Pakistan (MNN) — To follow Christ in Muslim-majority Pakistan is to know hardship. Bruce* with Uncharted Ministries says Christians struggle in nearly every life category.
“They are unable to get good jobs; they’re impoverished. Many of them are illiterate or very uneducated. They’re just a lower class.”
Emergencies often leave believers in debt because there are no social “safety nets” in Pakistan, such as feeding programs or government healthcare. Brickyard owners offer to pay off the debt but demand manual labor in return.
“We had no idea of the epic levels of slavery and suffering of Christians in Pakistan,” Bruce says.
“There are 20,000 brickyards that enslave up to 2 million Christians.”
This slavery ensnares multiple generations. “Through high interest rates and fraudulent bookkeeping, they never get out of debt,” Bruce says.
“You have grandchildren paying off the debts of their grandparents; it’s intergenerational slavery.”
Representative photo of a man working in a brickyard.
(Photo courtesy of Kartik/Pexels)
Uncharted Ministries partners with local believers to rescue Christian families from brickyard slavery.
“We’re paying a financial debt so they are set free, and it’s such a correlation to what Christ has done for us – paying our debt of sin that we’re set free,” Bruce says.
They’ve rescued 21 families since beginning the program. “We just rescued a family recently – a husband and wife and six children – and the debt that kept them enslaved was $250,” Bruce says.
“That was low; typically, the average [debt] is somewhere between $700 to $1,000.”
Learning to run a small business helps these families avoid falling back into slavery. Learn how you can partner with Uncharted Ministries in the process.
Pray the rescued believers will grow in their faith as they study God’s Word with Uncharted partners.
*Name withheld for security purposes.
Header image depicts the Christian family recently rescued from brickyard slavery; faces blurred for security purposes. They are pictured in front of their new living arrangement with relatives. (Photo courtesy of Uncharted Ministries)
