In a small town in western Punjab, now in northern Pakistan, there lived a Hindu from a caste of farmers. His name was Nattu Lal. He heard the gospel, put his faith in Christ and was baptised in November 1872.
Nattu was the son of the head man in his village. His family was wealthy, but Nattu wasted his money and proved himself to be a poor Christian witness. But he did one thing that was of immense importance. He brought a poor man called Ditt to faith in Jesus.
Ditt was an outcaste, a collector of animal skins and despised in the Hindu caste system. He was described as ‘a dark little man, lame in one leg, quiet and modest, with sincerity in his face, at that time about 30 years of age’. Nattu took Ditt to meet a missionary called Samuel Martin in Sialkot. Ditt immediately asked to be baptised. The missionary wanted him to stay and receive teaching about his new faith, but Ditt wanted to leave. Martin baptised him and he immediately returned to his village 30 miles away.
Back home Ditt began to tell his family and friends about Jesus. Some were angry and refused to listen. One person told him: ‘You already have a broken leg; may your other also break!’ Three months later, in August 1873, to his great joy, Ditt’s wife and daughter and two of his near neighbours became Christians. They walked the 30 miles back to Sialkot where Samuel Martin baptised them.
It was a turning point in the amazing story of Pakistan’s Christians. Ditt went on to bring his whole family to Christ. He preached wherever he went. Within a few years hundreds of simple, illiterate Hindu outcastes became Christian. Their descendants form much of the church in today’s Pakistan.
My journey of discovery
This is just one of many insights into the long history of Christian activity in the land we now call Pakistan. My journey of discovery began 40 years ago when my wife and I arrived in Lahore to launch teams of young men and women in evangelism, training and service. Pakistan was a different country then. The population was just 84 million. Today it is more that 240 million. About 5 million claim to be Christian. We have witnessed a slice of history and colossal change.
Pakistan’s Christians have equal rights and freedoms in the Constitution to worship, and open churches, schools and hospitals. Yet many are still poor and live as second-class citizens with little hope for change. For too long, Pakistan’s Christians have come to be known as a ‘sweeper’ community, given the dirtiest jobs. Among Pakistan’s sanitation workers, 80% are Christians. ‘Do Christians have any future in Pakistan?’ is the all-too -common question.
And yet Pakistan’s Christians have a long and distinguished record: history that stretches back 2,000 years; roots that go deep into the national soil; and influence for good far beyond their numerical strength. They are a people with a long and impressive history.
In 1999 a Christian leader said to me: ‘Mike, if you really want to help our community, help us educate our children.’ My wife and I set out to do that, founding a charity, Starfish Asia, that now supports 8,000 Christian children in school. We prepared a Bible Curriculum for primary pupils that is now used in 100 schools across Pakistan.
Over the past year, we prepared a textbook to teach Pakistan’s Christians what a rich heritage they have – The Amazing Story of Pakistan’s Christians. This has been adapted and was published in the UK in 2024. It is part of our ambition to restore hope and dignity to the community.
A thousand amazing stories
Pakistani Christians truly stand on the shoulders of giants, though sadly few realise it. An ancient legend tells that one of the Wise Men who travelled from the East passed through Taxila, a town west of Pakistan’s capital, on his way to Bethlehem. A legend maybe, retold in the 14th century by a Carmelite scholar, Johannes of Hildesheim, and titled ‘The History of the Three Kings’ – but legends are often rooted in history.
Another story, with stronger evidence, tells of the arrival of the apostle Thomas in the Kingdom of Gondophares in about AD 40. Written in about AD 200, The Acts of Thomas describes how the apostles divided the world and allocated India to Thomas. Thomas did not want to be a missionary. He replied: ‘I have not strength enough for this, because I am weak. And I am a Hebrew: how can I teach the Indians?’ However, he prayed and set out for India. As he went he preached to the Parthians (Persians) and Afghans, and arrived in Sirkap, a town very close to Taxila (in modern Pakistan).
Thomas continued to preach and bring people to Christ and so the first Punjabi church was established. King Gondophares himself may have become a Christian. By the time of his death in AD 50, there were many new converts to the Christian faith through the preaching of the apostle.
There have been Christians in the area now known as Pakistan ever since – sometimes very few, often despised or subjected to oppressive regimes of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Sikh rulers. But a faithful few believers remained. In June 2020 an amazing discovery was made in the mountains of northern Pakistan. Archaeologists found an ancient Christian cross and signs that there had been Christians in northern Pakistan more than 1,000 years ago. The huge cross, made of marble, weighing about four tonnes, was found close to a remote village overlooking the Indus River.
The turning point
A turning point came in 1600 when a group of English businessmen founded the ‘East India Company’. In 1608 traders arrived in India and trade expanded rapidly between India and Europe. With the traders came soldiers, to protect their business interests – and with the army came chaplains, to serve the spiritual needs of the army.
William Carey, born in Northamptonshire in 1761, was a man of vision, passion and faith. He wrote: ‘Expect great things from God, receive great things from God.’ At the age of 31, together with several friends, he formed a society, later known as the Baptist Mission Society. He arrived in Calcutta in 1793 and began to translate the Bible into Indian languages. He oversaw the translation of the first Punjabi New Testament. It was printed in 1815. William Carey himself said that the Punjabi Bible had become more popular among the Sikhs of Punjab than anywhere else in India: ‘The book of Jesus is spoken of, is read, and has caused a considerable stir in the minds of the people.’
In 1813 a new contract, known as the Charter Act, was approved between the British Government and the East India Company. It granted permission for missionaries to enter British India to preach, evangelise, and open schools and hospitals.
These were years of great turmoil across India. The mighty Mughal Empire was crumbling, giving way to the rise of powerful Sikh rulers in Punjab, with their capital in the city of Lahore, modern Pakistan’s second city.
In 1834 an American Presbyterian missionary, John Lowrie, arrived in India. His aim was to bring the gospel to the Punjabis, and he believed in the value of education. ‘The missionary’s schools are his churches,’ he said. He established a Christian school in Ludhiana. Lowrie visited the great Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in Lahore and gave him a Bible. ‘Where is God?’ asked the Maharaja. Lowrie replied: ‘God is everywhere present; He has made known in His holy word how we should worship Him.’
John Lowrie returned to his home in America and wrote: ‘The invitation is now sent forth: “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isa.45:22).’ He became Assistant Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. Hundreds applied to join the mission.
The century of mission & evangelism
Space forbids us to recount the many stories of faith and sacrifice, failure and success that followed in the 19th century. It was a century of missionary endeavour and commitment, as churches were planted, hospitals and schools opened, thousands turned to Christ and local pastors were trained and took leadership. Mission reports are filled with tales of progress and retreat, massacre and revival, the growth of churches and the bravery and faith of national evangelists and pastors.
Christian schools that opened with just a few boys and girls from the street are now leading the way in higher education. For example, in 1849 missionary Charles Forman opened a school with three boys under a tree. Today, Forman Christian University is a Chartered University with 8,500 students in Lahore. Similarly, Karachi Grammar School began in the kitchen of missionary Henry Brereton in 1847.
Revival came to Punjab at the start of the 20th century. The great annual Christian Convention in the northern city of Sialkot, that still attracts thousands to a week of preaching, teaching and celebration, began in 1904 through the prayers of a small group of missionaries and national evangelists.
The movement towards independence from the British Empire grew, and many Christians worked with dedication and hope towards the birth of the new nation of Pakistan in 1947. S.P. Singha, a Christian and Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, worked tirelessly to convince Christians to become part of Pakistan. ‘At the time of partition of the subcontinent of India … Christians should be counted with Muslims,’ he said. Joshua Fazl-ud-Din wrote a book, The Future of Christians in Pakistan. His view? ‘It was in accordance with the voice of God’.
Persecution and prejudice? Sadly, yes – together with the freedom to worship, to run their own schools, churches and institutions, and play a leading role in Pakistan’s future. Today Pakistani Christians can look back with pride, inspired by the faith of their forefathers and the evidence that God looks with favour and love on the land we now know as Pakistan.
Open Doors ranks Pakistan as the seventh most challenging country in the world for Christians. It reports: ‘There are 4.2 million Christians in Muslim-majority Pakistan – which is only 1.8 per cent of the country’s population of about 234 million people… All Christians suffer from institutionalised discrimination, and many are referred to as ‘chura’ meaning ‘filthy’. Historical churches have relative freedom for worship and other activities. However, they are heavily monitored and have been targeted for bomb attacks. Most of the country’s Christians live in Punjab Province, and so this is where most incidents of persecution are recorded.’
