Pray for Pakistan Bombing Victims

Pray for Pakistan Bombing Victims Friday, September 27, 2013 Terrorists have struck again in Pakistan, this time attacking an historic Christian church as hundreds of worshipers filed outside after the service on Sunday. Called the deadliest attack ever on the nation’s Christian minority, at least 85 people were killed and more than 140 injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the crowded front lawn of All Saints Church September 22. A branch of the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing. The 130-year-old church is located in the city of Peshawar in the northwestern part of the country. About 500 to 600 people were believed to be inside the sanctuary at the time of the blasts. Islamic militants have been blamed for previous attacks on Pakistan’s Christians, who make up 1.6 percent of the country’s population. In March, a Muslim mob raided a Christian neighborhood in the city of Lahore, setting fire to two churches and over 100 homes. Last year, protestors ransacked and destroyed St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Mardan, located about 40 miles from Peshawar. Two Christian Aid-assisted ministries in Pakistan have contacted our South Asia director, Sarla Mahara, and asked for prayer. Neither ministry was directly affected by Sunday’s attack. Mahara said the attack on the church in Peshawar, like previous assaults on symbols of Christianity, was intended to deliver a message to those who are perceived to follow a “white man’s religion.” Changing that perception is the most difficult hurdle believers face in South Asia and other parts of the world. This makes it all the more imperative that indigenous missionaries be the faces of Christianity in their country. “We must do everything we can as the body of Christ to assist our brothers and sisters as they reach their own people with the gospel,” she said. Christian Aid partners with more than 200 local ministries in South Asia who plant churches among unreached people groups, train Christian leaders, and assist with meeting physical needs. These dedicated gospel workers put their lives on the line almost daily so that others will know the Savior. Please pray for those who were maimed or who lost loved ones in Sunday’s horrific attack. As the Scriptures say, “You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror” (Psalm 10: 17-18, NIV). “Persecution always makes the followers of Christ stronger,” Mahara said. “We need to pray for these suffering families, that the peace of our Lord would still abound in the midst of this violence.”

All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan

Prayer Requests:

• For grieving families and the entire congregation of All Saints Church who are still in shock following the bombings.
• For frustrated Christians in Pakistan who are angered by yet another terrorist event and are demanding the government take more action to combat such attacks.
• For the attackers, that they will hear the gospel and experience changed hearts.
• For protection and wisdom for Pakistani ministries as they work faithfully in the midst of difficult and even dangerous situations.