THE DREAM OF A GOSPEL CENTRED CENTRAL ASIA
ALISTAR CHIU
JUNE 01, 2025
Central Asia is a vast and vibrant region located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It offers a wealth of cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, historical, and natural attractions. But it is also a region where people are hungry for hope and meaning in their lives. Despite the economic development and growing political influence in the region, many individuals still struggle with poverty, inequality, and social injustice.
According to the Pew Research Center’s 2010 report on Global Christianity, Christians make up less than 1% of the population in each of the five major Central Asian countrie (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan).
The Evangelical movement in Central Asia is just over 30 years old. There is a whole new generation now that is hungry for the gospel and ready to engage their culture with the truths of the gospel. Now is the time for training and equipping these young church planters and leaders for a vibrant gospel movement in Central Asia. For several years now, City to City Asia Pacific has been prayerfully sowing seeds and waiting on the Lord for a gospel movement in cities of Central Asia. We have been working towards translating and developing the training material into Russian which is the widely spoken vernacular in the region. In August 2022, we piloted a two-day mini Intensive in Almaty, Kazakhstan with 15 participants from Almaty, Bishkek, Baku, and Tashkent. They returned home with a renewed passion and desire to pioneer a movement in their respective cities.
In February 2023, we conducted a tri-city mini Intensive for a total of 69 leaders (32 in Almaty, 15 in Baku and 22 in Tashkent). We had Benjamin Morrison from Ukraine and Mukhamed Nagumanov from Almaty conduct most of the training. Below are excerpts from an interview with them after the Intensive.
Benjamin: I’m really grateful for the opportunity to serve as a trainer for this three-city Intensive. It was my first time visiting these countries and it was a joy to help instil the gospel renewal modules into the hearts of these church planters. One encouraging feedback was from the first session in Bishkek when one of the participants told me that his understanding of the gospel changed 180°! That was an encouraging reminder to me about why we do what we do.
I truly enjoyed being hosted by Mukhamed and his wife in Almaty, who welcomed me and Guna like family. We enjoyed taking in the local culture and especially the food – the plov was our personal favourite. I was also touched by the warm words of support for Ukraine and prayers for a just peace amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Mukhamed: We faced many challenges, but despite these, it was truly amazing to see God move in the lives of the leaders. We are confident that the participants were blessed and grew in their zeal to spread the gospel in their cities. In the two days, we only scratched the surface. There is still a lot to be done, as it takes more than one exposure to really grasp these teachings. It was a blessing to help these leaders think through practical ways of how they can let the gospel transform their hearts. The next step is the preaching cohort which we will start in Bishkek this April.
We need more trainers to train new church planters and we don’t want the gospel DNA of City to City to be diluted in the process. 3 of the participants will be joining the Asia Intensive in Bali this August to get more familiar with the content and hopefully join as trainers in the next Russian Intensive in Central Asia in 2024. We appreciate your prayers and support as we continue to plough through the vision that God has laid on our hearts for this amazing region!