Pakistan’s Christians Need Our Prayers and Our Action

Home Bible Study in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan

For Christians in Pakistan, persecution is not a distant possibility. Many are denied opportunities, trapped in generational poverty, and pushed into dangerous, low-paying labor. Christian families are frequently employed in brick kilns, sanitation services, domestic labor, agriculture, and other environments where exploitation and bonded labor remain widespread.

Those who openly follow Jesus may face hostility from employers, neighbors, religious extremists, government authorities, and even their own relatives. Christians who convert from Islam often face especially severe threats because their decision to follow Christ may be viewed as a betrayal of their family, community, and religion.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws make this environment even more dangerous. An accusation, including one based on a personal dispute or fabricated claim, can lead to arrest, imprisonment, mob violence, the destruction of Christian homes and churches, or death. Religious freedom organizations continue to report that these laws are used disproportionately against religious minorities and that an accusation alone can place an entire Christian community at risk.

These Are Not Isolated Stories

The persecution of Christians in Pakistan is not theoretical. It has names, faces, families, and devastating consequences.

On June 22, 2026, Siddique Masih, a 40-year-old Christian father of four, was working as a daily-wage brick loader in Punjab Province. According to witnesses and local Christian advocates, a Muslim coworker confronted Siddique when he attempted to drink from a water cooler provided for the laborers. The coworker reportedly objected because Siddique was a Christian. Siddique was then attacked and killed at the worksite.

His death reflects the caste-based discrimination many Pakistani Christians still experience. In some communities, Christians are regarded as “unclean” and may be prevented from sharing drinking water, dishes, food, or other basic necessities with Muslims.

Christian girls face an equally urgent danger.

In July 2025, 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz was reportedly abducted from her Christian family by a 30-year-old man, forcibly converted to Islam, and married to her abductor. Her family continued seeking justice after a court ruling left her in the man’s custody. Her case reflects a broader pattern in which underage Christian and Hindu girls are abducted, converted, and married while perpetrators claim that the girls converted willingly or present falsified documents identifying minors as adults.

In another reported case from Faisalabad, a Christian girl was abducted by a coworker in August 2025, forcibly converted, and married. Her family was reportedly driven from its home, which was then unlawfully occupied.

In 2026, a 15-year-old Christian girl from Faisalabad was reportedly abducted from her home. Police allegedly refused to register the family’s complaint for 21 days, acting only after a human rights organization intervened.

International experts have continued to warn of patterns involving the abduction, forced religious conversion, trafficking, child marriage, and forced marriage of women and girls from Pakistan’s religious minority communities.

These girls are not statistics. They are daughters, sisters, students, and young believers whose futures can be taken from them in a single moment.

The need is immediate.

CMI’s Work in Pakistan

Central Missions International works directly with Naeem Sabir in Sahiwal, Pakistan. Naeem serves local Christian communities by sharing the gospel, teaching Scripture, encouraging believers, and helping strengthen the Church in an environment where openly following Jesus can carry serious personal risk.

Through this relationship, CMI is helping provide complete Urdu Audio Bibles on MP3 for Christians who cannot read or write. Each Audio Bible includes a long-term supply of batteries and costs approximately $20.

For many Pakistani believers, a printed Bible may be difficult or impossible to use because poverty, discrimination, and limited educational opportunities have prevented them from learning to read. An Urdu Audio Bible allows them to hear God’s Word in their own language, grow in their faith, teach their children, encourage other believers, and share the gospel within their communities.

In a nation where following Christ can cost someone a job, a home, a daughter, or even a life, access to Scripture is not a luxury. It provides spiritual nourishment, discipleship, courage, and hope.

Proposed Ministry for Women and Girls

CMI is also considering an opportunity to expand its work among Christian women and girls in Sahiwal. Both the proposed women’s discipleship ministry and the proposed sewing ministry are awaiting approval from CMI’s Board of Directors.

Under the proposed women’s ministry, approximately 40 Christian women would travel to Sahiwal every other month for Bible study, prayer, encouragement, and discipleship. Many of these women already teach girls and young women in their local churches. What they learn could be carried back into their communities, multiplying the impact as they help the next generation understand Scripture, remain faithful to Christ, and recognize dangerous situations.

This opportunity is especially significant because poverty sometimes forces Christian families to send young girls into domestic labor. Working alone in private homes can leave them vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, trafficking, forced conversion, and forced marriage.

The proposed sewing ministry would offer girls an alternative path. In a Christian environment, they could learn a practical skill, develop a source of income, and reduce their dependence on employment situations that may place them at risk.

If approved, these ministries would reflect CMI’s commitment to strengthening believers both spiritually and practically by placing Scripture in their hearts, useful skills in their hands, and greater protection around their futures.

Please Pray

Heavenly Father,

We lift before You our brothers and sisters in Pakistan who faithfully follow Jesus in the face of persecution, discrimination, poverty, and danger.

We pray for the widow and children of Siddique Masih and for every Christian family that has lost a loved one because of hatred and religious discrimination. Comfort them, provide for them, and surround them with faithful believers who will help carry their burdens.

Lord, protect Christian women and girls who are vulnerable to abduction, trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced conversion, and forced marriage. Bring those who have been taken home safely. Expose false documents, corrupt decisions, and those who use power to exploit the vulnerable. Give Christian parents wisdom, resources, and protection as they care for their daughters.

Strengthen and protect Naeem Sabir as he shares the gospel, teaches Your Word, encourages believers, and serves Christian communities in Pakistan. Give him wisdom, courage, discernment, and an unshakable confidence in Your power.

Provide Urdu Audio Bibles for believers who cannot read. Let Your Word enter homes, villages, brick-kiln communities, churches, and places that have never had meaningful access to Scripture. May those who hear it come to know Jesus, grow in faith, and share the gospel with others.

Give CMI’s Board of Directors wisdom as they consider the proposed women’s discipleship and sewing ministries. Make Your will clear. If these ministries are approved, provide the leadership, resources, protection, and financial support needed to serve women and girls effectively.

Defend Christians who are falsely accused under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Comfort those who are imprisoned, strengthen their families, and bring truth into every courtroom and police station.

Lord, the need is urgent, but the darkness is not greater than Your light. Strengthen Your Church in Pakistan. Make believers steadfast, courageous, compassionate, and united. Open doors that no one can shut, and let the gospel continue moving from heart to heart, family to family, and community to community.

In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword.” Hebrews 4:12