This ministry is currently Aberfeldy Parish Church’s chosen charity for 2020- 2021
Pastor Waqas Moazzam, an ordained Anglican priest, has been leading the independent Living Stones Church and Christian School for the past 15 years. Currently, there are around 500 members. Waqas is married to Salina and they have four children.
Living Stones School
This visionary school opened in March 2008, offering free education to 300 Christian boys and girls in the local community. Waqas’s vision is to provide a route out of poverty and destitution for as many Christian children as possible. Most of the children are from the street sweeper class and are the first in their families to receive any form of formal education. What started as a primary school grew into a Secondary school and the staff had the joy of seeing 100% of their first cohort of final year students pass the national Matriculation Exam in February 2020. All have now gone onto colleges in Pakistan.
Waqas is now in the process of building two more schools in neighbouring villages. He lives by faith, buying land and starting building as funds become available. He is trusting God to supply the funds and personnel for teaching staff in due course.
Both Living Stones Church and School have experienced a great deal of persecution from Muslim extremists in the area, with Waqas’s life and others’ lives under threat at times. Waqas has persisted in the vision God has given him, despite the stresses and injustices of persecution.
You can read more ab out this remarkable man and his ministry in the regular newsletters which Waqas sends to supporters in Aberfeldy Church.
Living Stones Church is situated in the city of Okara, which lies within the Punjab region of Pakistan. With a population of around 230,000, Okara is about 100 miles south west of the country’s second largest city, Lahore. The church is led by Pastor Waqas Moazzam experiencing rapid growth, currently, there are around 500 members. His wife Salina is the headteacher in the school.
Free education to Christian children
Living Stones Primary School opened in March 2008 and offers free education to 300 Christian boys and girls in the local community. The majority of children are from the street sweeper class and are the first in their families to receive any form of formal education. There are 17 teachers, including the Principal and Vice Principal, computer teacher, Christian education teacher and school nurse.