Urdu worship songs reinforce faith and belonging in Karachi Sunday schools

Urdu worship songs helped reinforce faith and a sense of community belonging among Christian children attending two Sunday schools in Karachi, Pakistan, according to a qualitative study of worship music and religious participation. The researchers analyzed the content of selected songs and observed children’s engagement during singing and other worship practices. Their findings identify recurring lyrical themes—expressions of faith, community belonging, divine love and ethical values—as important to how children understood their religious identity.

The paper forms part of a broader ethnographic study set in a religious environment where Urdu is commonly used in churches with Urdu- and Punjabi-speaking congregations. Christians represent 2.9% of Karachi’s total population and constitute the city’s largest minority group. The community includes Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal and other denominations, while an estimated 80–90% are of Punjabi origin. The two Sunday schools included in the paper primarily used Urdu as their medium of instruction.

To investigate the role of worship music, the study combined qualitative content analysis of selected Urdu songs with observational insights into children’s participation in singing and worship. The song analysis focused on recurring themes in the lyrics, including the articulation of faith, belonging, divine love and ethical values. Observation provided a complementary view of how collective singing figured in children’s Sunday school experience. Together, these methods allowed the researchers to examine both the symbolic material presented through the songs and the emotional, cultural and relational dimensions of children’s involvement.

The results suggest that Urdu worship songs functioned as more than instruments of religious instruction. Their music and symbolism were rooted in indigenous culture, creating a shared emotional and communal experience for the children who sang them. In this setting, the songs operated as both cultural and pedagogical resources: they taught religious ideas while connecting worship to children’s social and religious worlds. Repeated themes of faith and belonging offered recognizable language through which children could understand themselves as members of a Christian community.

Because the paper focuses on two Sunday schools in Karachi, its findings describe the settings examined rather than providing a citywide or population-level estimate. The available abstract does not specify the number of children observed, the distribution of denominations, the presence or design of a comparison group, or whether statistical measures were used. It also does not provide details about the full range of songs or the observational procedures. Within these boundaries, the study’s central conclusion is that collective Urdu worship music supported religious understanding, emotional engagement and belonging among the Sunday school children included in the research.

Subject of Research: Qualitative research on Urdu worship songs and socio-religious identity among Christian children in two Karachi Sunday schools.

Article Title: Melodies of belonging: Urdu worship songs and socio-religious identity of Christian children in Karachi

Article References: Lalani, M., & Panjwani, F. (2026). Melodies of belonging: Urdu worship songs and socio-religious identity of Christian children in Karachi. Journal of Religious Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-026-00317-3

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s40839-026-00317-3

Keywords: Urdu worship songs, Christian children, Karachi, Sunday schools, religious identity, collective singing, qualitative analysis, ethnography, community belonging, religious education, Melodies, belonging