December 28, 2007

The Christian community along with the whole Nation is grieved and sad & have no words to express their feelings on the brutal assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party and a renowned personality, politician, state person recognized nationally & internationally and highly respected leader of Pakistan.

King'sWay Asian United Reformed Church, on behalf of Pakistani Churches & Christian community, strongly condemned the brutal assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at Liaqat Park Rawalpindi. We pray for the departed soul and pay condolence to the bereaved family, husband, children, mother and sister.

We earnestly appeal & request the national and global communities and specifically churches to pray for the welfare of the State of Pakistan which is passing through a very difficult period of its history and encourage the nation to bear such a big loss.

We further expect the global communities to help the Pakistani nation and its government machinery to eradicate the terrorism which is playing havoc with the lives of the innocent people and disturbing the peace of Pakistan and a great hurdle in the restoration of true democracy in Pakistan.

God bless you,
Pastor Asif Jamshaid

August 19, 2005

Hi there,

We were at a nearby village for a special evening service. More than 70 people came to attend the service. My wife shared her testimony about how God chose her for the Kingdom and how as a MOM and WIFE she supports me in the ministry work. I spoke on “The Other Side” when Levi and the priest took another way to ignore the Samaritan.

Evening Worship: its just a glimpse of how people gather at someone’s house on self help bases. This area does not have a church. Can you believe it’s only 45 minutes away from the city but without a pastor and no one is ready to adopt them.

Praise & Worship is the most important part of the prayer. “When the Spirit of the Lord moves within my heart, I will sing as David sings”, no matter harp or other instruments are there or not. A steel glass can help setting us on fire if instruments are not available.

“DHOLKI” is an important part of praise & worship. You need to visit in order to enjoy the beats of Dholki.

Asif

August 18, 2005

Hello,

What a wonderful day we had yesterday. I was invited by some nearby village elders to speak at their church. I was expecting somewhere from 30-50 people there. The service was supposed to start at 1:30pm after lunch. During lunch their local pastor told me that they had invited people from all 9 neighboring villages and there would be more than 200 gathering. It was great but sad to know, that all these villages do not have church nor pastor to help grow in Christ.

I had lunch with all village representatives who told me that in one of the villages two Christian families have been converted to Islam. There is no church, no visiting or permanent pastor, so people have started spending lives under Islamic influence. My wife and I have planned to visit these particular families next week.

Please pray for good, fruitful talks. Thank you!

Well, the service was great. They told me that it was the first time in 7 years that any outsider was there to worship with them. I spoke on DELIVERANCE and the PRODIGAL SON which was well received. There were around 230 men & women including kids and youth. The local pastor served lunch to all coming from other areas which was a great blessing to all. They have a powerful worship group, though without instruments (remark from Birgit: this is also a problem of our pakistani brothers and sisters: Instruments are too expensive and nobody could play them... They are happy about everybody visiting with a "musical company"!) but I saw an unbelievable zeal and passion among the youth. Remember 90% of these people are farmers or in menial jobs. That's one of the reasons no pastor wants to go into these areas (sad).

Alter call was another experience, more than half of the people came up to confess and accept Christ as their Saviour. But still most of them don't know the reality of Christ and their relationship. They need strong discipleship programs. It's a great opportunity to come out of our comfort zones and not only pray for them but take initiatives to empower pastors to go into these areas.

The sad part is that no one is there to disciple them now. I asked a local pastor who is over 70 years old and cannot walk to make some arrangements what he refused. Keep praying, I'm going to meet with a Faisalabad Presbyterian Moderator to see if they can help us out in getting a pastor there. In the meanwhile, I've planned to visit them once a month which is not sufficient. They need properly trained leaders to be among them.

Please pray for it!

There are more than 33 villages only in the Faisalabad district (3rd largest city) without pastors, churches and leadership. The need is to go into these areas, empower local people and provide them with true guidance and leadership. I'll be visiting maximum areas in the next two months with my church pastor and worship team.

The need is to reach these small pockets of people, plant churches in needy areas and empower people to serve among them. We do need big healing crusades, mega conventions but we ignore the core need. The area I live in is one of the major Christian populations with all resources and opportunities. There are 7 churches around my house (within an area of 5 streets ) but no one is ready to reach these core needy areas. This is only in Faisalabad, there are many all over Pakistan who need us to reach the communities there.

We've two major crusades coming up in last two weeks of September in my neighborhood. I appreciate the people who arrange them but what is going to happen to the people in villages like 28JB and surroundings? Can you believe, these areas are only 25-60 minutes drive away from my place.

We need prayer partners to stand with us in faith. Please pray for:

1 - Committed & visionary people to reach areas like 28JB

2 - Enough resources to empower pastors, lay workers and evangelists to initiate working in these villages

3 - We need at least 20 bicycles and 2 motorcycles within the next two months to distribute among pastors working in village areas.

Please keep praying and mobilizing your churches, friends, pastors and groups to adopt Pakistan in their prayers. Again, we ask you all not only to pray but to plan a trip to Pakistan to see how God is working. If you cannot visit, empower us to work on your behalf.

I'll be in Afghanistan for a couple of weeks in October to serve and attend a Partners' Conference. Please keep my wife and kids in your prayers. Kid's schooling is a big challenge for us so far. We are asking God to provide enough support to put them in a private Christian School (which is very expensive).

God bless you all and know that your prayer support is encouraging us to keep moving.

We love you all,

Asif