PAKISTAN —Last summer violent mob attacks on churches in the Punjab province in Pakistan hit the headlines. Sadly attacks like these are continuing. Recently another church was severely damaged when Islamist mobs poured caustic chemicals on a church and set it aflame.

However Help The Persecuted was quick to respond by providing emergency support to the congregation and the Christian ministry continues to support churches impacted by last year’s attacks.

*Name changed and faces blurred for security reasons.

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Seven months after armed mobs attacked churches in Pakistan’s Punjab province, another church in the region has fallen victim to a violent attack. Islamist mobs poured caustic chemicals to the church and set it aflame. Before anyone could put it out, the fire gutted the entire building, leaving only ashes and the frame of the building in its wake. The air conditioner, sound system, carpets and Bibles all must be replaced. Rashid, a field ministry team leader in Pakistan, where the Christian ministry helped the persecuted, was on the scene within hours to see how they can support this congregation. He explains what was behind this latest attack.

Rashid:

So the church was connected with the building which is under construction and they are making new building. So people of the new building, owner of the new building, they send some individuals because they don’t like to attach the church with the new building and they think that this church is blocking our new building.

Rashid says they are providing ongoing support to the churches that were vandalised last year and enabled one fellowship to reopen thanks to the repairs they provided.

Rashid:

We were able to support a church. It was totally vandalised. It was totally demolished. So by the Help the Persecuted, we were able to rebuild their church. So now they have a new church, new building, and they are doing worship inside the church. And the pastor of the church, they are very happy and they are sending the love and the prayers for the persecuted.

Help the Persecuted will continue to stand with believers in Pakistan and throughout the Islamic world by rescuing, restoring and rebuilding their lives so that the persecuted church can endure, flourish and multiply in hostile places.

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About Help The Persecuted

Rescue. Restore. Rebuild. Help The Persecuted has been supporting suffering Christians with practical and spiritual help since 2011 and in 2018 was established as standalone charitable organization. We pray our efforts will empower the global Church to flourish not just in Middle East and North Africa, but also in the Western world as we share in their suffering and bear their burdens. Help The Persecuted is a 501(c)3 organization and a member of ECFA, the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability