Resources
Christian Resources for Women and Girls
Seven areas, each written to be useful on its own rather than to advertise something else. Our written library is still being built, so every section below carries something you can actually use today.
Bible & Faith
Reading Scripture for Yourself
Every other strand of discipleship depends on this one. Character without Scripture becomes self-improvement, discernment without Scripture becomes opinion, and service without Scripture becomes activity.
Use a translation you can genuinely understand, in the language you think in. For most women in Pakistan that will be Urdu, and there is no spiritual advantage in struggling through English if Urdu is clearer to you.
A simple way into Bible study
Enough to begin. No course, commentary or quiet house required.
- Read the passage twiceOnce for the shape of it, once slowly.
- Ask what it says about GodBefore asking what it says about you.
- Note one thing you do not understandCarry the question. Ask someone. Do not pretend.
- Choose one thing to obeyOne, this week. Not five.
- Pray it backTurn what you read into what you ask for.
When prayer feels dry
- Pray a psalm out loud when you have no words of your own. Psalm 13, 42 and 62 are honest about difficulty.
- Shorten it. Two honest minutes beat twenty distracted ones, and a habit that survives is worth more than one that impresses.
- Say the true thing. God is not protected from your anger or your doubt by your politeness.
- Pray with one other person. Dryness rarely survives company.
- Keep going anyway. Feeling is not the measure of whether prayer is working.
Prayer
Praying Alone, in Families and in Groups
Honest speech with God, including the parts that are angry or ashamed. Short and regular beats long and rare. A woman who prays only when a crisis arrives is starting a conversation at the hardest possible moment.
If you would like to pray for this ministry, our prayer page sets out what we would value prayer for.
Discipleship
For Women Leading Other Women
Most durable spiritual growth happens through relationships rather than sessions. If you are thinking about mentoring a younger woman, you do not need theological training or an unblemished past. You need to be following Christ, to be willing to be honest, and to be reliable.
Our full approach is described under Our Work.
Starting a small group of women
- Begin with three or four. A small group that meets is better than a large one that is planned.
- Agree the time and protect it. Irregularity kills groups faster than bad teaching.
- Read the passage together before anyone explains it.
- Let silence sit. The first person to speak is not always the one with most to say.
- End with one thing each woman will do, and ask about it next time.
- Decide early what stays confidential, and honour it.
Making a difficult decision
- Name the actual decision. Much confusion is several decisions tangled together.
- Ask what Scripture clearly says. Some options are removed at this step.
- Ask what wisdom suggests where Scripture is silent, and expect to weigh costs.
- Ask someone who will disagree with you, not only someone who will agree.
- Notice pressure. Urgency that is not yours is usually someone else's leverage.
- Decide, and accept that faithfulness does not guarantee an easy outcome.
Christian Life
Work, Money, Decisions and Difficulty
Faith that never reaches an ordinary Tuesday has not yet reached very far. This area covers the practical ground where most of life is actually lived: work, money, time, disappointment, and the decisions nobody else can make for you.
We do not teach that faith makes life easier. We teach that faith holds, and that a woman formed before difficulty arrives has something to stand on when it does.
Christian Family
Marriage, Parenting and the Household
The burden that became NEPSIS started here, in 2014, with marriage and family life. Extended family and in-law relationships shape a woman's daily life in many Pakistani households as much as her marriage does, and honest teaching has to address that rather than avoid it.
If your family needs support, please contact us. We will tell you honestly what we can offer and where we would refer you elsewhere.
A note on the limits of pastoral care
Biblical counselling is a real service and it is bounded. Where a situation involves abuse, danger, serious mental illness or legal jeopardy, the responsible response is referral to qualified help.
We say this plainly because families in crisis are sometimes told that faith alone should be sufficient, and are harmed by that advice. Seeking qualified help is not a failure of faith.
What we look for before capability
Capability can be developed quickly. Character cannot.
- Faithfulness in small things, when nobody is checking
- Teachability, and correction received without treating it as an attack
- Honesty about limits, including saying "this is beyond me"
- Care for people who have nothing to offer her
- Endurance through something difficult with no visible reward
- Willingness to train a successor rather than protect a role
Christian Leadership
Leadership Measured by Service
Many women assume leadership is for other people while they are already leading: setting the tone of a household, shaping how children understand God, deciding what is tolerated in a workplace.
Churches in Pakistan hold different convictions about church office, and NEPSIS works with churches across that range. We do not use this ministry to press a position. What we do say plainly is that every woman has gifts given to be used.
Pakistan Christian Community
For Christ. For Families. For Pakistan.
We love Pakistan. We believe Christian girls and women can make a meaningful contribution to their families, churches, communities and nation when they are rooted in Christ and equipped to live faithfully.
Christian women here face real difficulties, including discrimination, exploitation, pressure surrounding faith, forced conversion and abduction. Naming those honestly is not the same as defining women by them. Our desire is not simply to help women overcome today's difficulties, but to help prepare them for tomorrow.
Written resources, and a note about language
NEPSIS is preparing written studies, group guides and training material. We are not going to list documents that do not exist yet, so this page carries the teaching itself instead.
This website is in English. Most of what NEPSIS teaches is delivered in Urdu, and material in Urdu matters more than material in English for most of the women we serve. Publishing in Urdu is a priority. If you could help with translation, or with writing directly in Urdu, please get in touch.