Pakistan

Missionary Information

Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Area Coordinator:
Superintendent/President: Allan J. Shalm
Population: 165800000
Area: 307,375 sq. mi.
Capital: Islamabad
Languages: Urdu (national), English (official), Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu, and Baluchi
Religions: Islam, 97%; Hindu; Christian; Buddhist; Parsi

The partitioning of British India along religious lines in 1947 created Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan has a 1,046 kilometer coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and the People’s Republic of China in the far northeast. It is the world’s sixth most populous country and is the second most populous country with a Muslim majority. Temperatures in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan soar to 125 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. But in spite of the intense heat, evangelistic efforts now run year round instead of just through the cooler months because of the revival sweeping the country. The Oneness message began in Pakistan in 1963 when a national preacher, A. U. Alfred, was studying to prove the Trinity to Jehovah Witnesses, and the Lord revealed to him the truth of the Oneness of God and water baptism in Jesus’ name. Later a UPC layman from New Brunswick, Canada, Arthur Currie, went to Pakistan as an electrical engineer. He held prayer meetings and Bible studies in his home and made contact with those who had seen the truth and were ready for baptism. In 1968 he called George Shalm, a UPCI missionary to India, to come and baptize them. In 1970 George Shalm took Leo Upton to Pakistan, and more people were baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost and became members of the national church in Pakistan under the leadership of A. U. Alfred. In May 1971 the Everett Corcorans arrived to pioneer and establish the UPC in Pakistan. New Life Training Center opened in Lahore in 1977. By the end of 2005, the UPC in Pakistan has grown to 87,175 constituents. There are 220 licensed ministers with 1,715 churches and preaching points. In 2005-2006, 1,637 Pakistanis received the name of Jesus in baptism and 3,974 were filled with the Holy Ghost.
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