Source: www.MNNonline.org
Date: February 22, 2022
Pakistan (MNN) — We recently reported on Pakistan’s brick kilns and the debt bondage used to keep millions of people working at them. The situation amounts to slave labor.
World Mission traveled to two different brick kilns and paid for the workers to take a day off. They shared the Gospel with them, and many began to follow the risen Jesus.
Brick kiln owners
Then, another brick kiln owner asked World Mission to visit his worksite, this time for free. Greg Kelley recounts his words. “’I was told that the slaves [at other kilns] have changed like lightning hit them. They’re working harder and have great attitudes. I want you to come and share.’ So here this Muslim owner of a brick kiln was asking us to come and share the Gospel with his people.”
Many of the laborers began following Jesus after hearing World Mission staff speak. But Kelley asks readers to pray for the owners. “Ask God to make these brick kiln owners recognize just the evil that they’re participating in and how they need a savior just like the slaves. They are wealthy people. They’re self-sufficient. They have never been told no, and they pay off the governments with bribes so they look the other way. They need a radical encounter with Jesus.”
World Mission’s goals
World Mission works with local partners in Pakistan. They have a goal to feed these slaves and even free as many as they can. Kelley says, “We are actively identifying the most vulnerable. There are elderly people that are in there. The slave owners couldn’t care less about their physical situation and the demands they have on them, they still have expectations and quotas.”
“I talked to a man and a woman who were probably in their early 60s. They just limp around. They say, ‘The slave owner beats us every day, because we don’t make enough bricks. We are going to die here.’”
Pray their love will clearly reflect Jesus: the God who sets slaves free.
Header photo courtesy of MabelAmber on Pixabay.