Pakistan Partnership

The Outreach Foundation’s Vision for Engagement in Pakistan  

Pakistan is one country consisting of several “states” with distinctive food, language, and traditions. Of the 212.1 million people residing in Pakistan, approximately four million are Christians. However, census data is unreliable because there are only two categories of people: Muslim and “non-Muslim,” which includes Christians along with other faiths. Also unaccounted for are the over three million refugees from Afghanistan, who in 2022 flooded into Pakistan.  

80% of Pakistanis live in rural areas where there are high levels of poverty and illiteracy, especially among the non-Muslim population. Even for the Muslim majority population, education does not tend to be of good quality. Some 2.5 million Muslim children are educated in “madrassas,” which are incubators for extremist thinking and do not provide a well-rounded education. Many girls and boys do not receive education beyond grade five and percentages decrease exponentially between grades six and ten. Only a few children receive education beyond grade ten. Add to this that most people of means and advantage either leave the country permanently or have their children educated in other parts of the world. Combined, these factors have created significant gaps both in cooperation and mutual understanding between people groups and in healthy leadership for society-at-large including the church.

Pakistan is number eight on the watch list of countries where Christians endure the greatest persecution. Persecution is “any hostility experienced as a result of one’s identification with Christ” (Open Doors). Such hostilities include physical violence against Christians and their leaders, forced conversion of Christians to Islam through marriage, pressure to give or sell Christian property to the majority population, and the application of blasphemy laws while police and justices refuse to intercede.  

God is at work in many ways through various expressions of the church in Pakistan. Our intention is to provide congregations and donors with a clear understanding of the scope into which we sense the Holy Spirit calling The Outreach Foundation. This vision statement is born from over thirty years of engagement in Pakistan and especially our visit in Spring 2022. We seek to bring Christ-infused, transformative hope to Pakistanis. In so doing we will support a broad movement that strengthens Christ’s church, builds Christian faith, and changes attitudes between faith communities in Pakistan. We wish to come alongside those who have neither voice nor opportunity were it not for partners in Pakistan focused on expressing Jesus’ love in courageous and creative ways. Meanwhile, we wish to encourage those who are influencers in key areas of Pakistani society that they may be an effective Christian witness in their Muslim majority context.  

Our vision is expressed through stories: 

·         of believers who, despite great personal risk, are making Jesus’s name famous among their Muslim friends and family

·         of girls who against all odds become Christian teachers, medical professionals, professors, and politicians, each one a true influencer in their culture

·         of young Christian and Muslim men and women who have been inspired to be agents of positive change in Pakistan shaped by a Christian worldview  

We will accomplish this vision in three biblically-rooted ways, which we deem essential for the gospel to flourish in Pakistan in the 21st century. First, our partners exhibit a faithful witness about Jesus Christ and draw new disciples to the church (Mt 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). Second, our partners exhibit a focus on women and children not only for their earthly empowerment but as an expression of the church’s commitment to building disciples of Jesus Christ who live in the world as transforming agents of culture (Rom 12:2; 1 Jn 2:3-6). Third, our partners equip the next generation to lead Christ’s church, in all her varied expressions, by providing young women and men with an education that is biblically and theologically rooted (Ps 78:1-6).  

Our strategy is accomplished through partners in Pakistan who have shown themselves to be faithful and obedient to God’s Word and call as witnesses to Christ where He has planted them. Each partner has proven themselves to be financially viable and transparent with us. Success for The Outreach Foundation occurs as congregations and donors in the United States are more deeply engaged with Christ’s work to transform Pakistan through these trusted partners.  

We measure engagement in the following ways. First, to be engaged is to show up in Pakistan, as often as God wills. In doing so we follow Jesus’s own example, for just as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us he also said, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21). Second, congregations and donors express their engagement by sharing their God-given financial resources with these partners. With accountability stitched into the relationship, The Outreach Foundation trusts our partners, listed below, to use these resources for the building up of God’s kingdom on earth through the church.  

Forman Christian College       
Pakistan Bible Correspondence School           
Pakistan Christian Recording Ministries        
Presbyterian Education Board

THE OPPORTUNITY
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts to support the mission and ministry of the Pakistan Partnership. All gifts of any size are welcomed to facilitate the sharing of the Good News in Pakistan. You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our office.