There are over 300 families of Pakistani Christian descent living in the Pendle and Burnley area of Lancashire.
It is the largest concentration of Pakistani Christian population in the UK but little is actually known of this community.
Like many first generation Pakistani's coming to this country the Christians set foot on British soil in the 1960s. Many came from the towns of Jhelum, Sialkot and Peshawar.
Since then however, their contributions seem to have been brushed under the carpet due to a misconception of their faith and culture.
The first Asian Christian church was built on Dalton Street in Nelson by the late Ephraim Baksh who started house prayer meetings and organising events.
Recognized and respected by the local community he single handily took people to and from church so the community could be part of the wider church.
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"They was only a handful of families here at first and you can see it would have been very difficult for them." says 43 year-old Yunus Masih.
"They were essentially alone."
The Asian community of Britain is told repeatedly that it must integrate more with the host community. For the Pakistani Christians integration has not always been as simple and straight forward as suggested.
Richard Masih, 27, said, "We can integrate culturally with the Pakistani's and religiously with the English people."
"This means that you are stuck in the middle without being fully accepted into either.
"But to many people you are just another brown face."
Michael Masih, 28 adds, "It can be uncomfortable when people ask you why you have a Christian name when you are Pakistani.
"Young people find it difficult to socialize as they try to avoid the uncomfortable questions as they feel slightly interrogated about their ethnic nature."
Some families even gave their children Muslim names to avoid such discrimination.
According to the official figures of Pakistan's government there are 162 million of which 1.5% of the population, or about 2.4 million people are Christians.
The figure could be double as the census is not conducted democratically. Simply going on birth and death figures recorded doesn't give a full picture.
One of the main reason why the community came to Britain was to avoid oppression and persecution due to their faith.
Their human rights in Pakistan are limited.
"The situation in Pakistan change all the time for the Christian minority." adds Pervaiz.
"Things in Pakistan flare up when there is major international incident. For example times were difficult when the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan began.
"The Danish cartoons sparked major riots in Pakistan where mobs were going round burning Church, taking their anger on the Pakistani Christian but the western media doesn't have the access to such news because Christians are too afraid to speak out because they fear for their lives."
According to Youth Worker - Mohammed Arshad the Pakistani Christian community has been let down by both the Pakistanis and the local authorities.
"The community is represented very badly in the wider community. How many Pakistani Christian groups are there? How many Councillors? How much funding is given if the group wishes to hold community events?
"I think the community has been sold out. The funding authorities have let the Pakistani Christian community down very badly.
"They are misrepresented at political and social levels. In truth if this had been a Muslim group there would have been uproar from all quarters."
Mohammad feels it is time for the community to be recognized on a wider level and their needs met.
"The support structure for Pakistani Christians is just not there. We as a Pakistani community have become accustomed to demanding more and more for Muslims whilst ignoring the needs of the other British Pakistanis.
"I quite understand that our parents went through a great deal when they arrived here. But if you think about this community they had to put up from prejudice from both sides.
"They have made a valued contribution to the region and this has to be acknowledged."
Meanwhile, members of the newly formed Nazareth to Nelson Forum of Pendle Christian Asians' helped raise over £200 for charity.
The group who meet at Nelson Youth Centre on Sundays was set-up late last year.
Posted by: khuram, Nelson on 11:39am Wed 26 Mar 08
Its was an eye opener to read that the Christian Community faced many challenges in their migration . I would be interested in more of what the Community is involved in. [bold]bold[/bold]
Its was an eye opener to read that the Christian Community faced many challenges in their migration . I would be interested in more of what the Community is involved in.
Posted by: Raj Bilas, Blackburn on 4:42pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Dear youth of Nelson
I appreciate your courage and congratulate you all for your step of boldness to express you self in the newspaper. May God bless you all and use you to spread the Good New
Raj Bilas
Dear youth of Nelson
I appreciate your courage and congratulate you all for your step of boldness to express you self in the newspaper. May God bless you all and use you to spread the Good New
Raj Bilas
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