Blessings From Pakistan!
Dear Friends & Family,
Our Lord is so good! We all are fine by His grace and your prayers! We thank you all for always standing in the gap with us as we serve here in this country! Living here does has its challenges – with the lack of electrical power, fuel for driving, gas for cooking and heating in the winter. But our Lord is always gracious. Please pray for the country of Pakistan there is so much turmoil, conflict and unnecessary worries. Yet, even though life is unpredictable here, the ministry of His Word which our Lord has assigned us is going smoothly. We praise Him for His grace and we are thankful to you for your prayers!
Humble Beginnings but on Solid Ground:
We have been blessed with ongoing weekly Bible classes in two different villages. We started a verse by verse study of the book of Genesis three months ago. The beginnings were humble with very few people attending, and still we don’t have very many, but all those who do come for the Bible classes are very committed students. We are feeding them on the pure Word and seeing them grow strong in their Christian faith. We trust that God, in His perfect timing, will raise them up to be loving channels to feed, guide and lead His people for His glory.
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The Plight of Village Children
Christian children in Pakistan have little opportunity to learn about their faith because Children’s ministries have been badly neglected. The children lack depth about Christianity and are required to study the State religion in their schools. It is compulsory. We do not have the option of home schooling in Pakistan and not all parents are able to help their children’s education because of the lack of resources and lack of education themselves. There are some good Christian schools in big cities which are very far from these villages and these are very expensive. Everybody who goes to any school or college has to study Islamic teachings as this is a compulsory subject in every grade in our educational system. Children are made to learn and memorize Islamic verses and are required to live, act and behave in school in the Islamic way.
Because of neglecting Children’s Bible study Christianity is suffering throughout the whole country. This will have a major affect on future generations so it is necessary to teach the Word of God while the window of opportunity is still open. We praise God that Calvary Chapel Pakistan is able to reach and teach more than 1,000 children in 25 villages. We go into prayerfully selected villages and encourage responsible and educated people to start a Sunday school or Children’s Bible Study Group. We provide them the study material, visit them on a regular basis and continue encouraging them in every possible way. We are thankful for all of you who partner with us in this vital ministry through prayer and support.
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Exciting New Ministry ~ Online Urdu Sermons
This is one of our new and extremely important projects. We have very limited resources to produce Urdu audio sermons and make them available online for people to listen and grow in their faith. We have started from the Genesis chapter one. It’s a large project and requires long hours to record and edit. Unfortunately, the power situation in our country complicates the process as we can go for sixteen to eighteen hours without power. But, we continue working as hard as possible. Our target is to make five Urdu sermons available on-line by the end of this month. This will cover the first three chapters of the book of Genesis.
This project is going to be very helpful as it will allow us to reach and teach thousands by simply providing the material online. Right now we are using the Trial Version of “Sound Forge 10 for recording. However, we need to purchase this software “Sound Forge pro 10” to continue this recording project. We request that you would please pray for the financial provision for this. We also welcome the advice and suggestions of our friends who have knowledge about Audio or video recording.
New Ministry! Audio Sermons for Pakistan!
Our Urdu Bible Program ~ Needs Help!
Urdu Bibles for villages and outreached areas program was started about three years ago. We realized then that people did not have the main and basic source of a Bible available for them to learn from and know about their Christian belief. There are few places for villagers to go to get a Bible, plus, they cannot afford to travel, and are not familiar with city life and would have trouble reaching the right destination. Also a problem is that village Christians and those in remote areas are poor, and because of their poverty, they cannot purchase Bibles for themselves.
We want to thank all of you who have prayed for this ministry and supported us financially so that we could continue providing the Bibles free of charge to the poor Christians. Last year we were able to purchase and distribute 1,000 Bibles. Sadly, this year we were only able to get 400 Bibles because of limited funds. The price of one Urdu Bible is $5.00. We provide one Bible to one family in the villages, and we believe as we sow the Word of God, it will bring eternal changes in every family that receives the Bible.
We also have a face book cause for Urdu Bibles by the name of “Save Coins for Urdu Bibles and Literature”. If you feel led by the Holy Spirit, please join this cause here!
Notice: We are sad to inform you someone in Pakistan imitated our Facebook Cause. The name and much of the content is nearly identical. Please check the Cause information carefully to not be confused between ours and theirs. These people go under: “Save coins for Urdu Bibles, promoted by Life Gospel Ministries, Pastor Shumila Alam.” These people ask you to contact them through email for instructions on how you can give them money.
In contrast, to the many scams that take advantage of good hearted Americans using the internet, Calvary Chapel Pakistan receives money through the channel of the Saving Grace World Missions, a legally registered, tax deductible charitable Missions Organization located in Yorba Linda, California, USA. The money is then wired by the Missions Organization to us here in Pakistan for purchase of Bibles.
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Calvary Chapel Bible Studies
We want to ask you to please keep me and my wife Farah in your prayers. Both of us are studying. I recently have started the next semester of my Bible College, and the courses I have for this semester are: “Practical Christian Ministry, Introduction to the Cults, and the Book of Revelation”. My wife is praying to start a class on “Christian Counseling”. The online study program is a wonderful opportunity for us to be blessed and gain knowledge from the Calvary Chapel Bible College; however, the unreliable power situation, studying with English as a second language and the limited reference resources are always a challenge. My Bible college instructors have highly recommended the LOGOS Bible Software for us as students. I am also in need of a new laptop computer badly for both my college studies and the ministry, as my current computer is old and has started having many screen and hardware problems. Because Pakistan imports all their electronics from other countries the prices are higher. A reasonable laptop computer costs about $550.00 to $600.00. We ask you to please pray that the Lord will provide the financial resources to purchase the software and new laptop so that we may gain sound Bible knowledge and have the resources we need to be able to translate and share with our people in Pakistan.
Pray for the Persecuted!
Last month 178 Christian houses were set ablaze in the second largest city of Pakistan Lahore, because of the alleged blasphemy accusation against one young man. Christians here suffer so much materially, socially and emotionally. It has been common practice that persecution can occur simply on the basis of an accusation (including unfounded ones). The accusation can be against an individual but the whole area and community suffer as a result. We have had people burned alive and whole Christian colonies put on fire – simply on the basis of an accusation of ‘blasphemy’ which is often used to take revenge or satisfy a personal grudge.
This month in Gujranwala town, the same kind of incidence was about to take place. Thanks God that some responsible Christian and responsible Muslim leaders handled the situation wisely and carefully and the area named Francisabad was spared. We request you to please pray for all who suffered in Lahore city, and all the families who were under attack in Gujranwala town. Please pray for peace and harmony among Muslims and Christians and peace in our country.
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Family Corner
Our Son Joshua passed his final exams and now has started the study of grade 1, and our sweet daughter Rachael has started going to school last month. We are really very happy for both of them, and we rejoice as they are growing physically, spiritually and mentally. Because of their schooling now we have more time study and work for the ministry!
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We are thankful to you for your love, prayers and supports. We love you and pray for you!
In Christ Jesus, Nadeem & Farah Massey
To reach me by e-mail: jsp.pak@gmail.com [Nadeem]
