Pakistan
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Demographics
Population: 165 million
Ethnic groups: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun, Baloch, Muhajir
Religions: Muslim 97%, others 3%
Languages: Urdu (official), Punjabi, Sindhi, Siraiki, Pashtu
Industry: Agriculture, Wholesale, Services
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About Pakistan
Pakistan is located in South Asia and is bordered by Afghanistan, Iran, China, India and Tajikistan. It was a part of the British Raj from 1858 to 1947 until the Indian independence movement led by Mahatma Ghandi. On 14 August 1947, the modern state of Pakistan was finally established by the carving out of the Muslim-majority North-western and Eastern part of Bristish India. However, the division of the states of Punjab and Bengal led immediately to widespread communal violence, which led to millions of Muslims moving to Pakistan and millions of Hindus and Sikhs moving to India.
Pakistan then became a Republic in 1956 and has since seen 3 wars with India, 1 civil war and succession of4 military presidents. Political unrest and economic problems continue to plague the country throughout its history, often punctuated by major natural disasters such as the Bhola cyclone in 1970, which killed half a million people, and the more recent Kashmir earthquake in 2005.
Pakistan’s uniqueness is attributed to its richness in resources and derives a major part of its national income from natural gas. It is also a major agricultural nation that produces wheat, a wide variety fruits and other produce. A first-time visitor to the country will be amazed to find impressive mountain ranges to the North, beaches to the South, and deserts to the East. The weather can cross from tropical to temperate to freezing cold – all within a few hours of flight within the country.
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Cornerstone Churches (Lahore)
There are seven churches and one Bible school under the Cornerstone Community Services umbrella in Pakistan. The main church, Cornerstone, Faisal Town is located in Lahore together with the Bible school, Pentecostal Theological Center for Pakistan. The other six churches are in the areas surrounding Lahore: Sheikhpura, Rukhanawala, Thaney Village, Rodhay Village, Gujranwala, and Ranalay Khurdah.
The ‘Cornerstone (Lahore)’ Story
As is often cited – there are no coincidences in God’s kingdom. It was in 2003, when a team from Cornerstone (Singapore) was visiting Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they met a young man from Pakistan. This young man so happen to know another young man from his church in Lahore that was studying in Singapore, and spoke to that young man to come visit Cornerstone. Turns out, this young man studying in Singapore was Pastor Nabeel. It was connection at first sight, and God just knitted Pastor Nabeel to us.
In November 2005, we made our first trip to Pakistan, and Pastor Nabeel brought us to visit various churches and ministries in Lahore, Gujranwala and Islamabad. At that point of time, Pastor Nabeel was running his own leather business and the business was beginning to blossom. However, he felt then that God was calling him to a greater involvement in ministry.
Over the next year, we prayed with Pastor Nabeel and by the middle of 2006, we felt the clear mandate to work with Pastor Nabeel to plant a church in Lahore. In April 2007, the church was planted with 6 people in Johar colony. Pastor Nabeel continued to run his business during this period of time while giving himself to the church plant and running evangelistic crusades in various other parts of Lahore and the surrounding region.
Within the next 6 months, the rooftop of a property was made available to the church and with the proceeds from his business, Pastor Nabeel erected a shelter over the rooftop and commenced services there. By now, the church had grown from the 6 people to about 30+ people.
In the early part of 2008, we sent our first team from Singapore to visit the work, and to our amazement, the church had grown to over 100 people with around 35 kids in the Sunday School. By this time, the rooftop is completely overcrowded and people were beginning to sit on the stairs and on the ground level in order to join the service. At the same time, Pastor Nabeel had another 7 churches under his oversight and several of these were amongst the villages to the outskirts of Lahore.
By November 2008, when Pastor Yang visited the church and spoke at their annual conference, the church had crossed the 150 mark. While Pastor Yang was there, the decision was made to rent a commercial hall for the purposes of Sunday services in order to accommodate the growth and harvest that was coming in. The very next month, a lease with a banquet hall was secured and the church moved its service into a 500 seater hall.
To-date, the hall is already full on Sundays, and another hall is now being rented to accommodate the Sunday School kids, which has around 170 children – most of whom are unable to afford to go to school.
Apart from the growth of the church, Pastor Nabeel has given significant focus on the youths. He has seen God work many miracles amongst the young people, and many have come out of drugs and a sinful lifestyle to commit their lives to serve God. This is a very challenging ministry where little emphasis has been given in Pakistan. The youths are often viewed as a segment of the church that does not bring in income. Hence, the youth seldom find the love and care they need from churches. It is into this vacuum that Pastor Nabeel has stepped in to help many of these young people turn their lives around towards God.
Due to the poverty and inability of the people to seek medical help, many have turned to Jesus for healing and restoration of their physical bodies. Subsequently, the church began to see numerous miracles take place in their midst frequently. Dramatic healings of cancer, deafness, water poisoning and others have been common results of prayer. As a result, many families gave their lives to the Lord after experiencing His goodness.
Leadership: Pastor Nabeel Riaz grew up in one of the thousands of poor villages in Pakistan. Pastor Nabeel moved to the city of Lahore with his family during his early teenage years. After graduating from college with an IT degree, he came to Singapore to pursue his theological studies and graduated in 2004 with a Masters in Theology.
Still single and in his early thirties, Pastor Nabeel is the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, Lahore. He is a dynamic preacher and has a special burden for the youths in his nation and for seeing the word of God being taught and instructed.
Prayer Focus:
- Nominal Christians in the community would catch the fire of God and seek to grow in spiritual intimacy with Him.
- For our pastors in Pakistan, that the Lord would continue to give them wisdom as they lay the foundation of the new churches, and that they would have good people surrounding and supporting them.
