You might be following the conflict from only one side, so what is the perspective of believers in Russia?

“They are the story behind the story,” says Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association, “because the headlines are ‘What [are] Putin and Trump doing?’ The war [and] everything that’s going on, that saturates the headlines, and we miss these faithful believers … who through brutal winters are visiting orphanages, who are visiting communities, who now are preparing for summer camps.”

SGA supports the quiet ministries of hundreds of churches seeking to share Christ, not only in Russia but across Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere. 

“I wish that people would understand there’s a difference between the overall picture of a country and the people that are actually in these cities and villages,” Mock says. 

Of believers in Russia, Mock says, “It’s amazing to serve churches that do so much, to meet pastors that study through the night to be sure that they can minister in three or four churches, to [meet people willing to] be in communities where they don’t want them there.” 

For example, some areas of Russia have a strong presence of shamanism or of Islam, which are resistant to the gospel. Please pray for believers in Russia serving the Lord in these remote, unseen places.

“Regardless of your political views, regardless of your views on leadership of other countries, we labor under the kingdom of heaven,” says Mock.

Read inspiring stories of these men and women by visiting www.sga.org and scrolling to the bottom of their homepage. The stories you’ll find can stir you to press harder after God’s Kingdom wherever He’s placed you.

“Wherever you are, be the ambassador of Christ that God has raised you up to be.”

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Aliaksei Lepik via Pexels.

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.

Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) supports Christian ministry in Central Asia. SGA’s Eric Mock explains, “In the sense of combating extremism, they push all faiths down. What this has meant is a tremendous amount of pressure on all faiths, [including] on Christianity.”

Christian family in Central Asia. (Photo courtesy of SGA)

While each country and community in Central Asia is unique, SGA receives reports from ministry partners about the increasing pressure they are experiencing for their faith.

“What they are writing to us about now is that it is becoming a little more complicated for them,” says Mock.

“In fact, some of the pastors are even arrested or brought down to police stations to explain what they’re doing. Some churches have had law enforcement break into the churches and interview each of the people, directing them never to come back and gather again.”

The difficulties are not limited to government censorship and law enforcement. Christians and ministries in this Muslim-dominant region deal with challenges on multiple fronts.

Mock says, “When they hold a Christmas celebration such as an SGA Immanuel’s Child-supported Christmas program or summer camps or orphans ministry, they not only face increasing difficulties from the government, but they also face persecution from the predominantly Muslim society. Even children who are coming to faith in Muslim homes are kicked out of the Muslim homes if they hold to their faith.”

As you consider this report, please pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in Central Asia living out the Gospel. “None of them ask us to pray for an end of the persecution. They only pray that they would be abundant lights,” says Mock.

“We look upon changes in government and the persecution that comes from these Islamic groups as a detriment, but the believers see it as evidence that they’re displaying Christ in their community.”

Learn more about SGA’s ministry work here.

Header photo: Samarkand, Uzbekistan (Photo courtesy of AXP Photography/Unsplash)

Many Russians and Ukrainians own companies in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is the common business language. Joe Handley with Asian Access says, “Depending on who you’re working for, you may create an alliance with one or the other. It’s a very sensitive situation. The Asian Access approach is trying to unite the church, so how do you unite the church when you have people taking sides?”

As Russia loses influence in Central Asia, other countries try to make inroads. Iran, for instance, has focused on diplomacy with Tajikistan, as well as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The region’s position between the EU and China sets it up for further conflict.

Central Asian Church

It could mean big things for the Church. Handley says past growth of the Central Asian Church happened during the fall of the Soviet Union.

As outside forces grab for power and influence, ask God to strengthen the growing Church. Handley says, “To really extend the reach of the Gospel in places where, in Kazakhstan’s case, it’s pretty open. In Kyrgyzstan, it’s a little more challenging. But nevertheless, the need for building up the leaders of the Church is immense, so that’s the status as of now. We plan to go back in early 2023.”

“We ask everyone to pray for us, because we’ll probably open in at least one of those countries, possibly two.”

Header photo courtesy of picknicker54 from Pixabay.

It was a similar story for a girl in Belarus named Sonya. Her parents, both alcoholics, gave her to an orphanage at birth. She spent her childhood cycled through foster homes.

Eric Mock with the Slavic Gospel Association says, “Sonia would say that many times, the foster parents would treat their children by birth much different than her. She was seen more as the hired help to get chores and things done around the house.”

“She became very angry, very despondent, and began shaking her fist at God, saying, ‘Why did my life turn out this way?’”

A pastor named Sergei has known her and ministered to her since her birth. When she became a teenager, she started going to his church. Mock says, “All that has been terrible in her life was not because God has forgotten her. It was leading her to a place to where she would know Christ. She knows that He will never leave her or forsake her. Sonya is now baptized and looking for a fresh start in life.”

Praise God for His work in the life of Sonya and many people like her across the former Soviet Union.

Pastor Sergei

Sonya isn’t the first neglected child helped by Pastor Sergei.

Sergei originally comes from Kazakhstan but moved to Belarus, where he adopted ten children. Mock says, “He had bunk beds four bunks high so that he could put the kids into his house and take care of them.”

He regularly ministers at a shelter for kids who have been removed from their homes. Mock says, “He sees some kids that are just brokenhearted. They are being taken away from those who treat them horribly. But many would rather have a horrible parent than face the world with no parents at all.”

SGA has supported Pastor Sergei for years. You can help by donating here.

Header photo courtesy of the Slavic Gospel Association on Facebook. 

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin set no firm deadline for troop withdrawal, raising concern that the 2,000 Russian troops could stay in Kazakhstan indefinitely. Troops sent to the breakaway regions of Moldova and Abkhazia remain there three decades later.

“Russia wants to be a major player in that part of the world; they certainly want to exert influence over their neighbors. That is part of the reason they got involved, but also the president of Kazakhstan invited outside troops to come in,” Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says.

What happened in Kazakhstan?

Protests against increased fuel prices quickly became violent last week. On Friday, Tokayev ordered security forces to “shoot to kill without warning” to squash the unrest. Weekend clashes between security forces and protestors killed at least 164 people, including three children.

Putin claimed victory in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a foreign-backed terrorist uprising. Tokayev said he overcame a coup attempt, though neither leader offered evidence for these claims.

Protestors gather in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, on January 4, 2022.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The unrest injured more than 2,000 people and led to nearly 8,000 arrests. Russian forces may have restored order, but tension bubbles below the surface. Analysts say the president’s request for Russian help may have been a fatal one, politically speaking.

“There is a very strong nationalist feeling within Kazakhstan; this could be seen as a weakness by the president to invite outsiders in,” Nettleton says.

No matter what happens next, he continues, the outcome will change little for persecuted Kazakh Christians. Learn more about persecution in Kazakhstan here.

“Most of the persecution that we hear about in Kazakhstan doesn’t come from the government. It comes from a person’s family members, especially someone who came from a Muslim background,” Nettleton says.

Pray believers can share the hope and peace of Christ with their neighbors during these tense times.

“Pray they (believers) will have opportunities to speak into people’s hearts – ‘yes, a lot is going on around us; we don’t know what’s going to happen, but we have peace because we know Jesus.’”

Header image courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA.

Kazakhstan’s entire government resigned after the protests spread across the country. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has imposed a state of emergency, a ban on mass gatherings, and a curfew. The unrest began after a sharp hike in fuel prices. Early reports say dozens have been killed and thousands injured in the violence.

Eric Mock with the Slavic Gospel Association explains underlying tensions. “There are a few people in the country who have benefited greatly from the development of Kazakhstan, mostly from oil and natural gas, and then there is a mass majority of the people (which constitutes a lot of the people that are part of the churches we serve) that are quite poor.”

SGA partners

The country is experiencing an internet blackout, making it difficult to get updates from local partners. Mock says, “SGA works with several faithful local churches. We support a seminary and Bible Institute there, as well as working with missionary pastors. We help churches minister to over 2,700 orphaned children. In all of the 25 regions of Kazakhstan, we are involved in helping the churches there.”

“Our hearts are broken that they’re going through this chaos.”

Pray that the love of Christians in Kazakhstan would point many to Jesus. Mock has seen the witness of these churches during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They responded immediately by reaching out to many people that were distant from God. They wanted people to find their hope and contentment in Christ. And so now in these difficult days, the Lord has positioned his Church.”

The header photo shows the protests in Kazakhstan on January 4. (Photo courtesy of Esetok, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

“Under our mandate in the International Religious Freedom Act, or IRFA, we issue a report each year with recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress,” USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin says.

There were few surprises in this year’s report. China came up so often we’re spotlighting it in a future newscast. Nigeria rose as another major threat. Even though the USCIRF recommended Nigeria each year since 2009, the U.S. State Department did not designate Nigeria as a County of Particular Concern (CPC) until last year.

Indiscriminate attacks by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria are causing immense suffering. A violent campaign is being waged against innocent civilians who are being killed, chased, enrolled or enslaved.
(Photo, caption ©EC/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie via Flickr)

“If Uganda is the pearl of Africa, Nigeria is a diamond in the rough,” USCIRF Commissioner Jim Carr says.

“Nigeria is competing very quickly to be the worst of the worst. They’re in competition with China and Iran and North Korea.”

The report also highlighted 2020 trends leading to religious persecution.

“The most prominent global story of 2020 was a COVID pandemic. Governments took sweeping action to protect individuals and communities, including imposing restrictions that impacted the practice of one’s religion and faith,” USCIRF Vice Chair Anurima Bhargava says.

Manchin states in a press release, “USCIRF will continue to monitor how countries respond to and recover from COVID-19, and whether the loosening of restrictions is fair to people of all faiths and nonbelievers.”

Christians face persecution in most of the 26 countries highlighted by the USCIRF. Find details, recent headlines, and prayer needs from each country below.

World’s worst religious freedom violators

In its annual report, the USCIRF divided its recommendations for 26 nations into two categories: “countries of particular concern” and “special watch list.” While these correspond with State Department designations, we’re grouping the countries by alphabetical order:

• Afghanistan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Algeria – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Azerbaijan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Burma (also called Myanmar) – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• China – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Cuba – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Egypt – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Eritrea – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• India – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Indonesia – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Iran – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Iraq – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Kazakhstan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Malaysia – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Nicaragua – Persecuted Christians | Prayer Needs
• Nigeria – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• North Korea – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Pakistan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Russia – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Saudi Arabia – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Syria – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Tajikistan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Turkey – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Turkmenistan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Uzbekistan – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs
• Vietnam – Persecuted Christians | Latest Updates | Prayer Needs

“Religious Liberty” was commissioned by B’nai B’rith and dedicated in 1876 to “the people of the United States” as an expression of support for the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.  (Wikimedia Commons)

Mock says, “We see different updates on how the criminal system is handled in a country like Kazakhstan. But the product is that there are a lot of people that were arrested and saw prison times for lesser crimes, as well as greater crimes.” In fact, many Christians in Kazakhstan have served prison time as well.

From prison to ministry

Some estimate as many as one in four pastors in Kazakhstan had been in prison before being called into ministry, Mock says. “Very often you’ll meet missionaries who came to faith in prison and are now zealously reaching others with the Gospel. Not only in Kazakhstan, but in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. There seems to be a constant theme where people that feel that they were at the point of losing everything are the primary ones who have given everything for the sake of the Gospel.”

Most prisons in Kazakhstan leave prisoners subject to disease and do nothing to rehabilitate them to live in society.  Mock says the Church often steps in, providing for them and giving them hope in Jesus Christ. “The Church in Kazakhstan has many strikes against it. They’re preaching the message of Christ in the headwinds of Islam. For believers, it’s difficult to find a job. It’s difficult to advance the Gospel. They’re fighting culture and other religious distinctives,” he explains.

“So pray for the faithful believers in Kazakhstan that they would be faithful to proclaim the Gospel without fear.”

Remember, SGA has been supporting churches in Kazakhstan and other countries through the Christ over COVID program. Donate or learn more here.

The header image shows Kazakhstan in relation to China and other surrounding countries. (Photo by Anthony Beck from Pexels)

In the latest incident, officials began interfering with one church’s attempts to follow the law. “The New Life Pentecostal Church [was] just trying to get a new name to register, and then the police started visiting homes, interrogating them,” explains Greg Musselman with Voice of the Martyrs Canada.

“In some cases, the authorities arrived at the people’s homes late at night, and even threatened those who did not appear to cooperate.”

Religious groups can only gather if registered, and they can only register if their group consists of at least 50 founding members. Often, “the authorities will try to intimidate people so that they won’t list their names as members,” Musselman says.

Persecution in Central Asia

(Courtesy VOM Canada)

All religious groups in Kazakhstan have to register their activity with the government. As described here by VOM Canada, a 2011 law severely limits religious freedom:

Unregistered religious activity, private religious education, and proselytism are illegal, and the activities of registered groups are strictly regulated. Violators face short-term detentions, fines, confiscations of their homes and other penalties.

Pew Research Center ranks Kazakhstan third on a list of countries with the most restrictions. Only China and the Maldives place more limits on religious activity.

“There’s this fear that Christianity is a threat, and then there’s also the concern of radical Islam or militant Islam. They want to keep that under wraps,” Musselman says.

“They throw everything (all religions) in the same basket and then just try to oppress it.”

Next steps

Now that you know, what will you do to help? Prayer is the best place to start.

Pray authorities will release their chokehold and ask God to sustain Kazakh Christians. “Pray that they wouldn’t be gripped by fear, and also that they would have wisdom on how to go forward,” Musselman adds.

Find more prayer needs here.

You can also meet the tangible needs of persecuted Christians through VOM Canada. Learn more about Special Funds and donate online here.

Header image depicts police officers in Kazakhstan. Image obtained via Wikimedia Commons.