by Elder H M Sabir
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Nabha
Road was with Scotch Army from 1860 to 1947
for worship. After the division of Hindustan
this became part of Pakistan and Methodist
Church took over this place for regular
prayers. The Church wasn’t being looked
after well during this period. At that time
there was no Presbyterian Congregation in
Lahore. In 1956 God sent Rev Newton Labhoo
Mall to lay the foundation of Presbyterian
Church in Lahore, who started the prayer
sessions in YMCA building and individual
homes and established United Presbyterian
Church in Lahore. At that time there were
two missions active in Lahore; American
Presbyterian Mission and Associate Reformed
Presbyterian Mission which were collectively
given the name of Lahore Christian Council.
In 1957 along with a few people Rev Newton
requested the Methodist church to give them
5 Nabha Road Church for regular prayers,
which was lying vacant since long, which
they accepted and this became the first
regular church of United Presbyterian
Church. The Church started operating with a
few members. Some of the initial members who
helped Rev Newton were:
01. Mr. A R Gulab
02. Mr. R B Mall
03. Master Badar Ud Din
04. Chief Post Master Inayat Masih
05. Capt Rahmat Ullah
06. Mr. D C John
07. Mr. Nazir Alam
08. Mr. J D Saleem
09. Master Sadiq Dilawary
10. Mr Rasheed Khan
11. Mr. Yaqoob Mall
In 1958 Mr. David brother of Rev Newton was
murdered so he went back, but the members
kept their worship sessions regular. In 1960
all members met Rev Dr K L Nasir (Principal
– Gujranwala Seminary) and requested to
provide this church a regular pastor. He
choose and sent Rev Bashir S Imam Din from
Sargodha to 5 Nabha Road.
Church was in shabby condition when Rev
Bashir S Imam Din started serving the church
and there was no pastor house as well, so he
resided in Cap Rahmat Ullah’s residence at
17-F Gulberg. Pastor house was constructed
from 1961 to 1964. Rev Bashir shifted to the
Pastor House in 1965 along with his family.
Till then first session of the church was
constituted, who were:
01. Elder D C John (Secretary)
02. Elder Nazir Alam (Treasurer)
03. Elder A R Gulab
04. Elder R B Mall
05. Elder Inayat Masih
06. Elder Badar Ud Din
07. Elder J D Saleem
08. Elder Rasheed Khan
09. Elder Capt Rahmat Ullah
10. Elder Sadiq Dilawary
11. Baba AllahRakha (Church Bearer)
At that time Mr S Lyall Bhatti and Mr L M
Samuel were also active members of the
church. Till 1967 following new elders were
added to the session:
1. Elder Anwer Alam
2. Elder L M Samuel
3. Elder K Aron
4. Elder Victor B Jamal Ud Din
In 1968 Dr K L Nasir introduced
International Council of Christian Churches
in Pakistan founded by Dr. Carl McIntire,
which was opposed by the majority here and
the congregation divided into two parts.
Half of the congregation moved to 59
Nicholson Road amongst which few were:
1. Elder A R Gulab
2. Elder R B Mall
3. Elder Rasheed Khan
4. Elder J D Saleem
5. Elder Capt Rahmat Ullah
6. Elder J Manzoor Ul Haq
7. Mr. S Lyall Bhatti
In 1971 few more elders were added to the
session:
1. Elder H M Sabir
2. Elder Khalid Hadayat
3. Elder Madan Khushal
In 1974 Rev Bashir S Imam Din suffered a
paralysis attack and he was unable to server
the lord. In this period some more elders
left the church and the session was left
with:
1. Elder K Aron (Secretary)
2. Elder John B Mall
3. Elder F William
4. Elder H M Sabir
These elders kept serving along with Rev
Bashir till 1980. In 1981 Elder H M Sabir
and Rev Rehmat Masih knocked down an attempt
to take over the church. When the Gujranwala
Presbytery felt that Rev Bashir was not
unfit to hold on to the church and serve any
further, he was sent on retirement. Then
Elder H M Sabir along with his wife Mrs.
Zarina Sabir Met Elder J D Saleem and Elder
Elder Parvez Rahmat Ullah and Mrs J M
Manzoor Ul Haq in 59 Nicholson and informed
about this attempt and requested to help in
protecting the solemnization of the church,
and proposed to reconcile. They agreed to
this proposal and it it was announced in
both churches. After a little retaliation
from both congregations a reconciliation
could be made possible. A new session was
constituted in 1982 comprising of the
following members.
01. Elder Parvez Rahmat Ullah (Secretary)
02. Elder H M Sabir (Treasurer)
03. Elder J D Saleem
04. Elder R B Mall
05. Elder K Aron
06. Elder J Manzoor Ul Haq
07. Elder John B Mall
08. Elder Iftikhar Bhatti
09. Elder Fazal Elahi
10. Elder E Saleem Bhatti
11. Elder Francis Imam Din
12. Elder Asif Feroze Bhatti
13. Elder Yousaf Lal Din
14. Elder J R Mall
Major repairs of Church were made between
1988 and 1991
Since there was no appointed pastor in the
Church hence guest speakers were invited
frequently for sermons amongst which Prof
Daniel Baksh and Prof Jackob E Lal are the
prominent names. Rev Hanook Haq was also
invited a couple of times to deliver the
sermon. In 1983 Rev Rehmat Masih was
appointed as regular pastor in the church.
He served the church for 3 years, while the
session decided to carry on the repair work
at church for which Building Fund Account
was established. Till 1988 Rs.350,000/- were
collected in Building Fund and the repair
work was initiated. The contract was given
to individual but he left the task
unfinished. Finally two session members;
Elder H M Sabir and Eder Fazal Elahi were
handed over this responsibility, who
diligently completed this task by
sacrificing times from their jobs and home.
A daily labour work used to start with a
word of God and Prayer.
The whole congregation took active part in
this construction work by physical and
financial involvement. Elders used to visit
people to collect donations for the
renovation work. Personal vehicles were used
often to bring the raw material for this
renovation. Sundays were celebrated as work
days by the congregation and labour was
helped in this way. By 1991 this work came
to an end and regular worships started to be
held inside the church building.
Next was the pastor house for which an old
member Miss. John took the initiative by
donating Rs.100,000/- and the whole
congregation also pooled in an this was also
done very proficiently.
In 1993 session requested the Gujranwala
Presbytery for a regular pastor. They chose
Rev. Majid Abel, one of the best students
and fresh graduate for Nabha Road Church. He
was installed as a pastor in the church and
the church started to grow and prosper.
During the tenure of Rev Majid Abel, there
was a remarkable growth in church
congregation and the church prospered as a
whole. During this time following new elders
were added to the session:
1. Elder Jamshaid Rahmat Ullah
2. Elder Pervaiz Saleem
3. Elder Jalal Masih
4. Elder N P Dass
5. Elder Hermond Javaid Bhatti
In the beginning of 2002 Rev Majid Abel
shifted from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian
Church to Naulakha Presbyterian Church. To
overcome the deficiency of a fulltime pastor
the session requested Col (R) Ernest Shams
to be the pastor of the church which he
accepted and became pastor in Sep 2002. His
Seminary and Military trainings helped him
in turning out to be a good church leader.
During his short tenure of 7 months the
church choir gained a lot of strength and
won Helen Rocky trophy for the first time.
In April 2003 Rev Hanook Haq became the
fulltime pastor of the church. Rev Hanook
Haq with the support of his wife, beautified
the
premises and improved the overall look of
the church. He also added a lot of new
members to the church.
In 2009 two new elders were appointed by the
session:
1. Elder Asher Moon Bhatti
2. Elder Shehbaz Masih
Rev. Hanook Haq still serve the church with
dedication and we all pray to God to give
him strength and wisdom to manage the church
in a way God wants it to be. (Amen)
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