Newspaper Article – Working for peace in troubled land

A Hastings family is preparing for big changes when they move to Pakistan at the end of the year. Caitlin Nobes talks with the Connells about their big move.

Working for peace in a troubled land

The name Pakistan brings two things to mind this week – terrorism and flooding. Hawke’s Bay pastor, Dave Connell says the reputation for the first is undeserved, and the second means more struggles for the people already in strife.

Dave has visited Pakistan four times in the past three years, and is moving to the region’s capital city Lahore permanently at the end of the year, with his wife and three daughters.

Bay City Outreach Centre, based in Hastings, where Dave is an ordained pastor and his father Mike is senior leader, supports a number of mission trips and has been building a relationship with the Lahore church since 2007.

The church did a lot of work overseas, Mike said. Their focus was always on both practical and spiritual help. “Our primary work is preaching the gospel and changing people’s hearts but you have to provide practical help for third world countries,” he said.

Dave’s most recent two-week visit coincided with a recent commercial plane crash and the start of the heavy rains that have seen more than four million people displaced from their homes.

While there, Dave spoke to a conference in Islamabad last month that brought together religious leaders, including Pakistan’s Grand Imam as well as ambassadors from South Africa and Afghanistan, to commit to working towards peace.

“This event was bringing all the leaders together in a place of agreement that we would work together to bring peace,” he said.

Helping improve peace in the region and the country is one of his goals, and working with Islamic leaders is not a conflict, it is part of helping.

“My approach has never been to say I’m right and you’re wrong,” Dave said. “If you want to bring peace, one of the first stages of bringing peace is you have got to extend a hand of warmth. If you can’t build bridges then it’s just talk.”

More than 30 TV stations broadcast the conference as far as New York and the UK, and it was on the front page of every Pakistani paper.

The prime minister was meant to attend, but the assassination of a minister’s son meant he had other duties.

Terrorism is never far from people’s minds when Pakistan is discussed and Dave travels with armed guards as a precaution. But he has never felt threatened.

“There is a dark shadow of terrorism over the world and a couple of words and names are often related to terrorism,” Dave said. “There is an awareness of that in Pakistan, with the tight security, but I have never had any sense of aggression or seen any violence.”

It is a case of the “few ruining it for the many” and the people he has met were warm, welcoming and inviting. “They are very hospitable,” he said. “I am invited into homes of people I have only just met.”

People assumed that everyone in Pakistan was Muslim, however, the Eternal Life Ministries church, based in Lahore, had about 750,000 members in the region, more than the population of Wellington.

Kate Connell said the whole family was excited about the move. “The kids are very excited about our family adventure,” she said. “I know there are some risks, but actually we don’t have many hesitations.”

The Connells would be in Pakistan for at least a year. Their aims include establishing good Christian leadership, setting up a TV station and creating business and employment opportunities for locals.

“It is so different to New Zealand, and this is an amazing way to learn about it,” Kate said.

Kate, who has a background in education, would homeschool Jorja for the first few months and the whole family would learn Urdu. The Connells looked forward to expanding their children’s world view.

“For children to get an understanding and appreciation of other cultures is a great thing.” Dave said.

“It just opens them up to the world a little bit.”

Photo caption – HIGH FLYING FAMILY: Dave and Kate Connell and their daughter Jorja, 7, Madison, 3, and India, 1, are moving to Pakistan at the end of the year to help build leadership at a church in Lahore… PICTURE/ SUPPLIED