We have an encouraging quarterly ministry update to share from Pakistan, as well as some reflections on how we engage in work differently in Pakistan versus the Middle East.
Pakistan is an immense country with around 250 million people who are predominantly Muslim. Our partners currently broadcast 15-minute audio programs in two languages, Saraiki and Sindhi. Speakers of these languages in Pakistan number approximately 30 million each!
The Saraiki program had been covering stories of the Prophets from the Old Testament and is now covering Christian ethics, focusing on topics such as the basics of Christian ethics, the character of God, the importance of holiness for God’s people, witnessing through ethical living, and the role of the Bible in shaping Christian ethics.
The Sindhi program has been going through the Bible in order, starting from the creation in the Old Testament. It is currently on King David and will continue to move forward to the New Testament.
The nature of our ministry in Pakistan is different than in the Middle East. In the Middle East, we can broadcast more openly, and the general public is able to tune into our programming on satellite television. However, in Pakistan, we are not able to engage in this type of public broadcasting, due to several reasons including the levels of persecution happening around the country. Instead, audio messages are published and shared on social media.
As a result, our broadcasts reach a smaller audience in Pakistan. Our partners report an audience of 2,500 listeners who regularly tune into the Saraiki broadcast, and 3,000 who regularly tune into the Sindhi language broadcast. These are modest compared to the Middle East, where just one platform reported a reached audience of over 160,000 so far in 2024.
However, there is a flip side to this. Unlike in the Middle East, where most of the listener feedback is negative, most of the feedback in Pakistan is positive. This is not unexpected when conducting smaller, more targeted outreach digitally, especially when the outreach is done by locals who know the landscape well.
Here are two exchanges from the field:
The story shared in today’s program touched me deeply. I feel a sense of joy and peace after listening – Testimony of a regular Muslim-background listener to the Saraiki-language broadcast office, who has visited the ministry team in their office
Peace be with you, Today, I listened to the program and really enjoyed the story of Joseph. Truly, God loves His people. The song played was also very beautiful. – Sindhi broadcast listener
We praise God for being witness to the great harvest that is taking place today!