- Baptist Press - https://www.baptistpress.com -

Pakistani Baptists ask for prayer

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WASHINGTON (BP)–When the bombing in Afghanistan began Baptists in a church in neighboring Pakistan had just concluded the evening service. The pastor, Daniel Sardar, has asked Baptists around the world to pray for believers there and their witness for Christ at this very critical time.

Sardar says that the government has so far protected his church and they are safe but there is a lot of anti- American resentment in the area where they live and Christians are accused of being against their country and for America.

He emphasizes that Usama Ben Laden is a hero of Islam in that part of the world and Christians are treated as foreigners.

Sardar says that they have complete trust in the Lord, “We know that He is in control of everything and every situation.” But even so they need our prayers because they are “in the frontline of the situation.”

They are concerned that we do not deal with Muslims in a spirit of revenge because this will create further problems for them as they seek to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The head of Baptists in Asia, Bonny Resu, regional leader for the Baptist World Alliance, assured Sardar of the prayers of Baptists around the world and emphasized also that this is not a war with Muslims because the entire Muslim community cannot be blamed for the acts of the few.

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Resu took the opportunity to encourage Baptists in Asia to worship God using more of their culture and traditions, for example the singing of more Pakistani and Indian hymns and to become more self-supporting and less dependent on the west for support.

“We are concerned,” he says, “that people think that Christianity is a western religion.” Resu reminds us all it is an eastern religion which went to the west, “and from the west it came to us in the east.” But people think that Christianity is western because it is often times wrapped up in western culture.

Now that we have located a Baptist church in Pakistan, Resu will look for more information so that they can be encouraged in a partnership with Baptists in other countries in Asia and around the world.
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