Jahan* was desperately near suicide. Twenty-one years of living with polio-crippled legs and debilitating pain since birth had left him without hope of ever experiencing a normal life. The move from Montreal to Winnipeg, with his Punjabi family two years prior had changed nothing for his condition. Today, he was mind-numbingly weary of trying to understand why God had left him in this life that seemed like slow torture.
With great effort Jahan stood from his well-worn chair which seemed more like a prison on days like this. Willing his disease-twisted legs to shuffle over to a nearby table, he clumsily grasped his cell phone—one lifeline to the outside world. He began searching the internet for anything that might give him some relief from the tormenting pain. An accidental click opened a YouTube video with a common looking man staring straight into Jahan’s eyes saying, “Jesus loves you! He can give you purpose and direction in your life.” Jahan drew in a long breath and nearly screamed,
“Jesus, if you exist then help me!”
With a new kind of urgency, he began another search on his phone. He needed to find someone who spoke his language to tell him more about this Jesus. His Google search showed a listing for Winnipeg Punjabi Church with a contact number. Nervous excitement made Jahan’s hand quiver as he punched the number into his phone. The voice that answered carried a familiar accent, “Hello, this is Akmal Erastus. How may I help you?”
Akmal and Sarah Erastus were Pakistani Christians and had been in ministry before hearing about great opportunities for their family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Residency papers in hand, they boarded a plane in toasty Pakistan and arrived in frigid Winnipeg in December 2011. After locating a home, they became acquainted with many Punjabi people living in their neighborhood and their children played together often.
Over time, Akmal and Sarah realized they couldn’t find any Christians in the surrounding area with a Punjabi background. Most were not engaged with the gospel at all. They began praying for their neighborhood and God put it in their hearts to reach out to these immigrant people.
After hearing about InterAct Ministries from their church pastor, Akmal and Sarah joined the organization in 2013 and were encouraged to pursue their passion for a ministry to the Punjabi. For a few years they focused on relationship building by engaging people through regular home visits, English language classes, eye clinics, and community events. In 2017 they started the first Punjabi Church in Winnipeg. The church is mostly attended by former Hindu and Sikh members and services often include multiple languages.
When Akmal received the unexpected call from Jahan, he sensed urgency when the younger man asked to meet with him as soon as possible. They met at the church shortly after the call, and Akmal listened as Jahan’s face dripped tears while he shared details of his painful life. Akmal prayed for the crippled man with a tenderness Jahan had seldom known, and they agreed to meet every week at a coffee shop nearby.
A month later, Akmal invited Jahan to join their small congregation where there would be other Punjabi people who love Jesus. On that day, the young man was hesitant to come alone. Caringly, Akmal walked him into the church where he was welcomed with a unique warmth encompassed by the familiarity of his own culture. He shared the testimony of his search for Jesus and people prayed for him. The relationship he had begun with Jesus transformed his life. With an overflowing sense of hope and peace he had never experienced before, he said,
“Now I have purpose and direction in my life and more than that—eternal life!”
Since the beginning of their ministry in Winnipeg, Akmal and Sarah have come to know many new seekers of truth. Along with Jahan, more than forty people have made decisions to follow Jesus. Another of those new followers is Meera.*
While living in Winnipeg as a university student, Meera was speaking on the phone with her cousin in India, who told her that he wanted to follow Jesus. Meera respected her cousin, but wondered, “Who is this Jesus, that my cousin wants to follow?” Like Jahan, Meera’s search for an understanding of Jesus, led her to Akmal and Sarah’s contact information. Eventually she called them to ask for a Bible in the Punjabi language, which they sent to her.
A few months later, Akmal received an email message from two pastors he didn’t know—one in India and one in British Columbia, Canada. Both pastors asked if he could follow up with a woman who wanted to know Jesus. When he and Sarah saw the name and phone number that was forwarded, they excitedly realized it was for the same young woman who had contacted them for a Punjabi Bible months before. God was certainly directing Meera to them! They immediately called and invited her to their home. After hearing the gospel explained, she surrendered her life to Jesus.
One year later, at the Winnipeg Punjabi Church five-year anniversary celebration, Meera was baptized. Knowing the potential for serious repercussions of rejection or threats due to her newfound faith, she still willingly told her family and friends about Jesus. At her baptism she said,
“Jesus saved my life, and I am willing to take baptism as an act of obedience.”
When immigrants arrive in North America they frequently feel lost and disconnected. Those unmet needs often draw them to seek answers. God has strategically placed the Winnipeg Punjabi Church in the midst of this need. Akmal and Sarah know God has led them to be witnesses for Him among the thousands of Sikhs and other immigrants in Canada. Their hearts desire is to reach out to as many of these as they can and see them accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
* Names changed.
Akmal and Sarah Erastus
Hearing the words Pakistan and missionary, one might assume that the missionary is going to Pakistan. With Akmal and Sarah Erastus it was just the opposite. God was building an amazing foundation in Pakistan that would prepare them for ministry with immigrants in Canada.
Akmal was born in Pakistan to a strict Roman Catholic family but received mandatory Muslim schooling. At age 20, he met a Christian man who was instrumental in his salvation and discipleship. Akmal developed a passion for ministry, so it was no surprise when he decided to serve full-time with Operation Mobilization.
As God’s plan unfolded in Akmal’s life, He was drawing Sarah to Himself as well. Raised as an Anglican, she was shocked to discover as a young adult that she could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A year after her salvation she married Akmal and joined him in ministry. During those years of service God blessed them with three children.
Moving to Canada in 2011 kicked off the string of events detailed in the previous story, Unexpected Calls. God’s plan had begun long before they stepped off the plane in their new country. Woven into their lives from childhood were underpinnings uniquely preparing Akmal and Sarah for immigrant ministry. Speaking multiple languages and exposure to numerous religions prepared them for a future beyond their imagination at the time.
As immigrants themselves, Akmal and Sarah have found support raising to be a challenge. Akmal drives a delivery truck during the night so his days are available for ministry. One might question, when does he sleep? While filling a vital role in their ministry, Sarah also works to augment their missionary support. Pastoring the growing Punjabi church is demanding. Full support would free them to use their gifts and unique backgrounds to broaden outreach among immigrants in Canada.
With a few butterflies still rumbling in her stomach, Sophia stepped off the commercial bush plane onto a small gravel airstrip. Just over two hours after leaving Anchorage, Alaska, she was finally in the remote village of Grayling on the banks of the mighty Yukon River. Sophia was looking forward to spending part of her summer with InterAct missionaries Aaron and Tisha Dalton. Yet she had no idea what experiencing six weeks in Alaska for an EnGage! mission internship with InterAct would look like.
Sophia’s time in Grayling was cut short when an unexpected ankle injury sent her back to Anchorage. Sporting a new foot boot, she got to experience ministry life in Anchorage with InterAct missionaries, Jonathan and Amy DeVries and their family. By attending SonRise Community Church and observing the DeVries’ urban and missionary care ministries, she received a good overall view of ministry in Alaska.
Many of these opportunities hadn’t been originally planned, but God provided a unique experience that gave her a very real slice of ministry life in Alaska. When asked about the value of her summer internship time, Sophia acknowledged it was challenging but rewarding, and stated, “It was a true taste of what ministry is really like in the village.”
What would God teach you if you did a missions internship? What joys would you see beyond the unexpected?
EnGage! is a six-week mission experience being offered this summer in Alaska and Canada. It fulfills most Bible college internship requirements and provides a mission experience for those considering full-time ministry in the future, regardless of age. For more details, check out www.InterActMinistries.org/engage.
"Do you realize there are only two eternal things on earth today? Only two: people and God’s Word. Everything else will ultimately be burned up—everything else." (1 - Chuck Swindoll )
Unless you happen to be a leadership geek you aren’t likely to be excited by talk of “mission, vision and values.” Regardless of your level of interest in such things, they clearly set direction and help an organization stay focused on their God-given calling. My reflections in recent columns have sought to communicate InterAct’s mission, and vision (2). These statements provide direction and parameters for all we seek to accomplish as a mission organization. Following on the heels of these critical assertions are our values. InterAct’s six listed values provide a decision-making grid for determining what is important in our ministry.
Due to limited space—and limited attention spans, I will only focus on our first two values in this issue: Scripture and relationships. Every Christian and every ministry should have these values at the forefront of their thinking! Why? Because indeed they are the only two things that will last into eternity!
Scripture is God’s clear communication regarding who He is, who we are and how we are to respond to Him. This is the foundation of everything we bring as missionaries! We are people of the Word—people who seek to run every decision through the matrix of God’s Word.
Our second listed value is relationships. Although there are many excellent programs that advance discipleship and church planting, we seek to focus first on relationships. Choosing to go deeper with a smaller number of people is an effective means of facilitating spiritual growth that advances spiritual multiplication. Therefore, the stories we tell tend to celebrate the spiritual growth and impact of individuals rather than programmatic successes. InterAct is not anti-program. In fact, programs are used across the organization, but our value of relationships drives us to prioritize development of meaningful ministry connections.
In our next InterACTION I will briefly unpack two more of InterAct’s defining values: cross-cultural ministry and whole-life discipleship.
1, Excerpt taken from “What Lasts Forever? Only Two Things,” copyright © 2015 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Used by permission.
2, See complete Vision, Values and Beliefs on our website.