Jesus’ Radical Love
Modern-day disciples in Pakistan are following in the footsteps of the Master
During His earthly ministry, Jesus spent much time mixing with the poor and the marginalized, demonstrating God’s great love for them. Jesus always looked out for the least of the least, the poorest of the poor, those whom most people – including “respectable” religious people – ignored or despised. He was sensitive to their needs and sought to serve them.
The Early Christians understood this well and followed Jesus’ example. They saw the needs of the most vulnerable and poor and simply responded with love, generosity and practical action. Like the Good Samaritan, they saw a person in need and lovingly reached out to help.
For example, in ancient Rome the usual pagan practice was to leave unwanted children outside the house to die of exposure or to abandon them at one of the city’s garbage dumps. The Early Christians were persecuted for their faith at that time, with many of them brutally martyred. But these Christians still did not forget the needs of the most vulnerable. They rescued many of the abandoned children and cared for them. The Early Christians eagerly and selfsacrificially followed in the footsteps of Jesus.
The perfect example …
Jesus has a radical love for others – so radical that He willingly died on the Cross for our sins. As His disciples, Jesus expects us to also have radical and selfsacrificial love, for God and for our neighbours and these expectations are clearly reflected in His two Greatest Commandments; to Love God with all our heart, mind and souland to love our neighbours as ourselves.(See Matthew 22:34-40 and Luke 10:25-37)
Thus, the life of a committed Christian who is living out the way of Jesus Christ will be a life of servanthood, in service to God and to our neighbours. For service is love in action. God has placed us in this world to love and to serve. And when we really do God’s word, then the non-believers will come to Christ in droves.
… A modern response
Thankfully there are still some Christians today who want to follow Jesus’ path of radical love, and Joseph Barkat is one of them. Joseph is an Assemblies of God pastor who teaches at a bible college in Pakistan. “It’s not enough to just teach,” insists Joseph, “If you show your love, people will come to Jesus. That is why we call our work Footsteps Ministry in Pakistan. We are just walking in the footsteps of Jesus.”
Pakistan’s Christians suffer extensively from persecution and deep poverty. Christians make up around 2.4% of Pakistan’s population, approximately 4.5 million people. Pakistan’s Christians are relentlessly persecuted for their faith. For example, on the evening of 27 March 2016 an Islamic extremist group targeted Christians at a public park in Lahore, Pakistan with a devastating suicide bombing. At least seventy people were killed, most of them women and children, while more than threehundred-and-fifty others were seriously injured. The Pakistani Christians had gathered at the park to celebrate Easter.
Although making up only about 2.4% of the population around 80% or more of Pakistan’s bonded labourers are Christians. Bonded labour is a modern form of slavery. The worker has to work without pay until the debt he owes is completely paid off by his labour. If he dies before the debt is cleared his family inherit the liability and have to work for the creditor. It is difficult for poor Christians to avoid borrowing from those who control bonded labourers since no bank will regard them as creditworthy.
There are mainly two types of bonded labour in Pakistan. One involves working in the brick kilns and the other consists of agricultural labour. I have visited bonded labourers and seen Christian girls aged 4 and 7 making bricks under the hot sun. The debtor’s family live in the kiln and they all join in the work, with the children rarely able to attend school. Most bonded labourers are illiterate so they are frequently misled into believing their debt has not yet been paid off even when it has.
By their works …
Footsteps Ministry runs six primary schools for four-hundred poor Christian children including children from families in bonded labour. They don’t pay any school fees but have to buy the items they need for school. In addition, the ministry runs six sewing centres with a total of two-hundred female Christian students from poor families. The sexual harassment and rape of impoverished Christian girls who work as domestic servants for Muslim families is common, but for them such work is usually the only way they can earn money. The sewing centres teach the girls how to sew so they can earn their living this way instead of becoming very vulnerable domestic servants. Some of these girls start their own sewing businesses from home after they graduate and many of them receive a free sewing machine from Footsteps Ministry.
Once a month, Footsteps Ministry takes children and the elderly from the brick kilns to the local hospital and pays for whatever medical treatment they need. The ministry has a pastor who visits twelve brick kilns regularly to preach and teach from the Bible and conduct Sunday School and worship meetings at the brick kilns. Many bonded labourers are nominal Christians so the pastor also does evangelism. Another Footsteps pastor covers ten other brick kilns regularly. In addition, the pastors deliver food once every fortnight to poor Christian families in twelve brick kilns and hope to expand such support to more kilns if they can obtain the funds to do this.
Footsteps Ministry has even set up a sewing centre in a brick kiln, enabling the poor and isolated women there to learn a useful trade. The ministry also conducts Bible classes, evangelism and worship meetings at all its schools and sewing centres.
By God’s grace many poor nominal Christians are becoming born again believers through their contact with Footsteps Ministry.
In addition, the ministry distributes food among the poor once a month and regularly gives money to impoverished widows. Footsteps Ministry also organises medical camps at churches and at the brick kilns, providing doctors and medicines to the poor who can least afford them.
Lives transformed
So many lives have been positively transformed by Footsteps Ministry’s loving service. Here are only a few examples:
Rebecca used to work in a Muslim home where she was treated badly. Now after one year of training at their sewing centre Footsteps Ministry has given her a sewing machine and she is working
from her home as a seamstress.
Sabina is now working in a clothing factory, where she earns a good wage. Before training at a sewing centre, she used to earn very little.
Shazia was trained at a Footsteps Ministry Sewing Centre. This enabled her to start her own business two years ago. She is doing very well and earns enough to pay her rent, feed her three children and pay for their schooling. There are also several other women like Shazia, thanks to the training that they received at the sewing centres.
Zanobia used to work as a cleaner and did domestic work for a Muslim family. She was badly treated and beaten many times. After two years of training at a sewing centre in sewing, embroidery and special stitching, she is now working at a Boutique and earning a good income that enables her to support her family.
Sonia was gang raped and she wanted to kill herself. She was helped by one of the Footsteps Ministry pastors and completed a one-year training course at a sewing centre. Her life has been totally and very positively transformed. She is married now and works from home.
After being trained at a sewing centre Mrs Kashiro managed to obtain work in a clothing factory and earn a good wage. She used to be a poor village girl, working in the fields and looking after cattle.
Joseph Barkat says: “We have been going to Pakistan for the last ten years as missionaries. We have seen that many children who studied in our schools are now doing very well… I will mention just a few names. “Khalid is working as an Assistant Teacher in a private village school. Javid is working in a bank as a trainee to deal with the customers. Sardar is doing Nursing training. Sajid is studying science subjects at a College. He wants to become a Doctor so that he can treat poor people for free. “Five of our students went on to study at Bible College and now they are serving as pastors. We have seen lives changed for the better for many boys and girls. It really thrills our hearts that we could do something to bring positive change to all these lives.”
The British charity, Siloam Christian Ministries, receives donations on behalf of Footsteps Ministry. To give please make a cheque out to: Siloam Christian Ministries and send it to: Siloam, P.O Box 4198, Leamington Spa CV31 9BP, with a note stating that this money is for project number 032, helping the poor in Pakistan.