A Strong and Supportive Arm of the Church – 3rd Issue
In the Third issue, I will outline (i) a brief history of the Church of Scotland- Women’s Work and Ministry (ii) the First Bishop of Silakot, Bishop William Young(iii)Program Emphasis & Concerns of Women’s Synodical during 1974-77, and (iv) introduce two strong and committed women leaders of the Church of Pakistan who have helped shape the Church work and ministry of Sialkot Diocese and the Synodical of Women’s Fellowship of the Church of Pakistan, i.e. Mrs. Ethel Khair-Ullah and Miss Catherine Nicol.
Church of Scotland in Pakistan
The Church of Scotland, also known as “The Kirk” is another Uniting Church of the Church of Pakistan. The Church of Scotland had a long standing connection with Pakistan, dating back to 1857 when missionaries began their work in Sialkot. Reverend Thomas Hunter travelled with his wife Jane Scott and their baby son to Sialkot in January 1857. The Hunter family were killed during the Indian Mutiny later that year. Hunter family is commemorated at Hunter Memorial Church in Sialkot.
After the independence of the sub-continent in 1947, the Church of Scotland maintained partnership relationship with Pakistan. In order for the church to be a more locally run church, The Sialkot Church Council, was established in 1953. On All Saints Day, November 1, 1970, the Sialkot Church Council along with the Anglicans, Lutherans, and the United Methodists merged into the newly formed Ecumenical church, called the Church of Pakistan.
The Rt. Rev. William G. Young
A real Pastor of the Pastors
The Rt. Rev. William G. Young, the first bishop of Sialkot Diocese, Church of Pakistan was a Scottish missionary belonging to the Scottish Presbyterians. He was born and educated in Scotland. He received M.A. with First Class Honors in History in 1940, his B.D. in 1959, and his Ph.D. in Church History in 1974, all from the University of Glasgow. In June 1947 he was ordained in Oban as a Foreign Missionary of the Church of Scotland and has served as a missionary in Pakistan since 1947.
As a missionary, William Young worked in Sialkot Church Council in various capacities. He taught English in Murray College, because there was a shortage of staff due to 1947 partition. He also worked as a manager of Boys High School in Daska, Sialkot city, Gujrat, and Wazirabad and of the Boy’s Hostel at Daska.
From 1966 through 1969 he was Professor of Church history at Gujranwala Seminary, Gujranwala. He was the Moderator of the Sialkot Church Council at the time of the Union.
Bishop & Mrs. Elizebath Young
During his first two years in Pakistan, as a single man Willie Young “experienced times of great loneliness”, but he believed God had other plans for him. In October 1949, he was engaged to Elizabeth Wiseman, who was a nursing sister and Tutor at the Dow Memorial Hospital in Gujrat. Rev. They got married in 1950 by Dick Wooton, an Anglican friend, in St. Andrews Church in Gujrat. Rev. Young recalls his wedding as a Punjabi wedding.
They had three Children: Ella, Janet and John, all born in Pakistan and baptized by Punjabi pastors. Mrs. Elizabeth Young, being a compassionate nurse practitioner, worked side by side with William Young in training local people especially Women’s Fellowship leaders, in Adult Literacy work and in setting up a Leadership Training Center in Sialkot. Elizabeth was a Bishop &Mrs. Elizabeth Young great encourager and supporter of her husband.
Bishop Young, his wife and children acclimated to Punjabi way of life. They looked after a number of orphan girls. They not only looked after their health and educational needs, they also made arrangements for their marriages. They built long lasting relationship with them and enjoyed being called nana & nani ji.
Rev. William Young was a great proponent of the Church Union. He was a member of the Church Union Committee of the United Church of North India (UCNI). He strongly felt that in Pakistan, where Christians were a small religious minority, and comity rules had divided the country into ‘Mission Areas”, thus dividing various denominations into geographical areas, Church Union was certainly beneficial. In March 1954, the Sialkot Church Council at Rev. Young’s suggestion passed a resolution to join Union, which was later in May approved unanimously by the West Pakistan Synod of the Church of Scotland. In the same meeting, Young was elected Moderator of Synod for the year 1954-1955. As a member of the Union Committee, he attended multiple meetings. He produced Six Dialogues on Church Union which were published in Church magazine, “The United Church Review”. In his autobiography, Bishop Young says, “My biggest disappointment in the field of Church Union is failure to persuade the United Presbyterian Church to join.”
In his book, “Presbyterian Bishop “published in 1995, Bishop Young states that in the Spring of 1967, he was approached by Bishop Woolmer (Anglican Bishop of Lahore) to put forward his name as one of the bishops. The Negotiating Committee for Church Union in Pakistan planned to set up five dioceses, each of which would have a mix of at least two on the uniting churches. On April 16, 1969, Rev. William Young was nominated by the Electoral College, consisting of representatives from all the uniting Churches. The Electoral College met on March 18, 1970 and elected five people to be the first bishops of the Church of Pakistan. The other four (Inayat Masih, John Victor Samuel, Selby Spence, J.D. Blair) were the Bishop Designates while Rev. Young was the Bishop Elect. Bishop Young, along with the other Bishop Designate, was consecrated into the Church of Pakistan on November 2, 1970, thus becoming the First Bishop of Sialkot, Church of Pakistan. His Installation as Bishop of Sialkot took place on Sunday, November 15, 1970 in Sialkot Cathedral. Bishop William Young with Bishop J. S. Qadir Bakhsh
Bishop Young is known to be a humble and good tempered man. He was a People’s person. He often travelled on a bicycle and would get down from his bicycle to meet and greet friends and parishioner. He retired as the bishop of Sialkot in 1977, and was succeeded by Bishop Johnston Safdar Qadir Bakhsh, the Second Bishop of Sialkot. Bishop Young gave up his title as the Bishop after returning to his home Church in Scotland, where the title of a bishop does not hold the same elevated status as it might in other places/ denominations.
The Church of Scotland in Pakistan served the local Christian Community by offering education to boys and girls through its schools (Gujrat, Daska. Wazirabad, Sialkot, Youngsanabad) and Murray College in Sialkot, and providing health care through health centers, clinics and hospitals (Shilokh hospital in Jalalpur Jatta, Sialkot). Leading lay and clergy men of Sialkot Church Council actively involved before and after Church Union were Rev. Joseph Alam Gill, Rev. G. W. Mall, Rev. R.F. Wajid, Rev. Makhzan Ullah,
Rev. Dula Mall, Rev. Mehtab Din, Mr. Jacob Sardar Khan, Mr. Nasir Khan, Dr. Vincent Das, Mr. Malik Feroze, Dr. J. Dean, Dr. Frank S. Khair Ullah.
Women’s Work in the Scottish Presbyterian Church in Pakistan
Historically, women’s work within the Church of Scotland is called ‘The Church of Scotland Guild’ or simply” The Guild.” It is organized in groups at a congregational level in most of the parishes of Scotland. Each district has a lady District Superintendent. In the Sialkot Church Council, which became the ‘Sialkot diocese’ Lady District Superintendents appointed to oversee Women’s work were: Miss Ricky (Daska), Miss Guy (Gujrat), Miss Khera Mall (Wazirabad), and Mrs. Khair Ullah (Sialkot). The District Women Superintendents along with Bible women organized Women’s Work (Riffaqat-e-Khawateen) in the villages. The Bible Women were required to have minimum education of Matriculation, plus two
years training at the United Bible Training Center (UBTC), Gujranwala.
After the Church Union, the women of the uniting churches who were called by the various past names, such as “the Guild”, “Women Society of Christian Service” (W.S.C.S), “Mothers Union” etc. formed themselves into one body of women and chose the name of “Women’s Fellowship of the Church of Pakistan”- (Riffaqat-e-Khawateen.). Women actively involved in the education and health ministry in the Sialkot Church Council were: Mrs. Elizabeth Young, health practitioner, a woman of principles, hospitable, played an active role in Women’s work. A few other women who have played active role in the life and ministry of the church are: Mrs. Scott, Miss Mcilwein, Miss Millicent Banerjee, Mrs. Ganga Ram, Miss Ricky (Missionary in Sialkot), Miss. Lillie, Miss Khera Mall (Bible Teacher), Miss Sundar Dass (Principal in Gujrat Girls High School), Dr. Winnifred Thomas (wife of the Principal Murray College) and Mrs. Ethel Khair Ullah.
It is noteworthy that on May 22nd 1968, just a couple of years before the Church Union, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passed an Act to included women into full Ministry. As per this Act, “women shall be eligible for ordination to the Holy Ministry of Word and Sacraments on the same terms and conditions as are at present applicable to men.”
The Second Conference of Women’s Synodical of the Church of Pakistan
The Second Conference of Women’s Synodical of the Church of Pakistan was held in April 1974 in Sialkot. Mrs. Peters presided at the meeting. The Theme of the Conference was “Revival” (Bedari). Mrs. Priscilla Peters was re-elected as the President of the Synodical. Bishop John Victor Samuel, Bishop of Multan, and the Moderator of the Church of Pakistan attended the Synodical Conference as an Ex-Officio member.
The Program Emphasis and concerns during 1972-1974 were as follows:
Mutual respect and understanding for each other’s views and traditions; Spiritual revival and soul searching through monthly meetings and prayer groups; Strengthening family life and serving the Church; Organize regional and diocesan conferences, rallies and training programs in all four dioceses; Networking with United Bible Training Center(UBTC), Ellen Ingles Home for Old Women, and All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA); Fund –raising through Annual sales, plays, cooking and sewing classes; Appointment of a full-time women’s worker at diocesan level; Christian Religious Education Training courses for mothers and older women; Inter-diocesan Women’s Training Programs and Constitutional amendments.
Mrs.Ethrel Amriti Khair Ullah
It was a joy for the writer to meet with this wonderful lady in Canada in March 1999 at the residence of her daughter Shirin Pakyam. While sharing fond memories of her husband, Dr. Frank Safiullah Khairullah, who had died in 1997, Mrs. Khair Ullah said, she spent most of the time reading English novels and love stories. Mrs. Khair Ullah while in her 80’s, was delighted to speak with the writer about women of the Church in Pakistan. Mrs. Khair Ullah did not remember many details regarding Synodical’s early days. I’m grateful to Mrs. Khair Ullah for having written an article about her life and work a couple of years prior to this meeting. The following write up is based on what she wrote in her article and the information gathered by Mrs. Ethel Amriti KhairUllah
the writer from the Synodical Executive Committee minutes. Convener of the 1st Synodical
Mrs. Kahir Ullah, daughter of Rev. Joseph Thakur Das, a C.M.S (Anglican) clergy was born on 10 March 1916 in Lahore. She studied at Alexandra high school in Amritsar which is now in Punjab India. After finishing her school, she joined lady Harding hospital in New Delhi for nurse training. She worked in the Civil Hospital in Amritsar as a staff nurse. Later she moved to Lahore, now a city in Pakistan, and worked in the Ganga Ram hospital as a Nursing Superintendent. In 1948, she got married to Dr. Khair Ullah. When Dr. Khair Ullah went to Scotland to do his PhD in Edinburgh University in English literature, she accompanied him. In Scotland, she worked as a part-time registered nurse of Scotland in Deaconess Hospital for three years. They both returned to Pakistan in 1953 and remained associated with Murray College, Sialkot.
When asked about her initial involvement in the church, Mrs. Khair Ullah said, “I was not familiar with the church activities, but Mrs. Scott, the principle’s wife forced me to develop interest in women’s work”. This was the beginning of her lifelong committed service with women in church and society at large in Pakistan. She served as the President of Women’s Fellowship in Sialkot diocese. She also started Sunday School for servants and children.
Mrs. Khair Ullah attended the Inauguration service of Church Union of the Church of Pakistan in 1970 as a delegate from Sialkot Diocese. It was at this time that she and Mrs. Bhan of Lahore diocese were asked to form a committee of women to organize women’s work in the newly formed United Church. She took the challenge, and as the convener of a six-member committee, accompanied the task at hand, i.e., to lay down the aims and objectives of the Women’s Fellowship and prepare a simple workable constitutional framework, which would provide a guideline for women’s work in the four uniting churches.
In Sialkot diocese Mrs. Khair Ullah helped organize women’s work on the District level. Since Sialkot Diocese did not have a District Women’s superintendent, Mrs. Khair Ullah was asked to help the church. She worked full-time as an honorary women’s superintendent, along with Bible teachers in the villages for three years.
Mrs. Khair Ullah very soon also began representing Pakistani Church women on the Asian level. She, along with Mrs. Bhan, and one more lady were the first women from Pakistan to attend Asian Church Women’s conference in Hong Kong. She returned from Hong Kong, “with a new vision and the challenge for Women’s Fellowship in Sialkot Diocese, and the church at large”, said Mrs. Khair Ullah. Soon after she came back from attending ACWC meeting, the Fellowship of the Least Ccoin also started in Pakistan.
Mrs. Khaur Ullah also worked for many other Christian organizations in various capacities. She was appointed on Scripture Union committee for arranging camps and starting what was called “Team Support”. This meant raising money for Scripture Union locally in Pakistan. She also served Pakistan Bible Society Committee and organized sales. All this proved to be a “helpfully good experience for women’s fellowship,” said Mrs. Khair Ullah. As the Convener of ‘Women’s Home and Social committee’, of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan, she organized women’s summer camps in Khanspur, Ayubia for many years.
After her husband retired from Murray College, Mrs. Khiar Ullah moved to Lahore, where they both worked closely in the church circles. Mrs. Khair Ullah worked with a Dutch Missionary, Miss Blaaw, who was responsible for social work in the National Council of Churches in Pakistan. Mrs. Khiar Ullah worked amongst Busti (slum) women and children She equipped women through sewing and vocational classes to lead a respectful and responsible life. She also taught Bible, health and hygiene to women and children. When Miss Blaaw left the country, Mrs. Khair Ullah was asked to take responsibility for this work. Mrs. Khair Ullah continued serving Pakistani women in various capacities. In 1994, She and her husband moved to Toronto, Canada to live with her daughter and her family. She died on 13 March 2010 aged 95 years at her daughter’s house in Canada.
Ms. Catherine Nicol Wardlaw
While honoring the contribution of the Church of Scotland women to the church and society in Pakistan, it is worth mentioning the significant contribution of Ms. Catherine Nicol Wardlaw to girls’ education and nurturing young women in Pakistan. Born in 1935 to humble parents in a small village of Uklay, Scotland, Miss Nicol was sent to Pakistan as a missionary by the Church of Scotland in 1961. It was a joy to meet and interview Miss Nicol on April 27, 2024 at the Christian Girls’ hostel, Sialkot. While explaining her name, Miss Nicol said that she was named Catherine after her Grandmother and Wardlay after her Paternal Great Grandfather. While describing her early life, Miss Nicole said, “I am a village girl. My parents were laborer, and worked hard to raise their four daughters.” Ms. Catherin Nicol Wardlaw
Since two Scottish female missionary teachers, Miss Scott (sister of Dr. Lesley Scott working in Murray College) and Miss Mcilwein, after working in Pakistan for more than thirty years were retiring, the Church of Scotland sent Miss Nicol to Pakistan as a missionary to fill in the gap. After studying Urdu language in Murree, Miss Nicol was appointed in October 1962 at the Cristian Girls High School, Gujrat as the Principal.
After receiving early education from Gifford, a small village in Scotland, at age 14, Miss Nicol moved to a small town of Dollar. Upon graduating from high school, she went to Moray House, College of Education at the University of Edinburgh (1953-56), from where she received Master of Art (ORDINARY) degree. Upon receiving Degree in Education in 1957, she taught Math for two years in the city of Haddington (the birth place of John Knox, a well know Scottish Theologian). Though trained in Latin and Math, Miss Nicol primarily taught Mathematics as it was the need of the hour. Having a deep passion to be a missionary, Miss Nicol went to a Missionary College to be trained as a missionary (Oct. 1959-Dec. 1960).
Ms. Catherine Nicol with Rev. Khushnud Azariah in Sialkot
Though Miss Nicol dedicated most of her time and gifts to the furtherance of women’s wellbeing through education, she was amongst a very few from the diocese of Sialkot, who attended the Inaugural Service of the Church of Pakistan in November 1970, the first Synod of the Church of Pakistan (1971), and the first Synodical Conference of Women’s Fellowship (Riffaqat-e-Khawateen) in 1972 as an official delegate from Sialkot Diocese. Miss. Nicol actively served the Diocese of Sialkot for forty years. After her official retirement in 2001, Miss Nicol decided to stay in Sialkot and continues till date serving the people of Sialkot.
Currently, Miss Nicol lives in a girl’s hostel, St. Columba’s RTC, where she passionately serves the vulnerable children coming from neighboring villages and towns for study. Her dedicated service to educating and nurturing girls and young women in Pakistan has led her to receiving the following prestigious awards: (i). Tamgha-e-Qaid-e-Azam: a civil award which she received from the President of Pakistan in recognition of her dedicated services in the field of education, healthcare, and public service in Pakistan. (ii). MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her services to the most vulnerable children and young women in Pakistan. She received this award in 2001.
All praise and glory to God for blessing wonderful committed leaders to the church in Pakistan.
What to Read Next:
Plan of Union, highlighting events that led to the formation of Church of Pakistan; Program Emphasis and Concerns of the Third Triennial Synodical of Women’s Fellowship of the Church of Pakistan 1974- 1977, and the Life and contribution of two outstanding women leaders of the Women’s Synodical, i.e. Mrs. Shakuntala Bhan and Mrs. Florence Qadir Bakhsh