Equipping Pastors, Changing Communities
The Ministry Essentials Training Program in Pakistan
Approximately 80% of Pakistan’s population lives in rural villages and is often neglected. In rural areas, the majority and minority populations share common needs and hunger for the good news of our loving God. From these rural settings, God has called certain men and women to share the gospel while meeting real needs, even though they have no training and little support. The staff at Pakistan Bible Correspondence School (PBCS) in Faisalabad dares to challenge this situation. The Outreach Foundation has joined PBCS in its passion to share the gospel effectively and holistically by providing a Ministry Essentials Training Program (METP). METP gives rural church leaders, both men and women, a solid grounding in Scripture and the practical skills they need to lead well.
An Impact in the Brick Kilns
The most recent training cycle’s surprise was the impact METP-trained leaders are having on families working in brick kilns. The country has roughly 20,000 kilns that employ millions of workers, and about half of those laborers are from religious minorities, mainly Christians and Hindus. Families often fall into debt bondage after borrowing from a kiln owner to cover a medical emergency or a daughter’s wedding. Wages are low, and interest rates are high, so debt can be passed from one generation to the next. Pakistan outlawed bonded labor in 1992, but enforcement remains weak due to corruption, police collusion, and a system that keeps laborers from escaping.
Freedom alone doesn’t solve the problem. Families who have been released have never managed their own money, and one emergency can send them back to the kilns. That is where one METP leader is making a difference. Sarah, a counselor who works with freed families, shared that METP gave her financial tools to help protect vulnerable families from returning to bondage. Sarah shares:
“I serve in an organization that works with the people working in the brick kilns as bonded labor. I have the responsibility to counsel the people set free from such bondage… METP exceeded my expectations and helped me grow in my faith and counsel others better. The session on Financial Stewardship [helped me] make a clear connection between the failure to manage the resources well and the plight of the people in bondage. I made it a point to take this learning to the people set free from bondage so that as they start living their lives as free people, they would learn to manage resources well (even if those resources are little) so that they do not regress back into the situation they came out of.”
Impact Beyond the Classroom
Participants say METP has changed three areas of their ministry:
• Confidence in preaching: Pastors come away with a clearer, Christ-centered understanding of Scripture. They see how the whole Bible points to Jesus, and they preach with new conviction.
• Wisdom in hard situations: Leaders who serve people affected by poverty and injustice put what they learn to work right away, from counseling to practical life skills.
• Courage in outreach: Experienced pastors with decades of service say the training deepened their understanding of God’s heart for the lost. It also showed them wise, discerning ways to share the gospel in a sensitive setting.
Part of a Wider Ministry
METP is one part of PBCS’s broader work. From January to June 2026, PBCS served 531 active correspondence students, awarded 1,515 certificates, and distributed 300 New Testaments, 248 Bibles, and 600 audio Bibles. Its social media accounts reached more than 823,000 people. METP-trained leaders are the shepherds who receive these seekers, disciple them, and connect them to local churches.
“I have been serving the Lord for more than two decades… METP helped me understand further about God’s heart for the lost and also helped me figure out ways to bring the good news to people in a discerning way,” said Pastor Khalid Masih.
THE OPPORTUNITY
During the last cycle, PBCS trained 66 pastors and ministry leaders. For the next cycle, more than 85 have registered, including participants from districts far from Faisalabad. This marks an expansion of the program to nearly 3 times its 2022 numbers! By offering the Ministry Essential Training Program, PBCS has become a game-changer in rural contexts. Your gift will make a difference in Pakistan.
You may make a gift by sending a check to the address below with the partner name PBCS in the memo or you can donate on our website: www.theoutreachfoundation.org.
