White star in the green: The challenge of ministry training in Pakistan

Briefing partner Overseas Council Australia (OCA) recently hosted Ashkenaz Asif, the Principal of Zarephath Bible Institute (ZBI) in Pakistan. In this article, Stuart Brooking, Executive Director of OCA, explains the significance of ZBI in its context.

Life in Pakistan is a stark contrast to life in the western world. The population is 97 per cent Muslim, and the Christian church is dispirited and weak. How can God’s people reach this country with the gospel?

A brief history of the church in Pakistan

The history of Christianity in Pakistan is somewhat unusual. During Britain’s rule, the area we now know as Pakistan experienced a major movement of the Spirit of God. Between 1870 and 1930, the majority of lower caste Hindus in that region were converted to Christianity, the message of the gospel speaking to them powerfully about their value as people. This was a big contrast to what they had previously known. However, the group continued to rank among the poorest of the country, and when Pakistan became an Islamic country in 1947 (and an Islamic republic in 1956), they ended up a disenfranchised minority.

While the Roman Catholic church managed to grow its indigenous leadership, Protestant mission (Presbyterian and Anglican, mainly) were less successful. When the majority of missionaries left in the 1960s, the Pakistani church was unprepared for the transition—both in terms of its leadership capacity and general discipleship. In many places, the spiritual vitality of the church drifted into cultural nominalism, where the poverty of the people resulted in hyper-engagement with church structures. The church became the place of families’ primary social engagement and more, and the property of the church provided opportunities for corrupt dealings: many church leaders have sold land and buildings for personal benefit, and, incredible as it sounds, many other church leaders are consequently involved in ongoing court cases to either try to retrieve church property or to defend the church against such attempts. Furthermore, the structures of the church provide opportunities for employment and other benefits: it is common for strife to arise in the church over who gets paid to play music at a wedding or who gets the contract for doing maintenance. This hyper-engagement is a marked contrast to the West, where nominalism in a context of wealth leads to disengagement from the church.

Naturally, this background of nominalism and corruption, in combination with the dominant Islamic culture, has resulted in a number of inhibitors to the health and growth of the Christian Pakistani church. As a consequence, many foreign mission groups are reluctant to engage fully with the local church.

A Bible college for the gospel

Enter Zarephath Bible Institute (ZBI), which is located in Islamabad, the nation’s capital. Founded in 1983 by a cooperative of seven mission and church groups, ZBI has grown to become the second largest Bible college in Pakistan. (Note there are only half a dozen theological colleges in the country.) Students are drawn to ZBI from all over because of its reputation for emphasizing personal integrity and its program of outwardly focused ministry training. The former is critical for ensuring healthy churches, not dominated by church politics; the latter is essential for outreach to the surrounding Muslim community.

ZBI focuses its training in three areas. Firstly, students are discipled in faith and maturity so that they understand the implications of the gospel for living lives of integrity as leaders and pastors. This is done to combat the general weakness of the Pakistani church.

Secondly, students are encouraged to develop academic competence with the Scriptures. The types of degrees offered range from the one-year Certificate of Theology to the three-year Master of Divinity program. Academic competence with the Scriptures is particularly oriented towards the Islamic context to facilitate Muslim evangelism. Ashkenaz Asif, the principal of ZBI, continually encourages his students to understand their role as ambassadors for Christ, sometimes using Pakistan’s flag as an illustration of what he means. The flag is predominantly green, which is, of course, the colour for Islam. But it also has a white section representing Pakistan’s minority religions, which are primarily Christian. Asif tells his students to think of themselves as the white star shining out in the green part of the country.

Thirdly, in contrast to many colleges in the West, ZBI emphasizes practical ministry by providing students with weekly experience in evangelism and pastoral ministry, as well as 10-week placements every summer (June to August). ZBI’s policy is to send their students far from home so that they learn new things and grow in confidence. One year, they may work in a mission office with air conditioning (with the other students all suspecting favouritism); the next year, they will be sent to a church in a dry place where it is 45 degrees.

One young man enrolled at ZBI, but was not very strong—both in his studies, and physically, because of a childhood illness. But he was very faithful, and would come early to the college just to help with cleaning and the preparation of the rooms. For his placement, ZBI sent him to a beautiful mountain region in the middle of a pine forest—a tourist area that many Pakistanis visit with their families. His job was to look after a small wooden church that had been built there by the British military over a hundred years ago.

The student was there on his own. He had to cook and look after himself the whole time. When tourists (usually Muslim tourists) came to this unusual church, he was to show them around and explain to them about the building. He would invite them in, talk about the pulpit, the books and the other objects in the church, and offer them a drink of water or tea. Then he’d suggest to them that he pray with them for Pakistan and for their family. They would agree, and then as they were leaving, he’d offer them a New Testament for just 20 rupees (30 cents) and offer to take their photos for 100 rupees. The money he made went towards the upkeep of the church.

Over the summer, he sold more than 500 New Testaments to Muslim families. ZBI had never conceived of this kind of ministry before, and upon his return, students and faculty prayed that those families would read the Scriptures and find Christ.

An unexpected source of students

Native Pakistanis are not the only people group that comprise ZBI’s student demographic; Christians from Afghanistan, Iran and even China have enrolled there. Briefing readers may have heard of the ‘Back to Jerusalem Movement’, which was a concept suggested by western missionaries in the 1930s in which the Chinese church takes the gospel message back along the ancient silk routes through Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic lands. In my judgement, recent discussions of this concept have more to do with western church hype than mission reality, however there are some glimpses of a missionary impulse from the now stronger Chinese church. A few small groups have crossed the border into Pakistan, seeking to share their faith. In some cases, this sort of Chinese mission work has been naive. For example, some of the women have worn jeans (which is normal for China, but not so normal in conservative parts of Pakistan), and have been mistaken for prostitutes because of the provocative nature of their clothing.

So over the past few years, ZBI has been positioning itself as a training facility for Chinese Christians. The aim is to give them biblical knowledge, as well as mission experience in the context of an Islamic country. ZBI currently has three Chinese students out of a group of seven international students. ZBI’s 10-year plan is to increase these numbers substantially, while keeping their train­ing an adjunct to the core task of training Pakistanis for Pakistan.

A vision for the future

ZBI has now been in operation for 26 years, and has built up its reputation and competence to the point where it is able to expand its operations. The development of an international training centre is just one of several key ministry strategies they are working towards. In partnership with Overseas Council Australia (OCA) (which is providing much-needed funds), ZBI is focusing on upgrading its faculties, increasing support for its students and, most importantly, building a new campus. Operating expenses for the college are currently just under $50,000 per year, and this provides for all the faculty and 64 students. As building costs are about half to a third of the cost they would be in a country like Australia, OCA is keen to fund the college’s infrastructure so that ZBI can expand its ministry.

~

As different as the ministrycontext and training methods are in Pakistan, profound similarities exist with every other mission field: the local church needs home-grown leaders, who are both competent in the Scriptures and with their context, and the support of outsiders to help them achieve their vision under God. May I suggest you now take a minute to pray and thank God for ZBI, and to request his aid for its work? 

For more information about Zarephath Bible Institute and Overseas Council Australia, visit www.zbiedu.org and www.overseascouncil.com.au or email office@overseascouncil.com.au.