Diaspora Prayer Highlight: the Afghan Christian Diaspora
Hearing from Pastor Najib Shaeq in Tucson, Arizona.
One of the Diaspora Network's key values is prayer and fasting. We believe one of the most important and renewing gifts the immigrant church brings to North America is a deep commitment to prayer and fasting. We want to invite the broader Church to join in on what God is doing, and so each week as a network we pray with and for a specific group in diaspora. This week we will also begin highlighting a leader and church of this diaspora group here on this blog and sharing how they have invited us to pray with and for them. All are invited as well to join us on Fridays over Zoom (10-10:30 am CST). Message us if you'd like the link!
Pastor Najib came to faith in 1999 when, after fleeing from Afghanistan to Pakistan to escape the fighting, his brother shared the Gospel with him. He was baptized in 2004 and returned to help the underground church in Kabul, but later moved to New Delhi, India. While there, he worked alongside Iranian and Indian Christians. Pastor Najib is married to Rona and they have four children: two daughters and two sons.
The Diaspora Network asked Pastor Najib the following questions so we could hear more about his story, and how we as the Church can pray for our Afghan brothers and sisters, as well as for the spread of the Gospel among the Afghan community at home and abroad. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Can you share with us some of you story of coming to the U.S.?
In 2008, Pastor Najib and his family fled their homeland of Afghanistan due to religious persecution and sought refuge in New Delhi, India. They lived there as refugees for 13 years until they were finally introduced to United States through the UN office. In the summer of 2021, post-Covid, the Shaeq family flew to Tucson, Arizona. They did not know a single person in the city.
Pastor Najib shared that “a lot of things were cultural shock to us at first, like the big supermarkets to the diverse selections of cereals.” It took some time, but he and his family eventually adapted to the climate, the culture, and began both making friends in their city and receiving friends from out of state who wanted to visit them. “We got to find a good church for my family despite it being in English, which I’m weak at and so is my wife,” said Pastor Najib. “But slowly, God took our hands and guided me and my family step by step.”
What are the gifts/strengths of the Afghan Christian diaspora? What are challenges you’ve encountered in your ministry and church community?
“To my knowledge and understanding,” Pastor Najib shared, “we are truly faithful in evangelism and [understand] the need of it.” Perhaps because they come from a background where they are not permitted religious freedom, Pastor Najib has observed that Afghans seem “most vulnerable and in need of hope, of light for the future as they feel defeated as a nation.” As a result, the Afghan Christians that he knows place a lot of time and emphasis on sharing the Gospel. Here in the U.S., they do not feel afraid to express their values or keep it to themselves, something he considers a gift from the Lord. “I’m always amazed,” he said, “by the unity we have in the Afghan Christian diaspora from all around the world, coming together and praying and sharing, and always encouraging each other.”
According to Pastor Najib, Afghan Christians are “very active on social media right now, as some of our websites are blocked by the government but social media is a hard one to get rid of because everyone uses it.” Additionally, he works with Pamir Ministries and Operation Mobilization. Pastor Najib works with the radio side of Pamir, where listeners call in live and ask questions about the Bible. The majority of callers are from Afghanistan, but they also receive calls from the Afghan diaspora around the world. Pastor Najib personally knows many who have come to Christ from hearing about Him on their radio program or through satellite TV programs.
Afterwards, Pamir Ministries follows up with discipleship programs through Zoom. He went on to share that many other Afghan ministries have some form of discipleship “because so many already got through the first stages of questions, and they see the hope and want to know more about Jesus Christ.”
How can we pray for your church here and how can we pray for your home country?
Pastor Najib has asked that we pray for the next generation of Afghan Christians and church leaders, that they would be “examples of Christ to the church in Afghanistan.” Pray for unity among the body there, and that their faith would be strenghtened in the face of opposition.
On Wednesdays, Pastor Najib hosts online church via Zoom with Afghan diaspora from around the world and on Fridays, he and and his wife, Rona, broadcast radio programs in Afghanistan. He asked that we “pray for the members of the church who are in a difficult times and life and economic problems. Pray for the radio listeners —especially the women, girls, and youth in Afghanistan, who are unemployed and are not allowed to go to school and women are not allowed to work.” Ask the Lord that they would overcome their fears and “be rooted in Christ and the truth of His word.”
Do you know how many Afghan churches there are in the U.S.? Are there any in the Phoenix or Austin area?
Although he doesn’t know the exact numbers, Pastor Najib shared where he knows Afghan Christians are congregating: “there is a [new] church of Afghans in Memphis, and a second one in Oklahoma where Afghans with Iranians congregate together.”
“There are always those small groups of Afghan Christians who come together in their homes,” Pastor Najib added. “[They] are in the process of becoming a church in Houston and Dallas (Texas), Atlanta (Georgia), Kentucky, and California.”
Fatima Glass is the Program Associate for the Diaspora Network. She was born in Marikina, Philippines and lived there until she and her older sister were adopted by their maternal aunt and uncle and brought to Fort Worth, Texas. Her birth mom, two younger brothers, and most of her family still live in the Philippines. Fatima currently resides in Austin, Texas with her husband, Benjamin.
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