The Way, Pakistan

The Church isn’t a holding tank. It isn’t a hiding place. It’s not a therapist’s sanctuary or a priest’s confessional. It’s not moss covered stones or stained glass windows. The Church of Jesus Christ is a people following the way of their King. As we go, we grow, in number, in sincerity, in hardship, and in victory. Over the years, we’ve been bloodied and we bear the scars. We endure internal conflict and have had our wholeness all but rent to pieces. Yet we endures… we perseveres because God’s living Spirit abides with us and leads us in His way. The Way is what the early followers of Jesus called their lives. They followed the way of Jesus in living and in dying. When they failed, they confessed and repented, then pressed on. They helped one another and others along the way. They gave because they’d been given: time, talent, treasure, even their very lives.

This narrative is one man’s reflection on walking in Jesus’ way in Pakistan today… his telling of why he sees no alternative, no veering from this truth: whatever your context, if you would live, Jesus’ is life, Jesus is the way, following Jesus is your only hope. This isn’t a carved out, theological treatise being handed down from a lofty height.

We need heady believers to play their part for all of us as we try and navigate Jesus’ way. Tahir’s not here for that. His feet are in the dirt… walking the streets and pathways like so many in two thirds of the world. His cost of living is meager, his life is full, and his investment is insurmountable. He lives and breathes the way of Jesus in a place where doing so marks you for death at any moment. But Jesus’ way is life, and Tahir’s chosen to live.