There’s two interesting verses in the Bible that come to mind in relationship to ‘sowing’. One sows, another waters, but God gives the growth. And similar — I sent you to harvest where you did not sow.
When I was reflecting on this earlier in the week, these two word images gave me an illustration I’ve found helpful: some of you who are farmers might engage contractors to help with the sowing, but they’re not necessarily the same contractors you might engage for harvest. One sows, another is involved in the in between (say, fertilising, etc), and another harvests.
And that’s the way I’ve best made sense of my time here in Pakistan. I’ve felt like a ‘contractor sower’. And I say ‘contractor’ as I’ve never really had a sense at all of long-term call to Pakistan. Just a clear idea that God has had me here, for this season. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people here. A lot. I’ve had opportunity upon opportunity to share with unlikely people … sometimes in small interactions, sometimes in larger ways. Some of these people have been the most unexpected. Some are friends. Some already knew about Jesus, some had never met a Christian. Some of these connections have been opportunities to tell people the overarching story of the Bible, others have been to point to who Jesus is, others have been to tell one simple thing— like, how Christians see ourselves as children of God, not just slaves of God (which is the perspective of Islam). Sometimes I have walked away rejoicing, sometimes I’ve felt deeply disappointed in missing (or messing up!) opportunities. I guess that a contractor sower has to trust that the Farmer takes care of the rest … and that at the right time, the Farmer will send along harvesters too. He has a way of not letting anything go to waste.
In all of this, just like my time in India, God has done far more in me than He has through me. I think it’s fair to say this has been one of the hardest times of my life so far. While stomach issues were present in India, they were NOTHING on what I’ve wrestled with here. On Monday I was back in hospital (albeit briefly — the benefit of Pakistan’s health system is that with a little money (~$15), things can happen very quickly haha!). Thankfully after a week of issues (round five of antibiotics in 7 months!) I am finally coming out the other side, although not 100% yet. Thankyou to everyone who prayed for this 🙏 The real, real struggle I’ve had though …has been with church politics … and this has been mind-blowingly frustrating. Time and time again, I’ve felt like the Christians I talk to are believing different gospels! There have been times that it really has all felt impossibly hard. And God has taught me a lot through that.
But… there’s also been times that have been great joys. God has taught me through the boldness of some of the Christians I’ve met. And He’s shown me that I can have that boldness too. Language learning has been a joy. There’s something pretty special when you can connect with someone in a completely different context, that would otherwise be unreachable to someone from Australia. People, especially in the rural areas, have been ridiculously hospitable and gracious. And time and time again God has shown Himself to be faithful.
I’ve officially reached one week left in Pakistan. The ‘sunset’ time, I guess you could say. After incredibly frustrating periods of waiting in the beginning of my time here, the last month or so has been busybusy. But there’s so much that I’m grateful for. Today I preached — it was my first time preaching with a translator, as I had been teaching the pastor how to translate in-sermon and he wanted to step up and try this time in front of the church. If you want to hear a glimpse into the service, it’s here (the English part of the sermon starts from 46:50 https://fb.watch/qr1kOT5PZx/ ) I found preaching with a translator is HARD, especially when you know both languages and you have to resist the urge to correct things in front of everyone. But we got through it, and in the leadup it helped built a good relationship between the pastor and myself, and for that I’m grateful.
I shared a simple gospel message — something I have shared many times in Australia, about how everything is through grace, and not through our efforts to please God. Two stories stand out — one is a lady who came up to me afterwards sharing how she was in tears during the sermon as one of my examples was exactly her situation, and she had been looking for her satisfaction in the solution to certain problems rather than seeing ‘Christ as her life’. And it was so encouraging to know that the examples I had chosen without any advance knowledge were exactly speaking to her. When things like that happen we can only stand back and go, that was God and not us. I’m sure if you’ve ever preached, you know the feeling — God has a way of showing up and speaking directly to people, even in our lack, flaws and weaknesses.
The other story which was a great encouragement was a couple that came up after the sermon. The wife said to me, “I have no words — I have never heard this before!” This struck me — It was a simple gospel message about how it’s all about grace not works! But unfortunately, for many Christians in Pakistan, it is all about works. There is a strong Islamic element in many Christians’ faith, and so many people live burdened under the sense of trying to need to fulfil the law to be good enough for God to bless them. Ugh — false gospel alert!! Sometimes, when I’ve talked with different Christians, I’ve wondered, are we actually talking about the same faith here?? But I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to speak into this with a small opportunity … and even if it helps one or two ‘get’ the gospel of grace, in my mind it was worth it.
Here are a couple of photos from the service. It was something of a farewell and the church provided chicken biryani lunch for everyone (via your generosity…so thankyou).
I’ve also had lots and lots of pastoral-type ministry opportunities recently. The pastor has taken me along to some homes to visit people with him, and to share little messages in their homes and pray. It’s as if the church leadership suddenly woke up in the last two weeks and realised, “oh! We have a pastor here with us that can be involved in ministry too!” Interestingly, the pastor came around to my host family’s house for dinner a couple of days ago, and said as much — saying, he wished he had involved me more in church ministry from the start (um, after all, that was why I had come to Pakistan!! 🙄). But it was nice for them to at least acknowledge that. Here are some photos of different pastoral visits or connections I’ve had this last week. Also, the orphanage work has continued (when I’ve been well enough to go) and that’s been lots of fun. And in the “english class/youth group”, the young people have started inviting their friends along too… which was pretty cool. It’s a pity in some ways that it’s gaining momentum just as the time is finishing … but trusting that it has sparked something, somewhere…
⬆️ Orphanage fun
⬆️ This photo is with Tazeem and his family. Tazeem is a Christian I met on a train journey a couple of months ago now. He had an incredible story of coming to faith, and he is now preparing to go as a volunteer missionary — maybe to one of the more unreached areas of Pakistan, or maybe to Syria. He’s willing to step into some areas where there is real danger, because he knows the difference Jesus has made in his own life. Pray for him as he prepares to take this step! I’ve been so encouraged by his testimony. It was also cool to hear him say that he said he was inspired by my story … “if I foreigner can come all the way to Pakistan, I can go too”. Well, I’m excited for the ways in which God is going to use Tazeem in the future.
I’m unclear of the next steps from here — whether God will open the door to India for a couple of months, to reconnect with everyone over there, or back to Australia (or whatever God has planned!). I can only see what next week holds and take it from there. But nevertheless, I want to say a big thankyou to everyone who has journeyed with me with this time in Pakistan. I hope that it’s opened your eyes to God’s work in another corner of the world. I also pray that the lessons I’ve learnt along the way have been relevant to you, too. And most of all, whether in your life or mine…. for the fact that God can take unlikely people and use them in everyday ways to do what only He can do … well, for that God gets all the glory.
Each week, I’m going to leave partnership information at the bottom. If you feel God leading you to partner financially in what I’m doing, my details are below. However, please don’t feel any pressure. As I said above, the most significant support of all has been the people who have stood beside me in prayer. Or sent messages of encouragement. Or passed on gifts to ministries over here. For each of these different ways that you have joined in the ministry and played an active role — thankyou.
BSB: 633 123 Acc: 168 679 249 Name: Noah Little
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