Pakistan Christian Evangelical Services June 2010 Newsletter

 Greetings to our friends around the world who support the ministry of PCES. By the grace of God the Gospel continues to produce fruit, even under trying circumstances in our beloved country. Terrorist attacks have been close to home in Lahore: (The Daily Jang) May 29 at a rival Ahmedis worship place in Model Town, where 95 people were killed. Then on June 2, terrorists attacked at Jinnah Hospital, wearing police uniforms in order to release their companion who was under treatment. 5 persons were killed and many fled. Please pray that the Lord will provide peace in our country.

SHARING THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST

The last week of March, with the cooperation of IDES and Brother Gil Lozada of NY, we conducted medical and eye camps at Mandi Baha-ud-Din, about 4 hours drive from Lahore. A majority of the patients were

Muslims. We had an opportunity to share the love of

Christ with the 127 eye and 225 medical patients.

LEADERSHIP SUMMER CAMP

We held our annual Leadership Camp in the beautiful mountains in northern Pakistan. 68 individuals and my two sons Samson and Simon attended. Our guest speaker was Dr. Greg Widener from Kentucky Christian University, KY. We are also thankful to IDES who provided food for the campers.

GREGORY WIDENER’S IMPRESSIONS

Saleem Massey invited me to come to Pakistan to

minister May 21-31. During that time, I visited 8 out of the 12 churches that Saleem has founded in the Punjab area of Pakistan, and I was the preacher/ lecturer at the family camp up in Khanaspar Ayubia.

Family Camp: The “Christian Evangelical” churches

hold a family camp each year for inter-church fellowship, doctrinal teaching, and a chance to get away to the cool mountains in the hot summer. Since Pakistanis as a custom do not send their children away to “church camps,” this family camp is the only opportunity for many of these Christians to experience a church camp setting, and so children, teenagers and young adults were well represented in attendance at this camp. While there, I spoke 9 times in sermons or lectures. Brother Saleem has a book of elementary Christian doctrines that he teaches at these camps with memorization and personal reports as the means of accountability in learning. Some of these Christian church folks have good education and

some are very simple village people, so teaching needs to be done at a simple level. One of the highlights of this camp are the wild monkeys that invade this camp daily. They are cute, but watch out for their stealing!

Restoration churches: The 12 churches that Saleem has founded are true “restoration” churches. They practice “one cup” communion each Sunday, practice only immersion, and call themselves “Christians.” The members that I met are well aware that this fellowship of Christians seeks to be a “bible only” movement and they are proud of that fact. All of these churches are growing, and they are reaching the poor of Pakistan. Large numbers of children and youth are part of these churches.

Outreach: The Christian Evangelical churches reach out to their communities in a number of ways. The first is through schools for children, including the teaching of the English language. The 2nd way of providing a service to their communities is through adult education. This service allows contacts with Muslim people . A 3rd way of ministry is through medical missions which happen every year. EVERY one is interested in medical help when there is a need! Another way of ministry is through a sewing center that allows women to earn a living.

Baptisms: One of the delights that I witnessed in

Pakistan was the immersion of 107 men and women

into Christ at a public park. I shared a devotional on Romans 6 with the 200 or more persons assembled there. Two powerful moments came when a man with crutches and a woman with polio had to be helped into the pool to be immersed. I had never witnessed such a large baptismal ceremony before and it was very awesome! I will never forget the smiling faces of the wonderful Christians that I met in Pakistan! With the 6th largest population in the world and one of the smallest Christian communities in the world, Pakistan needs to have opportunities to hear more about Jesus. I am glad that I could have a part in sharing the Gospel in Pakistan.

SALEEM’S FAMILY NEWS: SAMREENA completed her education and now is a medical doctor! She scored 1st at her school among 54 Muslim girls and 3rd among all students in Punjab province, earning a total of 8 distinctions. She will soon start house job in any hospitals in Lahore, By the Grace of the Lord, she will take Step One and Step Two tests in order to be recognized as a doctor in the USA. After getting training from the USA, she will serve in Pakistan.

SAMSON would like to study at CCU. Funds need to be raised.