LDS Church presence in Pakistan
September 29, 2008 by DH
Filed under Mormon Asia
(Author’s note: I am indebted to many sources for the information I have compiled here. I have mainly played the role of compiler versus original author and recognize that much of this content is simply re-written/paraphrased in my own words from sources that already exist. My hope is that this will be the springboard for readers to the actual sources to learn more of this fascinating topic. I have no intent in claiming to have been the original author nor to take credit for the information provided, I simly want to be a medium that helps this information spread. A full list of the sources can be found at the bottom of the post.)
With Pakistan in the headlines recently – increased U.S. military activity in the North, the Marriott hotel bombing in Islamabad, and even Pakistan and U.S. forces trading fire amidst rising political tensions between Pakistan and the U.S. – I decided to look into the presence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pakistan. Or better put, to see if there was even a presence to begin with.
It appears the earliest missionary efforts to Pakistan are similar to Mormon missionary work in India. A few early Saints were sent to the country as early as the mid 1800’s but had little success when faced with cultural, language, religious, and climate related differences etc
Today it seems though that Pakistan differs quite a bit from its neighbor India. One of the differences is the demographics in regards to religion. While India has a large percentage of Hindu adherents (80% of its population) it also has other religions in its demographic makeup. These include Muslim at 13%, Christian at 3% and various other smaller ones. Pakistan on the other hand is not nearly as diverse with 95% of its population being Muslim and only 3 million Christians among 170 million in Pakistan.
From the East (please see below concerning this source) references some development of branches in Lahore and Islamabad in the mid 1980’s and later in 1991, a branch in Karachi. These were often formed and led by foreign members living within Pakistan. The branches consisted of the member families and Pakistani converts and investigators. Elder John K. Carmack, as a member of the Asia Area Presidency, went ahead with legal matters related to The LDS Church’s official presence in the country in 1992. He felt that they could follow the restrictions that would be in place and the first full-time missionary service couple arrived in June 1992 in Islamabad. Interestingly Elders Maxwell and Nelson visited Pakistan in 1992 (presumably on the same trip as their visit to India in which they extended a conditional promise of a temple in New Delhi to the Indian Saints.) and established exact procedures regarding proselytizing and baptisms. First and foremost was the fact that the gospel was only to be taught to Christians. Further guidelines stipulated that there was to be no overt proselytizing, meaning interested Pakistanis had to come to the church and not the other way around. As detailed in From the East this first missionary couple had great success in baptisms in little time! One source put membership at 150 in 1992.
The Pakistan district was organized in 1994 or 1995. Further, native Pakistanis began to proselytize as full-time missionaries in Pakistan in 1994 after being trained in the Missionary Training Center in Singapore. (The Pakistan district then belonged to the Singapore mission.) With native elders teaching their own people and couples serving in various places (Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad etc) the church began to be established.
In 1995 The LDS Church was officially registered in Pakistan. This meant that it could own property and carry on in financial matters but was not officially recognized by Pakistan as no Christian church is recognized due to the religious makeup of the country.
There are few recent sources that I can find about The LDS Church in Pakistan. One I did find recounts a visit by Elder Oaks of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles having held a weekday fireside attend by nearly 500 Saints. He also is quoted as saying that only native Pakistanis are allowed to proselytize, evidence that original restrictions that were put in places are still in effect. There also seems to be a meetinghouse in Taxila, near Islamabad (see map here) and members living in Faisalabad, as an article about the Pakistan earthquake in 2007 made references to these facts. Total membership in Pakistan has not officially been published, though with nearly 500 attending the fireside with Elder Oaks I would assume total membership may be over 1000 but nothing too greater than that.
Pakistan is included in the boundaries of the India New Delhi mission, which was just created in November of 2007. Despite this inclusion, within the mission there are still serious restrictions on proselytizing to native Pakistanis and even serious tension/conflict in any overt missionary efforts in Pakistan proper. (President Gill, a native Indian and former President of the India Bangalore mission in the early 1990’s, could not obtain visas to enter Pakistan and was advised not to travel to Pakistan for fear of his life because of tension between India and Pakistan.)
Recently The Book of Mormon was published entirely in Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. (95% of Pakistanis can speak or understand Urdu) Selections of The BOM had been published in Urdu as early as the late 1980’s. The LDS Church does not publish statistics of the few members that are in Pakistan due to these restrictions and political climate that exists in the country. The LDS Church respects the fact that the majority of Pakistan is Muslim and doesn’t wish to be overbearing in their missionary efforts nor force the issue of teaching Christianity to a nation that is so predominantly non-Christian.
Though there is a very small amount of members within Pakistan it is not moving as quickly as its neighbor India. With the underlying principle of free agency and right to worship whatever religion one wishes The LDS Church wisely doesn’t aggressively push into countries who do not desire its teachings. I believe that only with time will countries and governments both open to the gospel and soften their stances on proselytizing efforts. It is intriguing to watch the progress but critical that we understand that our Father in Heaven sees the beginning from the end and there is no need to rush or force our beliefs on others.
Sources used:
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Church News archives-for Oaks visit and Earthquake articles.
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ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com—India New Delhi mission, etc
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CIA Factbook (religious makeup of countries)
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From the East, A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Asia – I am indebted to this wonderful book. Much of what I found on Pakistan and have written here was contained in this book. I’ve done my best to write the material in my own words but fully acknowledge that without this book much of this post would not have been possible.
Dear Sir or Ma’am:
Thanks so much for the article. I have some dear Pakistani, Indian and other Muslim colleagues and friends who I respect and cherish. I am looking forward to the day that the Gospel is taught to my dear Muslim friends and brothers and light is added to that which they already have. I hope it is in my lifetime.
Dave
Yes, you are correct for the most part. The new Delhi mission does cover Pakistan. I have heard from a former missionary in that mission that there were about 20 missionaries in the Pakistan zone of the mission and that they were all made up of native Pakistani’s or senior couples. But in perspective the church is growing at least as fast in Pakistan as it is in India (Probably at least by percentage). There were 2500 members as of 2007 and it is growing quickly. The missionaries are only allowed to proselytize to non Muslims. That may sound challenging since Pakistan in 95 percent Muslim but it actually makes matters rather easy. You see Christians make up 3 percent of the population and all of them are already in there home country. In Pakistan most cities have a small Christian communities that are very close knit. The missionaries go to these communities and start preaching to them. So, Yes, the church is growing quite well in Pakistan. Almost two years ago a second district was created in the country and I assume there must be close to 20 strong branches in the country.
Dan-
Thanks for the informative comment. It will be interesting to see the Gospel continue to grow in these countries where there is a delicate situation with the religious demographics of the country.
DH
While my wife and I were serving our Mission in Manila Philippines during 2002/2003 we were able to look after some Pakistani Elders coming from their country to attend the MTC in Manila prior to returning to serve their missions in their native homeland. One young Elder told us about himself and how his parents were members and he had most of his ‘adult’ life growing up in the Church. He told us that the Elders and the few foreign couples serving in Pakistan at that time could teach anyone who came to them for information about the Church but they were mainly to focus on those from non-Muslim backgrounds in order to comply with Pakistani laws. My wife and I were very impressed with the strong testimonies of the young Elders we met, their dedication and desire to serve the Lord and His Church were most impressive as was their demeanor and general conduct. Bob-