
When I tell people that Forman Christian College is home to one of the largest campus ministries I know of with more than 1,350 students, they’re usually surprised. Not because a thriving student community is hard to imagine, but because of where it’s thriving: on a 160-year-old campus in Lahore, Pakistan, founded by Presbyterian missionaries and built, then and now, on the conviction that students of every faith and background belong.
That’s the part worth sitting with. FCCU is a pluralistic institution. Muslim, Christian, and students of other backgrounds learn side by side, and within it, a Christian community of more than a thousand students worship openly and with confidence. The Christian Life Program, or CLP, is the engine of that community. A recent evening at the Chapel showed exactly what it looks like.
A Full House at the Chapel
On 22 April 2026, students, staff, and faculty gathered at the Chapel on campus for a worship event the CLP team called “The Salvation Story.” By every account, it was a full house – one Forman community, together in one room.
The organizers described it as a deeply moving evening and gave, in their words, “all glory to God.” You don’t have to share their faith to recognize what they built: an event that drew students across the College together, led and prepared almost entirely by students themselves.
Rest After the Work
What struck me most came afterward. The team didn’t simply pack up and move on. They traveled together to Rana Resort for what they called a Spiritual Excursion – time to study, to rest, and to refresh after the long and tiring work of preparing for the worship night.
There’s something universal in that rhythm. The work of building community is real work, and the people who carry it need care too. For this group, the trip was a reminder that the community itself is a gift worth tending.
Why This Matters
It’s easy to think of Forman Christian College primarily as an academic institution, and it is an excellent one. But the CLP points to something rarer: a place where a religious minority community can gather freely, lead publicly, and flourish on a campus that holds space for everyone. In a region where that openness can’t be taken for granted, it’s a quiet, daily act lived out under the College’s motto: “By love, serve one another.”
Events like “The Salvation Story” don’t happen by accident. They’re the fruit of students who lead, staff who pour themselves into the work, and a community that shows up.
That’s what your support through Friends of Forman helps protect. Not a single event, but the conditions that make a place like Forman possible: students free to learn, to lead, and to build community on their own terms. If that’s a vision you’d like to stand behind, we’d be grateful for your support.










