MESSAGE FROM PASTOR JAY DASS FROM THE MISSION FRONT IN The LUTHERAN CONFESSIONAL CHURCH OF PAKISTAN.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We are happy as we are able to adopt two families here and are raising baptized children. We are now marching into March.
It seems like we are going to have an unusually hot summer this year as winter was short and mild, we jumped from winter to summer this week which is unusual for Islamabad at the foot of Margalla Hills.
We are rejoicing for 8 baptisms this Sunday 6 children and 2 adults and the completion of 4 months long alteration and renovation project at St Mark Lutheran Church, when we were building the church hall at first floor of 5 story building, we were expecting 30-40 people in the beginning but in February we had 40-50 people and the First Sunday of Lent brought us 75 people and at least 15 sat on the floor. As we equipped the hall for 55 people which means more chairs. Our fellowship hall can hold 75 people and we were full and a humble meal was served as the first Sunday of Lent is always a simple meal here.
Why we serve meals after church:
A lot of people walk for 20-30 minutes to the church, and we are located right next to a large slum area and children get hungry after an hour of Bible Study and then 30 minutes of fellowship and then 1-1/2 for service.
Our congregation (55% children as every couple have 3-5 children) is mostly based on low income, or no income area and a meal is just right as we feed them with God’s Word and the food for the body as well. There’s a famous saying in Urdu language, “a man cannot provide bread for another man, only God can provide bread for men.” Matthew 14:21 This scripture becomes so clear at that moment. We praise God that He is always providing for His baptized children and the leftovers feed the family who is moved into living rooms upstairs at St. Mark Lutheran Church and School (wait for their story)
Our classrooms received the final shipment of chairs as we built the tables ourselves to save some money, we have budgeted in October and since then the dollar rate has fluctuated so much that everything went 35-55 % higher than October. We thank God that we were able to put the initial deposit and lock the rates for chairs, but tables were not available.
We are finished with library shelves and computer lab (like) long workstations.
We request your prayers and support for a few needs that we never budgeted or thought about while we were building and renovating.
We need a Kitchen as we are cooking at a seminary house and then transport food to church. It takes a lot of extra time and the workers cannot attend the service, also gas prices increased 55%.
We request for a
Stove, Refrigerator, Pots and Pans (we are renting it right now) and a water filter/cooler machine for approval
Refrigerator $1539.00
Stove: $ 789.00
Microwave: $ 279.90
Water Cooler/Filtration system for clean water $595.00
5 Classroom monitors 40″: $1309.99
Pots, Pans, plates and glasses for food serving $ 1570.00 (for 75 people cooking and serving)
Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
Rev. Jay William Dass
IF ANY OF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP, CONTACT LIVING FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH BY EMAIL OR PHONE. GO TO THE WEBSITE FOR INFO. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT FOR THIS COLOSSAL WORK OF GOD!
The Kairos Network 