Central Asia (MNN) — Who decides when teaching and encouraging become “too extreme?”
In recent years, Central Asia has seen a wave of new laws and regulations related to extremism. While the idea of protecting national security sounds reasonable, the concept is often vague and flexible. Almost anything can be considered a threat — if someone in authority decides it is.
David Durance from TeachBeyond explains:
“And although some of this is under the guise of trying to be secular, it really does, in practice, go against our Christian brothers and sisters in their ability to practice simple things like gathering, things that we’re interested in, which would be Christian education, freedom of speech,” he says.
Photo courtesy of 光曦 刘 via Unsplash.
He compares the atmosphere to a landscape that changes overnight: “You walk out your door and you know what your front yard looks like, and then you walk out the door the next morning and the front yard looks different.”
That change in “landscape” can take many forms, such as the sudden revocation of a building license or the introduction of new, restrictive regulations on educational activities. One day, someone might securely own and operate a school; the next, that ownership is nullified in a moment by the decision of a single official. The pressure is real, and uncertainty weighs heavily. Yet in the face of these shifting circumstances, believers are stirred to think creatively and adapt with wisdom and resilience.
“How we can pivot to thinking about a learning center rather than a school, and pivot towards thinking about how we can live within these constraints of the law and still have the Gospel presented in a really meaningful way through the relationships that God continues to build here,” Durance says.
He says that even in the crisis of losing a building, the relationships formed over years — or even decades — become the foundation for moving forward. He adds that TeachBeyond finds opportunities to serve: “And as is often the case, the local municipal work that we get to do, especially in schools, ends up providing a bit of an umbrella for us to continue the work in a way that we would not otherwise be able to do.”
Pray that local believers are inspired to find new pathways forward so the work continues despite restrictions!
“Amazingly enough, we often see growth in that — as we see persecution happen, as we see the landscape shift, God often uses that to really further the Gospel,” Durance says.
Tashkent’s Amir Timur Square: header image courtesy of Dasha Novikova via Unsplash.
