Report from Pakistan

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We closed the year (2001) with thanks to God for the privilege of being part of His labour-force in Pakistan. It has been a good year with many joys and accomplishments but not without its sorrows as well. One of the things we are really thankful for is the closer working relationship between the LRI Staff and the Board. This increased cooperation has been very much appreciated by the Staff. Continuing with the positive trend from the previous year we have again sought to apply more resources to actual ministry with increased distribution of materials. Partnering with other organizations, Churches and individuals has brought blessing and the Good News has been shared in previously un-reached areas of the country. All in all it has been a positive year and we are grateful for what we have been privileged to do.

Political

Politically the country has continued to be a minefield. Increased religious extremism, sectarian killings and violence, terrorism, lawlessness and general uncertainty have eaten into the fabric of our society. The effects of September 11,2001 and its aftermath raised the level of concern for minorities and in a few scattered incidents Christians became the victims of ruthless killers. The struggling economy,... failure of the rains for the third consecutive year and a drought have added to the miseries of the people.

Church

The Church continues to mirror the state of the nation. Committed evangelicals and those that work among non-Christians are few, LRI is one of those in the forefront. In partnership with a few other like-minded ministries we have recently set up an initiative that is involved in the support, nurture and discipleship of new believers. We are thankful to God that awareness of mission and outreach to non-believers is increasing in individual Churches.

Ministry

We were not able to make any new recordings this year... Keeping in view our Mission's priority to reach "the least, the last and the lost" we are striving to record in our Priority 1 languages, which are the languages and dialects of the un-reached people groups. Our efforts to record in two languages of northern Pakistan failed as our contacts were unable to arrange for language helpers for a second time. Then with the political situation and exodus of a large number of expatriate workers we were forced to put this exercise on hold. Translation of a gypsy language has been completed and is being checked prior to recording. In the absence of recording work we concentrated on distribution of our materials. Working in partnership with Churches, organisations and individuals we were able to distribute and sell a record number of 4,300 plus cassettes; 156 Look, Listen & Live charts; 397 LLL booklets; 205 Good News charts; 66 GN booklets; 130 Urdu Bibles; 4,000 gospel packets; 120 Jesus films; 4 Messenger players; and other Christian literature. Our stock of Messenger players has run out and we eagerly await a shipment of 500 players from Australia. (These were received in April.)

Staff

It has been a pleasure to work alongside the staff (pictured below) for another year. They have all done well in their respective areas of ministries. They all joined in to be part of distribution teams going to different parts of the country. They have all taken keen interest to meet our target of distributing 4,000 cassettes in this year and join me in thanking God for enabling us to meet our goal.

I take this opportunity to thank God for His enabling grace to accomplish all that we have.

Michael.
Director, LRI Pakistan.

Michael, as Chairman of the GRN Executive Committee, visited Ghana this year for meetings with the West African leaders, to address some concerns in that region. Later, the Executive Committee met in Geneva, Switzerland for its annual meeting. Michael is also involved in several regional partnership networks. Let us continue to give thanks for him and his family and uphold them in fervent prayer.