Central Asia (MNN) — Hidden, daily pressure is being put on the church in Central Asia.

David Durance with TeachBeyond says, “The headline looks okay. ‘Hey, there might be even more freedom,’ but the undercurrent is so very difficult.”

As long as the church keeps to itself, there is no trouble. That changes the moment they want to share the Gospel. Durance said that in his recent travels around the area, he talked to believers who are facing more than persecution — they are sometimes cut off from their entire community. 

“Believers who were not careful about who they were sharing the Good News with, just shared it with the wrong person, they were reported to the police, and then 24 hours later they were off the street and in prison,” Durance says. 

Governments suppressing the Gospel target children’s education. In some places, Christians telling the story of Jesus to their own children is illegal. In Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, there are strict laws against teaching religion to children under 18 unless it is done by a government-sanctioned and licensed official. This means that kids are not allowed to be in church with their parents. 

Even though they are taught the region’s dominant religion on the streets, children cannot hear about their Christian parents’ faith at home. Yet TeachBeyond doesn’t let that stop Christian education.

“If we do education really well, often it includes some level of English education. Suddenly doors that are jam-shut or slammed on us start opening,” Durance says. 

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Image courtesy of Arseniy Kotov on Pexels

Durance says that planning in the region is particularly difficult, as governments can radically change their positions in an instant. Ministries usually operate on six to twelve month increments because of this.

“I would call it nimble mission,” Durance says. 

Durance wants people to know that there is hope for Central Asia.

“So in the middle of all this, hearing stories of people being whisked away, the other side of this is hearing stories of whole families who are being transformed because they are in Christian environments,” Durance says.

TeachBeyond recently got permission to open multiple Christian schools. This is an incredible opportunity, but now TeachBeyond has the unique difficulty of finding qualified teachers from a Christian population that makes up less than one percent of these nations. Pray that they would find enough teachers despite the tiny Christian population. 

 ”If we can have people praying for the believing community, they’re desperate for that. It’s the number one request. They’re not even asking for resources or even more teachers. They’re saying, ‘Just pray for us that God would give us favor, open doors, and help us to be faithful in the opportunities God’s giving us.’” Durance says.

 

Header image courtesy of TeachBeyond