For a few weeks now, I’ve been looking forward to hosting a missionary from Kyrgyzstan on his travels through the U.S. Each time we’ve had the opportunity to open our home, it’s been an incredible blessing. The anticipation leading up to these visits excites my heart and is only matched in intensity by the sense of longing I experience afterwards! So it is with Christian fellowship, foreshadowing the hope we have for the eternal community awaiting us at the end of this present age.
As I write, that sense of warm longing weighs heavily on my heart. Before we met, I have to confess that Viktor and Kyrgyzstan were really just words on a piece of paper (Viktor is not his real name, of course, because Kyrgyzstan is a restricted country and evangelism is illegal in this Muslim majority country). Among the many blessings of extending Christian hospitality to those laboring in the ‘field of the harvest’ are the bonds formed with these brothers and sisters in the faith as well as the exposure to a people I may otherwise never know.
Though cultural expressions are vastly different and the felt needs of communities on the other side of the world are unique and very great, there’s much we have in common. At the heart, people are remarkably similar in their basic desire to find meaning in life, live with dignity and a sense of purpose, experience justice and hope, and to love and be loved. Ultimately we all thirst to have the guilt, shame and fear brought on by sin replaced with forgiveness, honor and peace. And so it is with the people of Kyrgyzstan, and so it is with those of us in the affluent west.
Far from the mental image I had of a former soviet block country, Kyrgyzstan is a land of great beauty and cultural richness. It is also a land in which the Kingdom of God is gaining ground through people like Viktor. Russian by heritage, Viktor was born and raised in Kyrgyzstan after his family emigrated there a generation ago. He came to know Christ in the mid 1990s through the ministry of Cru and since that time he has devoted his life to spreading the gospel in his homeland.
This video of the Kyrgyz national dance showcases this stunning country and it’s people:
Although a former Soviet Bloc country, Kyrgyzstan is more central Asian than Russian and the culture is Eastern. This is an important point that many western missionaries miss. In eastern cultures, which are based on a honor/shame worldview, relationships are everything. For the Kyrgyz, rules are optional and the government is corrupt at all levels. While Kyrgyzstan is nominally Islamic, it’s money, not religious ideology that turns the gears. Bribes are common for everything and are the expected means of getting anything done. Whatever the problem you have, legal or otherwise, can be solved by whom you know and how much you pay, irrespective of what the laws say. “Problems aren’t problems, they’re expenses.”
Children learn this in school from the very earliest ages. The public schools are filled with teachers who got their degrees by buying them, not earning them. As a result, the quality of education is terrible and the pay for teachers is ridiculously low, on average $100 per month. Compare that with the cost of an apartment at around $400 per month and you can see why it’s common for teachers to give children poor grades, claiming that they need private tutoring which of course they will provide after hours for an additional fee. It’s a repetitive cycle of bribery. Not only is the educational system terrible, so is the medical system. Because of this, many people have emigrated away from Kyrgyzstan and the economy has suffered accordingly with more than 60% of the population living under the poverty level.
Kyrgyzstan is also a land in which the Kingdom of God is under assault. Islam continues to claim lives and territory as wealthy oil producing countries are pouring money and mosques in to villages throughout this rugged, mountainous country. Alms giving is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and the alms are being used strategically to establish strongholds throughout the country and import radical ideology.
Because of the eastern worldview and Islamic influence, those who convert to Christianity are often persecuted and kicked out of their homes. Over the course of Viktor’s ministry work, it has not been uncommon for a new believer to show up in the middle of the night with nowhere to go. While this kind of persecution and community isolation is difficult, God often uses this to convert entire families. Viktor tells me that if a new Christian stands firm in the faith and patiently endures this persecution, there’s a very high likelihood that the entire family will eventually convert to Christianity. What a powerful witness of the power of the Gospel! Viktor tells me time and time again of the examples of this as he scrolls through pictures on his phone of brothers half a world away.
Wherever the Kingdom of God is experiencing growth, it will be assaulted by the spiritual powers of this present darkness. But the good news is that there’s also steady growth of Christianity and a real openness to the gospel. Much of the Muslim population is nominal in their faith and practice. The brutality of radical Islam is causing many to question their own faith. As I continue to hear from others ministering in Islamic strongholds, there is an unprecedented window of opportunity to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ!
When Viktor began following the teachings of Jesus, there were very few believers in the whole country. Today there are over 20,000 followers of Christ. Many meet in homes as it is growing more difficult to register churches in Kyrgyzstan. Official laws allow religious freedom, they are not always followed and it is illegal to proselytize and distribute Christian literature.
Viktor, along with the 30 staff of Cru in Kyrgyzstan (all of which are locals), are answering the call through a variety of ministry efforts to students, young professionals and home churches. Their goal of “a home church in every village” is currently about 30% complete. In addition to it’s own ministry outreach, Cru partners with other organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse to do outreach projects in the many small, poor and isolated mountain villages. Viktor asks for prayer for more “people of peace” to further this work. These are people who respond to these projects and indicate a willingness to help, creating an opportunity for follow up and evangelistic outreach. As these “people of peace” come to faith, they are the foundation for building a home church in the villages.
One of the ministry efforts that I’m particularly excited to hear about is the digital strategy that Viktor is involved in. In the restrictive religious environment of Kyrgyzstan, the Internet can be a powerful tool to amplify ministry if we’re intentional about it. Even in this poor country, most people have access to the Internet. Unlike some of the more developed closed countries, there are no meaningful restrictions on access to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube.
It would do us well to remember that at the other end of every Facebook post and YouTube video is a real human being, and even though a social profile might look good on the outside, the reality of the human experience is that we are all desperately searching for meaning in a world that holds out false hope and empty promises to the real questions of life. Just ask the Kyrgyz who saw the downfall of socialism as the Soviet Union crumbled and are still trying to pick up the pieces and rebuild a society from the debris.
But using the Internet to spread the gospel can be a dangerous thing to do in the 10-40 window, so Viktor tells me of strategies and tools to develop social engagement online, strategies that we can learn from as well. One of his favorites is using thought provoking content that communicates a spiritual message in an indirect way. A great example of this is La Liberte:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pExCM2Bk9YU
When someone in the online community likes or comments on the video, that opens the door to further discussion, usually through a private Facebook (or other platform) message, where an online relationship can develop and lead to a more explicit gospel presentation. What if, Viktor asks, Christians who are active online took 1% of their time and committed to using the Internet to connect with others and tell people about Jesus. That’s the equivalent of 15 minutes a day, a drop in the bucket of how much time many people spend online! What impact could you have if you were intentional about using 15 minutes of every day to tell people about Jesus?
Many times during our few days together, Viktor tells me that “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” There is a great window of opportunity for the message of Jesus in Kyrgyzstan. The brutality of radical Islam is causing many Muslims to question their faith. Atheistic socialist communism has failed and the corrupt leaders that have replaced it don’t have answers for the most fundamental human needs. The villages are spiritual battlegrounds and the enemy is advancing. What can be done?
- Pray for open hearts for the people of Kyrgyzstan
- Pray for the slow growth of Islam
- Pray for government stability in the country
- Prayerfully consider supporting Cru or other ministries active in Kyrgyzstan