By Alex Pettett, World Witness Executive Director


NURSING SCHOOL UPDATE


In November 2023, a team of ARPs from Canada and the USA went to Pakistan to celebrate the Nursing Program’s 75th Anniversary! We are exceedingly proud of the generation of ARPs, both in Pakistan and the United States, who have invested their lives to see nurses trained in the highest level of medical care and Gospel commitment and then sent throughout Pakistan and the world, to let Jesus shine. Congratulations, School of Nursing! Please enjoy this article by two of our biggest champions of this program, Joan Kingswood and Janet McKay.


SAMREENA’S TESTIMONY


Samreena is a nursing student at Christian Hospital Sahiwal (CHS) in Pakistan. By the grace of God, she will graduate in 2025, with a Bachelor of  nursing class in the school’s history to receive bachelor’s degrees in nursing, beyond the RN level.


Samreena was raised in an impoverished village by Christian parents. Her great-grandparents came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when missionaries preached in their village, some 35 miles from CHS. Samreena’s grandmother was greatly helped by the Pakistani Bible teacher, Esther John.


Esther, whose birth name was Qamar Zia, trusted Jesus Christ as Savior when a teenager in the 1940’s. She studied to become a Bible teacher and rode her bicycle from village to village, spreading the Gospel to local Pakistani women. She lived and worked at CHS, teaching the Bible to nursing students and local Christian women. During the night of February 2, 1960, she was martyred for her Christian faith. Though no one was ever brought to justice for her murder, it was argued that she was “in love with a man called Jesus,” against her Muslin parents’ wishes. Esther’s beautiful statue is now on the west wall of Westminster Abbey, London, along with other 20th Century Christian martyrs. Still today, Christians in Pakistan live in threat of persecution.


This year, Janet McKay, and I, both Canadian nurses, volunteered at CHS to teach courses, to students and staff, in Palliative/End-of-Life Care


By Joan Kingswood and Janet McKay


and Labour/Delivery Modules – about 80 students in total. Students are keenly aware of their unique position as nurses to Muslim patients in a Christian facility. There is freedom to pray with patients in Jesus’ name and opportunity to minister to the suffering. What a door the Lord has opened! With thanksgiving, please pray the Lord will protect this work.


Besides studying everything from anatomy/physiology to biochemistry/ English, students assist with student meals and clean their dorms. Cell phones are forbidden, and rules are strictly enforced. Up before 6 a.m., the girls are ready for chapel, well-worn Bibles in hand, before 8 a.m. When we and hospital staff arrive at the Esther John Memorial Chapel each weekday morning, the nursing students are already singing the Psalms, in Punjabi and are so attentive to the sermon that, when the pastor mentions a scripture, they spontaneously recite the reference in unison. They have huge sections of scripture memorized as well as the Westminster Catechism and some of the Heidelberg Catechism. Their seriousness and intensity to know and live God’s Word is very humbling. They are obeying Paul’s command:


“Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and  (Colossians 2:6-7).


Each year, over 300 girls apply for the 25 student spots. Samreena’s tuition and room/board are paid by a sponsor. The sponsorship program covers


costs for 125 students. This need is a growing concern. Exponential   and the School of Nursing.


Joan Kingswood, Sister Parveen, Janet McKay


75th


Anniversary Award Presentation


Janet and I were privileged to attend the nursing school’s 75th anniversary. Many former CHS graduates attended the celebration, but many more sent video greetings from all over the world, testifying to the school’s wonderful history of providing a solid Christian education, nursing skills, and how to live as Christians. Many former students work in hospitals where they are the only Christians. Like Esther John, they share the Good News of Jesus’ love with patients and coworkers. We are thankful this small work at CHS bears fruit around the world.


Please keep Samreena, nursing students, and hospital staff in your prayers, as they labour in this challenging environment, to the glory of their Saviour.


“Our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much (1 Thessalonians 1:5).


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