends out large numbers of NTs and copies of the JESUS film. Enrolment for these courses has declined of late; pray for a resurgence in student numbers. The vast majority of Muslim-background believers have taken a BCC as part of their spiritual pilgrimage.
Outreach by Pakistani Christians is an issue needing major change. Few Muslims have ever come to Christ because the existing Church emerged from the lowest rungs of society – mainly Hindu Dalits of the Punjab and Hindu tribal peoples of the Sindh. Huge cultural boundaries exist between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority. Little has been done to reach Muslims or even Hindus. Many factors conspire to make Christians fearful, introspective and silent, yet despite the negatives, there is a considerable degree of freedom to openly share the gospel for those with the boldness and faith. OM teams challenge many believers to become involved in outreach. Pray for Christians to be impassioned and equipped to share their faith and to answer the claims and questions of Muslims. Signs of an awakening in this area are appearing, and a small but growing number of indigenous believers are starting to reach out cross-culturally.
     For an additional 12 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

More Information

The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Pakistan.