Westminster Biblical Missions

By Rev. Alexander David

Dear Friends and Partners in Missions,

Greetings in the gracious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We praise and thank God for the safety and protection of our people during these difficult times. God has been very gracious to bless our work among the village people.

My father, Rev. Alexander David, joins me in thanking you for your prayers concerning his health. The past two years he has seen many ups and downs in his health. As you know he has had heart disease and did suffer a stroke. This past year he was diagnosed with Colon cancer. I’m happy to report that it was discovered early and that the subsequent surgery was successful. He has now fully recovered and there have been no further complications. We thank God for this and that he does not need additional treatment. Please pray for him regarding his speech which was affected by the stroke and also for his ability to walk. His balance has been deteriorating significantly of late.

We praise God for the opportunity that opened up to start new churches in two of the villages; villages # 12 & 13 (villages are often simply numbered in Pakistan). These villages have not had a regular pastor for some time. Several arminian groups, including Roman Catholic priests, have been visiting these villages in the recent past. Pastor Butta Masih has been visiting these villages regularly. The families in these villages testify that now they have heard the true biblical teaching through Pastor Butta and are very excited about their new church. Rev. Butta preaches the Word of God each Sunday in these villages with about 25 to 30 families in Village # 12 and about 60 families in Village #13. The land for a new church has been bought. The funds for the building are being collected. These villages have also requested us to open sewing centers.

People in these congregation are very happy and thank God for Rev. Butta Masih, who is a great asset to our ministry. Besides his pastoral work, Rev. Butta Masih teaches Bible class to the students.

In Village 174, where Pastor David began, there are 10 girls in our sewing class, all of these girls also attend literacy class. Our Christian day school has about 100 students. Hopefully we will have more admissions this year. We have eight teachers on our staff. Please understand how our school has been a great blessing for the people of these villages, otherwise they would have no opportunity for a Christian education.

Our ministry suffered a great loss last year, when our van (which was our Book Mobile for taking Christian literature to the villages and transporting our evangelistic team of Pastor Butta and other elders) was stolen. It has not been found and it is doubtful that it will be even though the police claim they will be able to find it soon. Our evangelistic team is in real need of a Van.

Prayer Requests and Needs:

• Pray for the spiritual prosperity of the Christians in Pakistan.
• Pray that when they gather to worship in the churches they will be safe.
• Pray for Lord’s guidance in church planting and Evangelistic work through our mission.
• Please continue to pray for my father’s health.
• Please pray for the funds to be provided for a replacement van (and that we can find a good one at a reasonable price -under $10,000 U.S.).

Especially pray for funding to help build a new church building in Village #12 (Note: The land has already been purchased.)

We need more classrooms for our day school. Please pray that the funds will be given which will allow us to build when the school is closed during summer holidays.

Since my father has not been able to continue his writing and translation work, please pray that I (his son Samuel) will be able to carry on that service. It is very difficult and challenging for me, due to my full time employment as clinical case manager with a foster care agency, to find the time for translation work. I am also involved in ministering to Pakistani nationals through a weekly Urdu language radio program in the Philadelphia area (which is sponsored by our local church in Philadelphia).

We were unable to communicate with our supporting churches regularly. We hope that we will keep you updated about the ministry on a regular basis. Hopefully before the end of this year I’ll be able to travel to Pakistan to visit our ministry.

I would like visit our supporting churches and share about our ministry. Please let me know when would be a good time for me to visit your church. After the tragic events of 9/11, and due to current events of violence and terrorism, it has become extremely important to understand the religion of Islam. If you would like to have a special meeting on “The Christian Understanding of Islam and Our Response” please contact us.

Thank you for your prayers and financial help for the Village Ministry. May God richly bless you.

Yours In His service,
Rev. Samuel David

Please make out your gifts to “Westminster Biblical Missions, Inc.” and note on the check that this gift is for the “Pakistan Village Ministry”.

Following is a summary of Muslim aggression and the persecution of Christians in Pakistan during the year 1998. Please pray that Lord will grant his people strong commitment to the faith.

• January 1998: Three young Christian girls, Nadia 14, Nayla 11 and Nabila 9 were taken away by a Muslim land lady, converted to Islam. Pastor Noor Alam in Sheikhupura District was stabed to death and his church destroyed.
• February 1998: A Christian village Shanti Nagar was attacked by fanatic Muslims. Three hundred homes, three churches and several stores burnt. Several women were kidnapped and raped.
• April 1998: Six members of a Christian family were murdered in the town of Munir, District Sheikhupura.
• Death sentence to Ayub Masih by session court sahiwal for telling a Muslim to read satanic verses by Salmon Rushdi and accused of blasphemy.
• May 1998: Bishop John Joseph killed himself protesting against courts decision of a death sentence of Ayub Masih.
• Ranjah Masih 50, Shafiq Masih 25 were arrested in Faisalabad accused of Blasphemy. Both narrowly escaped death by Muslims ready to stone them.
• August 1998: Chanesar Palari and Fiyaz Masih died in police custody due to torture by Hyderabad police.
• September 1998: 107 Christian peasants including women and children were kidnapped from their camp in Matli, Sindh. Father Dennis and 25 people were injured in the defense of the peasants.
• October 1998: Saleema a young Christian girl was raped, tortured and now in prison on Murder charges. Saleema had given her Bible to a Muslim friend, who was converted to Christian faith. She was killed by her own family in public.
• November 1998: Nine members of a Christian family in Nowshera were slaughtered in their home, in heavily protected cantonment area of the city. The dead included Bhatti, his wife Rose, married daughter Shaheen, daughter-in-law Rubina, 10-year-old granddaughter Sobia, six-year-old grandson Saqib, six-month-old grandson Naveed. Their visitor, 14-year-old Afzal, was also among the victims.
• December 1998: A bomb exploded inside a Roman Catholic church in Karachi, which wounded one woman and severe damage to the Church building.

Updated list of our Urdu publications, January 1999

The following books have been translated into Urdu language by Rev. Alexander David and are available now in Pakistan and in US.

1. “A work book On the Heidelberg Catechism” by Norman Jones
2. “Confessing Christ” by Calvin K. Cummings
3. “The Reformed Faith” by Loraine Boettner
4. “The Truth of Christianity” by Alexander David .
5. “Listen! What the Bible says to you?” by Alexander David ( part 1 ) Part 2 in process of being printed.
6. “The Faith of our Fathers living still” by Paul Trieck

The following books have been translated and are in process of being published.

1. “A Manual for Elders” prepared by Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America
2. “Christianity and Humanism - A Study in Contrast.” By Steve Hallman
3. “The Directory of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States.”
4. “The Truth of Christianity” by Alexander David has been translated into English, and will be printed here in the US.

The following books are being translated.

1. “The Bible: God’s Word.” by W. Gary Crampton.
2. “Old Testament History” by J G. Vos
3. “The Enemies of Christianity” by Alexander David

Posted on May 1st, 2002 by Rev. Dennis Roe
Filed under: Newsletters, Pakistan