the psalms

Pakistan

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has its minority religious groups. When part of India was separated in 1947 to form a homeland for Muslims, some people chose to remain where they were born, and it is their descendants who today live and work in Pakistan. Many Christians there are impoverished, working as manual labourers and in low-skilled occupations, often treated as second-class citizens. Others have managed to gain an education and secure better jobs, which is quite an achievement in a predominantly Muslim country. This article begins with a Christian family who were philanthropic in outlook, and who determined to help their poorer brothers and sisters in Christ.

Christian Education Ministries

In Lahore, Pakistan, on the 24th of January 2005, a charitable work began, which was registered under the name of Christian Education Ministries.

The charity was envisioned and headed up by a young man called Maqsood, who had all the support of his family and friends. The purpose was simple: to improve the lives of the poorest Christian families in their locality. One of the main ways of doing this was to provide free education for the children of brick kiln factory workers. Without this free education, the children would end up following their parents in unskilled labour making mud bricks all their life. And so primary schools were opened, usually on the site of a factory where parents worked. These schools were extremely basic, and it is hard to put into words. Often outside, the children would sit on a mat, and they would have one teacher (who was paid the equivalent of about £15 per month). But the children were being taught. Maqsood would fundraise, and soon the number of schools reached about 30. On top of that there was also a school and accommodation for blind children, and various other ministries.

Unfortunately, on account of severe persecution, Maqsood and his immediate family were forced to depart the country and seek political asylum here in the UK. Schools were forced to close, one by one, until by 2015 all the schools had shut, which caused huge sadness in the area. The charity had been running for ten years, and now there seemed little hope for the future. But Christians were seeking the Lord, asking for His help, and He observed that and responded in a rather unusual way.

An example of how the Lord works

About the same time that Maqsood and his family were moving to the UK, I also was moving to the same remote area in Wales. Actually, despite the huge number of miles we travelled, we ended up living within two miles of each other. Both of us were settling in and seeking a place of worship. And yes, some years later, we met at a church service and became firm friends.

It was not long before we were meeting together for fellowship and Bible study and prayer during the week. It was at one such meeting early in 2018 that I heard about Maqsood’s former work in Pakistan, and how the primary schools he had set up had all been forced to close due to lack of funds. My interest was immediately aroused, and I asked him if there was any more information I could see. Amazingly, he dug out an old VHS tape with a recording of one of his visits to a school he had set up. A friend got it put on a DVD which we could play and watch. It was during the watching of this video that I heard the Lord clearly saying to me to revive this work. I asked all the questions I could, made changes to my lifestyle so that more money would be available, and in March 2018 the first new school was opened, to the delight and sheer joy of friends in Pakistan. Before the school opened, I asked Maqsood about a name for the new ministry. He prayed about it and came back with a definite answer: Amazing Grace Primary Schools! The work had begun; it had a name, and it had its first school. The joy was invigorating!

Amazing Grace Primary Schools

It was very exciting, and the friends in Pakistan were thrilled. We had little money, but the first school was operating and going well. Word got around, and before long we were hearing of many villages and mud brick factories who were requesting a primary school for them also. There was also talk about helping some of the many orphans in the area. With tentative steps and seeking to trust in the Lord for His provision, we gradually opened more and more schools until one day a small orphanage was also opened with about fifty children. This was a major undertaking, but according to the apostle John in the Bible, it is pure religion to look after orphans in their distress. We were very happy to do so.

As each month went by, we always had sufficient funds to send to our friends in Pakistan to distribute to every teacher for their wages, or to purchase necessary supplies. I always believed that it was the Lord who initiated the work, and that if we followed His directions, He would supply our every need. And He did. The evangelism among the children and their Christian parents increased, and a video projector was purchased so that Christian films could be shown on a large screen. And with the children beginning to learn how to read, we bought them all a small Chick tract called “This was your life”, which was the only children’s tract in Urdu we could find. The children loved it because it was in comic form, and the pictures showed the gospel as well as the written text.