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Total Number of Evangelicals

Cultural Bridges to UPGs

Regional Access to UPGs

Religious Freedom

Prosperity

Current Sending Abroad

Mobilization Potential

Custom Mobilization Potential

Number of Evangelicals

Cultural Bridges

Strategic Access

Religious Freedoms

Current Sending

This infographic provides a visual score for seven data points ranked on a 0 to 100 scale. Faded icons show scores for other countries on the mobilization index. See below for actual scores and country-specific insights.

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<span data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:6723,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;4&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:16777215},&quot;9&quot;:0,&quot;12&quot;:0,&quot;14&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:0},&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Arial&quot;}" data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Roots in Islam but Growth in the Gospel &quot;}">Roots in Islam but Growth in the Gospel

A Muslim-majority state that was created in 1947 after separating from India.

Pakistan was officially declared a Muslim state when it gained its independence in 1947 [[2]]. Later in 1991, Sharia law was formally included in the legal code, [[1]] which created massive obstacles for Pakistani evangelicals. According to Open Doors USA, historic churches have relative freedom in religious activities and worship. Even so, they are monitored very heavily and tend to be the victims of bomb attacks. While all Christians experience institutional discrimination, the churches who engage in youth work and outreach are targets of the most severe persecution [[3]]. The Pakistani government has put in place blasphemy laws, which tend to affect Christians more greatly than the other minority groups. Furthermore, Christians are viewed socially as second-class citizens. This cultural outlook of Christianity reveals itself most obviously in the labor system, as the vocations that are deemed ""dirty"" and ""shameful"" are specifically reserved for those who claim Christ.
 In the past five years, Pakistani churches have been the victims of heinous attacks. Most commonly, these attacks come in the form of the abduction and rape of young Christian girls, who are then forced to marry. Despite the extreme persecution the Pakistani church is facing, followers of Christ are continuing to share their faith and the number of believers is continuing to increase [[4]]. Praise God for His faithfulness and providence over His children during such a dark time.

Lacking Bridges but not Opportunity

Pakistan sits at the 30th spot with an average Median Cultural Distance of 18.3, showing that it does not have many cultural similarities with the 30 UPG nations on our list. Pakistan's only Cultural Neighbor who has a Median Distance less than 10 points away is Bangladesh. The three next closest neighbors with a Median Distance of 10.5 are Egypt, Kuwait, and the UAE. Even though it does not appear that Pakistan has many UPG nations as close cultural neighbors, the Pakistani church should not be viewed as lacking in strategic significance. The location of the country provides great opportunity for evangelicals in Pakistan to reach UPGs in their own country, as well as their geographically close neighbors.

A Mission Potential Like No Other

Little Freedoms but Bold Faith

Islam is the state religion of Pakistan and Sharia law has been incorporated in legal code for the past 30 years [[1]]. In the last decade, the Pakistani Christian minority group has seen increased violence and terror [[5]]. According to the 2015 Pew Research Center&rsquo;s study on religious restriction, Pakistan, along with India, Russia, Myanmar, Egypt, and Indonesia, &ldquo;stand out as having the highest levels of restrictions on religion.&rdquo; &nbsp;With a score of 7.2, Pakistan has both high levels of government restriction and social hostilities placed upon the practice and expression of religious faith.&nbsp;
These facts should lead Christians to be cautious about practicing their faith. This information should also lead missionaries and mission mobilizers to take caution, as Pakistan has very strict blasphemy laws which have often been manipulated at the expense of religious minorities, including Christians [[5]]. Despite these harsh conditions that Pakistani Christians are living in, the church continues to grow and strengthen [[4]]. As Believers continue to be bold in sharing their faith, the power of the Gospel will continue to break through and bring many to salvation.

Rising in Prosperity

When looking at the Legatum Prosperity Index, Pakistan ranks 138 in prosperity out of 167 countries [[6]]. This is the one of the highest rankings Pakistan has seen since the creation of the Index in 2006. Since 2012, Pakistan's rank continued to rise, going from 142 to 136. Even so, Pakistan is still in the lowest 30 ranking countries and has extremely poor prosperity. When looking at the nine different sub-indices, Pakistan's two highest scoring categories are Social Capital and Enterprise Conditions, with rankings of 96 and 100.
When looking in the opposite direction, Pakistan ranks 169th in Natural Environment and 152nd in Safety and Security, making it the 13th most dangerous place according to the Index. Despite these hardships and low scores, God continues to work in Pakistan and the church continues to grow! Pray that the Pakistani church would see opportunities and potential in their prosperity situation, rather than barriers.

Great Potential for an Increase in Sending

Current sending estimates for Pakistan are close to 300, yet the vast majority (&plusmn;250) of that sending is in-country and cross-cultural.
One prayer goal of the Mobilization Index is to see 0.1%, or 1 in a 1,000, of a nation&rsquo;s evangelical church mobilized as gospel workers among the unreached. That means that with 40 cross-cultural missionaries, only about 0.00003% of the Pakistani Evangelical church has been mobilized for cross-cultural mission work. If .1% of Pakistan's evangelical church was mobilized for missions, there would be a total of 1,140 workers sent out!

High Access but Mobilization can be risky

While Pakistan has access to more than 190 million unreached peoples in-country, more than 1.6 billion regionally, and moderate cultural distance to many UPG nations, the poverty and persecution make it a difficult prospect for missions mobilization. The number of Pakistani evangelicals is low, and the percentage of those that are not nominal Christians are even lower.

Obstacles:
<ul>
<li>Practices such as child labor, bonded labor, and forced marriages pervade the rural culture. [[7]]&nbsp;</li>
<li>Pakistan's literacy rate, which is noted to be below 50% of the population, could serve as a barrier to mission and mobilization efforts. [[8]]</li>
<li>Increasing violence and persecution of Christians in the last few years has left the Christian minority facing widespread discrimination and ostracization. [[5]]</li>
</ul>
Opportunities:
<ul>
<li>Pakistan has great in-country and regional access to unreached peoples.&nbsp;</li>
<li>37% of Pakistan's population is under the age of 15 and 50% are under age 24. [[7]] This offers great potential in raising up a generation of goers and senders, as Pakistan also sits at the crossroads of the Middle East, South Asia, China, and Central Asia.</li>
</ul>

Pray:
<ul>
<li>Pray for the ongoing efforts of the various mobilization ministries in Pakistan.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Pray for believers to find their most strategic role in seeing Christ proclaimed among the nations.</li>
<li>Pray that the church&rsquo;s roots would grow deep and strong, as a large majority of the church is nominal and immature.</li>
<li>Pray for Christians being persecuted for their faith, and for an increase in laborers sent to Pakistan.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Praise:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Praise God for the growth of the evangelical church in Pakistan.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Praise God for the strategic placing of Pakistan in the midst of so many unreached countries.</li>
</ul>

Official Country Name:Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Population:216,565,000

Region:South Asia

Government:Federal Parliamentary Republic

Official Languages:Urdu

Religious Demographics:Muslim ±95%, Christian ±2%, Evangelical Christian 0.6%, Hindu ±1%, Baha'i <1%, Sikh <1%

Pakistan