Leighton Medley our BPCA Outreach Minister has returned to Pakistan to reach new communities with the true Gospel of Christ and to continue discipling those who have already been reached through our previous campaigns. Leighton’s remit for this work is quite simple, he is to bolster the faith of Christians who have little access to regular church services, setting up bible study leaders who will one day become ministers of the Gospel in rural communities. He is to bring revival and better understanding to Christian churches in Pakistan many of which have adopted a very legalistic theology and have forgotten the need for repentance, faith in Christ and the need to place our trust in Him. Leighton has also been reaching out to Muslims and we hope that soon his work will provide a dividend by bringing others to the family of God.
He has been having great success with many believers expressing revival, churchgoers committing their lives to Christ, and Muslims taking an interest in the Gospel though yet to commit to Christ. We hope with further donations to make Leighton’s role a permanent one in two years time. For this we will need the help and support of those who was to see Christ’s gospel flourishing in Pakistan and seek you help to finance this important ministry. One of our costs is the purchase of bibles at £4 each. If you would like to help please donate by clicking (here).
Below is one of Leighton’s recent accounts of a trip to Iqbal, Faisal Town, Islamabad:
Today we visited the small Township of Iqbal Town located in Islamabad the capital of Pakistan. It is a poor area on the outskirts of the city, where actually many of the inhabitants are vegetable growers. As we drove around, we noticed places that looked like allotments, that were growing turnips, carrots and other assorted produce.
The community is mostly illiterate, yet most of them have Bibles, but just don’t know how to read them. We are here for a woman’s meeting, largely to discuss with them the woman’s role in the home. The scripture we preach from is Titus 2:3-5, and while we make some good points, I believe some of this is hard for them to understand, due mostly to cultural habits. Pakistan is a conservative Islamic nation and a very conservative one, so it should be no surprise that some of this has filtered through to the Christians here.
We try to emphasise of being wary of gossip and the training of younger women by the older ones. “To teach what is good, then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children.” Titus 2:3,4. Also, the pursuit of godliness at home and the essential role at home of making their husbands better men, the men God has called them to be and wants them to be. There is a problem among Pakistani Christian men, where they are not fulfilling their familial responsibilities and this means that all too often women are trying to take over the headship of the home.
We are honoured at the end of the meeting, by receiving shields from the community which is very humbling and I really don’t know what to say. We are all very blessed, and we find out about some good work, in particular St James’s School, which is a school which offers very low-cost education for the poorest peoples. This is something we hope to do in Kasur, in the not distant future, when we open our school for the brick kiln workers out there. My prayer is, that we continue to see this kind of growth continuing, among these communities where they help themselves and not be victims. This is the kind of confident Christianity, leading to us being overcomers and not defeatist, that we really need. May God bless us always, in Jesus name.
Brother Leighton
