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Pakistan
 Veeda Javaid, executive director of the PBE, participates in a welcome for Insik Kim, then area coordinator for Asia and the Pacific.
The United Presbyterian Church of North America began its mission in Pakistan in 1854. Mission workers in the Sialkot area focused their efforts in areas where the people were extremely poor. By 1881, the Christian Training Institute (CTI) was opened as a primary school and as a feeder school for Gujranwala Theological Seminary. It became the center of education for Christian boys who could not afford education. Since its founding, the CTI has produced many key leaders who have fulfilled the school’s motto to become “light to the world.”
The struggle to provide educational opportunities, promote equality, and work for justice continues to be a challenge in all the schools operated by the Presbyterian Board of Education (PBE). In 1972, the government nationalized all Urdu medium schools and colleges in the Punjab province. Over time, the quality of education imparted in the nationalized schools deteriorated. In 1998, the PBE received ten of those schools back from the government, including the CTI. Since its return, the Christian community has worked tirelessly to restore the CTI to its former glory. Under the direction of its principal, Mr. Sabahat Samuel, the school’s enrollment has increased from 150 students in 1998 to 444 today, of whom 260 are Muslim and 184 are Christian.
An information technology center has been opened for students and to the community, and academic results have steadily improved. There are eighteen members on the teaching staff, of whom thirteen are Christian. Regional liaisons for South Asia, Sue and David Hudson, ask for prayer for the staff and students of this school, that they continue to be light within the nation.
Partners/Ministries
Presbyterian Church of Pakistan: Rev. Dr. Arthur James, moderator, Rev. Dr. Maqsood Kamil, executive secretary
Gujranwala Theological Seminary: Rev. Dr. Arthur James, principal
Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan
PC(USA) Staff: Elder E. Salim Bhatti
Forman Christian College, Lahore: Dr. Peter H. Armacost, rector
Adult Basic Education Society, Gujranwala: Rev. Vincent David, director
Society for Community Development, Gujranwala: Elder Evert Lall, executive secretary United Bible Training Centre, Gujranwala: Mrs. Salma Andrew, principal
Memorial Christian Hospital (Sialkot): Dr. David Sohail, director
Christian Hospital (Taxila): Dr. Ashchenaz M. Lall, director
Christian Study Center: Mr. Mehboob Sada, director
Church of Pakistan: The Rt. Rev. Dr. Alexander John Malik, Bishop of Lahore
National Council of Churches in Pakistan: Elder Victor Azariah
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Sharon Gillies, GAMC
Maureen Gilroy, BOP
Rev. Raafat Girgis, GAMC
Loving God, we are thankful for your faithfulness to the cloud of witnesses who have passed through the Christian Training Institute. We ask that by your grace, generations will continue to come and grow in body, mind, and spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Ps. 98, 146 Ps. 66, 116
Isa. 30:18–26
Acts 2:36–41 (42–47); John 14:15–31
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