Islamabad, Pakistan

When Beverly and I planted a church in Islamabad, Pakistan, five years ago, we dreamed of a place where a life-giving message of love and reconciliation would be taught.  And we dreamed that someday we would serve the careworn, struggling Christians of Pakistan through education and self-help projects.  And we hoped that once we were established, we might even serve the Moslem people of Pakistan with the love of Christ.  96% of the people of Pakistan are Moslem, making it the second largest Moslem population in the world.

Recently, Pakistan was hit with devastating flooding.  I was reluctant to make any appeals to our ministry partners for help.  We had just sent $12,000 to Sri Lanka to help in the flooding there and I did not want to bombard our friends with financial requests.  Our church members in Islamabad were not affected by the worst of the flooding.  But we did have quite a few church members who had water in their homes and we even had some water damage to our church building since we built our first floor below ground level.  But all in all, we survived this crisis untouched.

In the Indus River Valley however, the flooding was disastrous.  And up in Peshawar, near the Afghan border, the members of a small sister church of ours were completely wiped out.  We did not start that church but they are affiliated with the group of churches I work with.  I asked Pastor Safeer, the young man Bev and I mentored in our church plant, to send me a report on the believers in Peshawar.  He wrote:

Dear Pastor Rick,

The loss that the people in Peshawar have experienced through the flooding will be impossible to replace.  They have lost everything.  Only the Lord knows of their suffering.  We have decided to help them with $60 to $120 U.S. dollars per family, depending on the size of their family and their need.  There are many organizations that are helping with food, medicine and tents and even the Pakistan government is helping.  We want to help them to rebuild and repair their homes.  I have a special burden on my heart to help not only Christians but also Moslem people who lost everything in the flooding.

This event has badly shaken our country.  We watched the situation of the country with broken hearts.  I met together with the other lead pastors in our work and we decided to contribute with our own offerings to help at least 300 families in Peshawar, Risalpur and Nowshehra.  Each of the churches are receiving offerings and we will pool our offerings together to help as many families as we can.

Our building has sustained some damage and water is seeping up from the ground along the back wall.  Once the water table has dropped we will dig down and repair the foundation.  I don’t think the damage is so serious that we cannot make the repairs.  For now, we are removing the water by hand and continuing to meet in the building.

Thank you pastor, for your concerns, and for your prayers.  You phone call was a great encouragement.

Pastor Safeer

In the meantime, a misguided pastor in Florida has decided to publicly burn the Quran.  This is inflaming the Islamic community and will give radical Moslems the excuse to vent their anger against the Christian community.  The persecution our brothers and sisters face in the nations dominated by Islam is a legitimate threat and if this event takes place, I am fairly certain that believers will be martyred in the Islamic nations.

I have decided to ask for help.  I have never been a crisis-oriented person and I do not intend to build my ministry on crisis.  But this is a legitimate and desperate need and what we do to serve in charity may literally save our own lives.  I want to be able to assist our leaders in making a statement to the Moslem community that we will suffer along with them, and that we will serve them just as we serve the needs of our own community.  Everything you give toward this project will go 100% toward meeting the needs of the Pakistan flood victims, Christian and Moslem alike.

If you would like to help on this project, please send your donation to the address below, designated to the Pakistan Relief Effort. Or you can donate online at: http://rickzachary.com/contributions.php

Many thanks for believing in what we are doing to serve the nation of Pakistan.

Rick

rick@rickzachary.com - bev.zachary@gmail.com - shane.zachary@gmail.com

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