Pakistan: Someone has to say YES!

Our grounds for the 2027 Crusades in Pakistan has been secured! Thank You, Jesus!

ministry is everywhere you are

There are moments when ministry begins long before you ever reach a platform.

I landed in Pakistan at three o’clock in the morning. There was nobody waiting for me at the airport. No familiar face. No transport in front of me. No immediate plan B. So I found a taxi, found somewhere to stay and worked it out.

Welcome to Pakistan.

Sometimes following Jesus means learning very quickly how to make a way when there appears to be no way. And not doing it by yourself, but understanding your absolute dependence on Jesus to make this work.

You can either become frustrated because things did not happen according to your expectations, or you can remember why you came in the first place. I did not fly to Pakistan because everything was supposed to be comfortable. I went because Jesus said so. He asked me to go, and I said YES, LORD. HERE I AM, SEND ME!

The following day I eventually connected with our hosts, and from there the real journey began. We travelled to Hyderabad where we would minister at a crusade our wonderful, God-fearing hosts had organised.

It was held outside the city, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet what I found there was an organised team of believers who knew how to work together, mobilise people and prepare a place for the Gospel to be preached.

That night was powerful.We saw people respond to Jesus and witnessed remarkable moments of healing. One woman had a tumour under the area where Evangelist Matthew was laying his hand while praying for her, and she testified that it disappeared. During corporate prayer another person with a tumour also testified that the tumour was gone.

These are the moments that remind you why you go. Not for travel. Not for photographs. Not to say that you have been somewhere unusual. You go because there are people who desperately need to know that Jesus Christ is alive, that He saves, heals and restores, and that the Gospel still carries the power of God.

The Real Movement

But what affected me most in Pakistan happened far beyond the crusade platform.

We spent time with pastors and leaders, visited communities and began understanding how ministry operates there. Pakistan challenged many of my Western ideas about what successful ministry is supposed to look like. There may not always be beautiful buildings, perfect facilities or everything functioning the way we are accustomed to, although I will say this: the tiles will probably look good. Apparently, if the floor is beautiful, we can keep moving. I found that fantastic.

What I saw instead of enormous church buildings that keep their courses and work inside the walls of the building, was an enormous investment into people.

Philip Strauss

Churches and ministries are helping communities with water points, medical clinics, schools, food programmes and sewing centres where people can learn skills and begin generating an income. In some of the poorest areas I have ever visited, people are working to create sustainable ways for families to live.

I remembered that my wife, Marilé, once said that “The true measure of impact for Jesus is not numbers in a room, but transformation in a community: unemployment drops, crime decreases, households prosper in all things and are in health, and families are restored and reconciled.” In that moment, I fully understood what she was saying…

Slavery still exists today…and it is real

We visited brick factories.

That was one of the hardest parts of the trip. Families don’t have enough income to buy food, so they work at these factories and get paid in food. This cycle keeps them in slavery as it is impossible to leave – their whole family needs to eat!

There are hundreds, if not thousands of families trapped in these cycles of slavery connected to such factories, and part of the work ahead is to help release them from those situations properly and legally. It is not enough simply to arrive with money, pay an amount and walk away feeling as though something good was accomplished. Legal documentation needs to be completed so that once a family is released, they cannot simply be forced back into the same situation again.

That is some of the work we will be returning to.

Freedom must be more than a moment.

Jesus paid for our freedom.

No Christian should stand by and let slavery be the norm – even if it doesn’t touch you personally. We are one Body, and when one part suffers, all suffer (according to Ephesians 4). When we stand idly by, we are allowing the Body we are part of to suffer… And we might not be able to place our finger on it, but we will feel the burden of the suffering Body somewhere in our daily walk… So yes, it might be far removed from us in the natural, but in the spirit we are all one with Christ.

When the unexpected arrives. ..

After the first crusade night, our plans changed completely. Pastor John, whose family was hosting us, mother went on to be with the Lord. Suddenly the schedule became secondary. There was a funeral to arrange and a grieving family to serve.

That became our ministry. God was in this moment before us, and He knew that He wanted us there to support this beautiful family in love and deed, showing His heart to those around them.

We took the rest of the week day-by-day. Instead of concerning ourselves about when we would leave, where we needed to be next or whether the original itinerary was still happening, we chose to be present. Our hosts had taken extraordinary care of us, opening their home, feeding us, taking us into their communities and helping us experience their culture. Now it was our turn simply to stand with them.

Ministry is not only what happens when somebody hands you a microphone… That is worth remembering.

Sometimes ministry looks like preaching to thousands. Sometimes it looks like sitting with a grieving family.

Both matter deeply to Jesus. And He lived that example when we read about His life and ministry in the Gospels.

An Explanation from the Apostle Paul that became real and tangible…

One of the things that deeply affected me was the attitude of the Pakistani believers towards partnership. They are not sitting around waiting for Western Christians to arrive and fund everything for them. They are raising finances themselves. They are bringing their own partners. They understand that when people give their lives to Jesus, those people remain in their cities, their communities and their churches.

They understand that this harvest belongs to them too.

It reminded me of the Macedonian believers Paul wrote about. They were experiencing deep poverty themselves, yet they gave generously because they understood what they were participating in. The Philippian church later became one of Paul’s most faithful partners, supporting the work of the Gospel because they understood that partnership made them participants in the harvest.

That is exactly what I saw in Pakistan.

And it is exactly what our friends and family through Poetry on Fire have done for us.

We were not paid to go to Pakistan. Our flights, accommodation and ministry expenses were not simply covered by some organisation somewhere. People partnered with us. Friends and family prayed. People gave. People believed with us.

Thank you. You went with us. Every person who prayed, gave or helped make this journey possible became part of what happened there, and what our Lord is about to do…

Now, it starts…

Now the real work starts.

The January crusade is not simply about gathering a massive crowd and producing impressive numbers. We are preparing for approximately 48,000 invited people, with the possibility of an overflow taking the gathering towards 60,000.

But we are not interested in enormous salvation numbers followed by almost no follow-up.

Every number represents a person.

Every hand raised belongs to somebody Jesus died for.

Philip Strauss

Every person who says yes to Jesus must have somewhere to go next.

That means discipleship must be built into the operation before the crusade ever starts.

Systems must be developed so that every person responding to Jesus can immediately be connected with their nearest, healthy, local church. Pastors and leaders need to know who these people are. Follow-up must happen. Relationships must begin. And this should never become a system based on works. If discipleship is done Jesus’ way, it is not toiling, it is honest, pure, loving, direct, and growth follows naturally. People must be taught how to follow Jesus, read His Word, pray, grow, serve and eventually disciple others Jesus’ way too.

This is not discipleship reduced to drinking coffee together every now and then.

The world needs discipleship the way Jesus demonstrated it.

• Life with life.
• Truth taught and lived.
• Correction.
• Encouragement.
• Accountability.
• Prayer.
• The Word.
• Obedience.

People growing until they become disciples who can disciple somebody else. Just like we see in the book of 2 Timothy when Paul comes to the basic truth of discipleship in Chapter 2:2: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

It is one of the clearest pictures of true discipleship: receive Truth, live it, entrust it to faithful people, and equip them to reproduce it in others.

THAT is how cities change.

THAT is how nations change.

traditional crusading is over

The crusade is the beginning, not the finish line. Every time we hear the numbers of salvations across Crusades all over the world, we thank and praise Jesus for what He has done. We also start praying for those souls… Because way too often they become a reported number for many ministries to show and retain their partners… But how many of those people are actually discipled to grow into maturity in Christ by working Biblical discipleship training into the operations of the Crusades?

Our groundwork entails that training. The groundwork separates those who want their name known and those who only want the Name of Jesus to be known. When we report on a number, it is not only someone whose heart was touched in a moment of ministry and they raised their hands to commit their life to Jesus. When we report on a number, we report on decisions made for Jesus, and that number includes every person planted in a healthy church, and being actively discipled into maturity.

THAT is the Great Commission in action.

The Women in Pakistan…

Pakistan is amongst the lowest rated countries when it comes to gender-related opportunities, according to most Global surveys. There is a substantial gap in Education, with many women being denied basic school training; Women are mostly not allowed to work and earn an income for themselves, being denied any form of independence; And an absolute minimum number of women are allowed in some kind of leadership position.

And that has led to another door opening as well.

Marilé has been invited to minister, speak, pray, whatever the Lord lays on her heart, at a women’s conference in Pakistan being arranged through local churches and hosts, specifically for Marilé to come and serve them. Not Marilé. Jesus. This is not a light task… It is one that will need discernment, wisdom and total unity with Jesus – only saying what He says, only doing what He does.

These women carry a burden of living under tremendous control and restriction. And the message on Marilé’s heart being shaped more and more by Jesus, is freedom.

“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 NKJV.

Not rebellion. Not bitterness. Not exchanging one form of bondage for another.

• Freedom in Jesus.
• Freedom to know who He created you to be.
• Freedom from shame.
• Freedom from fear.
• Freedom from spiritual oppression.
• Freedom to walk in Truth and dignity before God.

And God will Do Exceedingly, Abundantly Above what you could ever Ask, Think, or Imagine…

Ephesians 3:20

This is becoming far bigger than a week of crusades.

The photograph accompanying this blog probably captures ministry in Pakistan better than almost anything I could write.

Somewhere in the background you will see one of the security guards who travels with us. There can be approximately five security personnel for every two people ministering.

That tells you something about the environment.

In the natural, there are genuine risks.

Jesus is our ultimate Protector, and sometimes His protection looks like people surrounding you from every side and doing their jobs well.

We are grateful for them.

There is no fear here.

When God opens a door, confirms it and says go, our answer has already been settled.

YES LORD. SEND US.

Someone has to say “Yes!”

Our Poetry on Fire belief

The overwhelming majority of Pakistan still does not know Jesus. We refuse to look at that statistic and simply shake our heads.

We believe it can change.

We believe people will hear the Gospel.

We believe families will encounter Jesus.

We believe people trapped in bondage will walk free.

We believe churches will grow stronger.

We believe thousands who respond to Jesus will become genuine disciples and eventually disciple others.

be Part of it!

And in January 2027, we are going back believing God for a harvest that remains.

You can be part of it.

• Pray with us.
• Share the Pakistan mission with your church, your friends, your business network and your family.
• Tell people what Jesus is doing.
• And if God lays it on your heart to give, partner with us as we take the Gospel to these precious people, strengthen local churches, develop discipleship structures, assist families and prepare for what lies ahead.

The Gospel is absolutely free!
Getting it there, isn’t…

Marilé Strauss

Accommodation costs money. Crusades cost money. Transport, security, equipment, operations, follow-up, community work and discipleship training and writing and translating the resources, all require finances. And for the Lord, it is a light work. He simply speaks to His faithful labourers, and they respond in obedience.

Partnership means none of us carry what happens in Pakistan alone.

Some go.

Some stay.

All of us can participate in the same harvest.

And JESUS gets all the glory!!

Paul understood it. The Philippian believers understood it. The Pakistani believers understand it.

And we are beginning to understand it more deeply too.

This is not about Poetry on Fire building a name in Pakistan. Why would we even want to? There is only one Name that is worthy to be remembered, long before we go, and long after we have left…

Jesus.

So we take hands. We pray. We give. We go. We disciple. We serve. And we keep saying yes for as long as He keeps sending.

Lives forever changed for Jesus.

Hallelujah.

Pakistan: Someone Has to Say Yes! Will you?

Why Pakistan?

Because Jesus did not tell us to go only where it is easy, familiar, comfortable, or close to home. He told us to go into all the world and make disciples.

Pakistan matters because people matter. Every person there is someone Jesus died for. Every family matters. Every child matters. Every pastor trying to lead faithfully matters. Every woman longing for freedom matters. Every person who has never truly heard the Gospel matters.

And why should someone in South Africa, America, Europe, or anywhere else care what happens there? Because the Body of Christ does not stop at a border.

Poetry on Fire

When one part of the Body is strengthened, we are all strengthened. When believers are equipped, families are restored, churches become healthier, communities begin to change, and the Gospel becomes something that is not simply preached for one night, but lived for generations.

We are not interested in travelling across the world simply to count hands raised at a crusade and then leave. We are deeply invested in what happens before and after the altar call. We are committed to connect that person to a healthy local church, where they are discipled, grow in the Word, learn to disciple someone else, and the Gospel begins to transform their home and community.

That is 2 Timothy 2:2 in action. What has been entrusted to us must be entrusted to faithful people who will teach others also.

So why Pakistan?

Because there are people there Jesus loves.

Because there are believers there who need strengthening.

Because there are pastors and churches asking for help.

Because there are women and families who need to know the freedom found in Christ.

Because discipleship can change generations.

And because if Jesus opens the door, our answer cannot be, “Why should we care?”

Our answer must be, “How can we serve?”