How a Canadian ministry hopes to change the cycles of destruction in Afghanistan

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Afghanistan. Despite boasting a population larger than Canada’s, Afghanistan has fewer Christians than the entire population of The Glebe. Yet, Pamir Ministries (a Canada-based Afghan ministry to Afghans) believes the nation could soon have one of the growing churches in the world.

“Afghanistan is one of the least reached and hardest places for the Gospel,” states Samir, director of online ministry with Pamir Ministries. For security reasons, Samir asked that Spur Ottawa only refer to him by one name. “When you look at pictures of Afghanistan, there are lots of rocky mountains. The hearts of people are as hard when it comes to the Gospel, but we believe the Word of God can definitely change their hearts.”

Almost all Afghan Christians are converts from Islam, but no Christians walk openly. Persecution is fierce. For years, Afghanistan has stood among the world’s top three worst persecuting nations for Christian. (It is currently second to North Korea, according to the World Watch List.) Of the country’s 38 million citizens, the Afghan Church is estimated between just 3,000 and 12,000. Samir believes those number are generous.

“In that number, I think we can include the Christians in the diaspora.”

Pamir Ministries does outreach work, in person, among Afghan refugees across Europe, but they also pump Gospel-centred content into Afghanistan online and via radio and satellite TV.

“The incredible thing that is happening in our time is that we, as Afghans, are taking the Gospel to our own people.”

“We produce content in the languages of Afghanistan (Dari and Pashto) and we do discipleship among Afghans in Afghanistan and around the world,” Samir explains. “I produce a lot of video content, both short videos where I tackle questions that Afghans have about Jesus (Why do you call Him the Son of God? Has the Bible changed?) and I do long-format live shows, where hundreds of Afghans join us every week. I preach the good news of the Gospel for half an hour and then I open it up for Afghans to have conversations with us. Through these shows, we become the guests of our people, speaking with them in their very homes about Jesus.”

On his show, Samir welcomes hardened detractors and those who are curious about Jesus to call in for discussions or debates about Christianity.

While Samir mainly produces online content, a large part of the ministry’s focus is radio. Internet is a great avenue for reaching refugees in Europe and North America, but less than 25 percent of Afghanistan has internet access. Pamir’s radio broadcasts go where their team, their internet, and satellite TV programming cannot reach.

“We have, everyday, two-and-a-half hours of Christian programming broadcast into Afghanistan. We are a small team, but God is using us in a variety of ways. All the content is created by Afghans for Afghans.”

While the number of Afghan Christians is small, Samir gives several reasons for his hope that revival is coming. One key point is that Afghanistan’s Church is truly sold out for the Gospel. With the degree of persecution they face, he says, believers do not have the option of being weak in their conviction—when someone decides to follow Jesus, there’s no second guessing and no turning back.

“Please pray for Afghanistan.”

Samir is also encouraged by a recent shift. In the past, he explains, cultural and language barriers prevented the Gospel from taking root.

“The Gospel was foreign in its delivery and in its content, in some ways, despite the truly heroic and sacrificial ways non-Afghan missionaries reached out to Afghans. The incredible thing that is happening in our time is that we, as Afghans, are taking the Gospel to our own people. We are using our own language, our poetry and literature, and our history. This allows us to actually connect with Afghans. They are not seeing a foreign scripture brought to them, they are seeing their own people engage with scripture.”

As the world begins to turn its eyes away from Afghanistan, Samir pleads with the Church to remember the persecuted believers of Afghanistan.

“Please pray for Afghanistan. We need Canadians, the Church here, to pray for what God is doing in Afghanistan, pray for our team, and pray that the Gospel would penetrate this country unlike what it has done ever in our history. There is no other hope for Afghanistan.”