BWA NEWS IN BRIEF

PAKISTAN: CHRISTIANS UNDER PRESSURE
The small Christian community in Pakistan has been experiencing increasing difficulties as a result of anti-
Christian violence and the Pakistani government’s war against Taliban fighters.
On July 30, hundreds of members of Sipah-e-Sahaba, a Muslim organization banned by Pakistan’s
government, torched Christian homes and killed Christians in the Punjabi city of Gojra and in the nearby village
of Korian for allegedly defiling a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
According to Pervaiz Khokhar, a Baptist pastor in Pakistan, between 60 and 70 Christian homes were
torched. “Many children and women [are] feared burnt to death,” he reported. Another pastor told the BWA by
email that at least nine Christians “were burnt alive,” four of whom were children.
Khokhar said that a young boy, who was present at a wedding ceremony, was accused by Muslims of
burning “pages of the Holy Koran.” Christian elders and Muslim leaders met to diffuse the tension, clarifying
that the accused had not burned the Koran, said Khokhar. However, on the night of July 30, announcements
were made over loudspeakers at mosques in Korian and other nearby villages “to gather and teach [a] lesson
to infidel Christians who are protecting [the person] accused of blasphemy, burning [the] holy pages of [the]
Koran.”
Mobs gathered shouting, “Kill the infidels,” and started setting fire to Christian homes. Khokhar told the
BWA that this was the second incident in recent weeks, following on a similar incident on July 1 after a mob
attacked some 100 houses belonging to Christians in Kasur District in Punjab province, injuring many persons
after a blasphemy charge.
Khokhar asked for prayer from the worldwide family of Baptists for Christians who suffered attacks. “These
people need your prayers,” he said in his email. “They need our support and prayers. Please remember them
in your prayers and if possible support them.”
Another Baptist pastor informed the BWA that many Christians in northern Pakistan have been displaced
by the fighting between government forces and the Taliban, a number of whom were in camps. Approximately
160 Christian families were among the displaced. Some families have since returned home, but are still
in need of food, clothing, medication, and proper shelter, as houses and other property have been badly
damaged or destroyed in the fighting.
There are an estimated 2.8 million Christians in the Muslim-majority country of more than 180 million
people.
PHOTOS: Two young boys in a camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Northern Pakistan play with toys received
from Baptists in Pakistan who visited the camp
UKRAINE: UKRAINIANS COMMIT TO MISSION
Several hundred Ukrainian Baptists are engaged in overseas mission.
There was a “mission explosion [in the] 1990s,” stated Pavel Unguryan, National Youth Director of the All-
Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists.
Ukrainian missionaries are serving in Moldova, Romania, Belarus, Armenia and Russia. Some 38
missionaries are in Australia, Afghanistan, Israel, Portugal and Canada. In 2004, there were approximately 450
Ukrainian Baptist missionaries in Russia alone.
There are plans to expand the mission field and to include more young people as missionaries. In January,
the youth department of the All-Ukrainian Union sent two missionaries to some of the former Central Asian
republics of the former Soviet Union, and it sent two more families in September.
“Our union has 40,000 young people,” said Unguryan, who is also the chair of the Euro-Asian Baptist
Federation Youth Committee. “Today the young are leading the way, we are now the avant-garde,” explained
the 29-year-old Baptist youth leader, an elected member of the Ukrainian parliament.
In August 2008, more than 3,000 young people from 19 countries met in Odessa, the fourth largest city in
Ukraine.
Ukraine, which gained its independence following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, has one of
the largest Baptist constituencies on the European continent. The All-Ukrainian Union has more than 2,800
churches and church plants, and more than 135,000 members. The Brotherhood of Independent Baptist
Churches and Ministries of Ukraine, also a Baptist World Alliance member body, has approximately 130
churches and more than 11,000 baptized believers.

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