Taking the Gospel along the Silk Road

Central Asia

Central Asia has a long and tumultuous history.  It seems that God has opened a window of opportunity for the gospel in this region, which brothers and sisters from Newfrontiers are taking.

For centuries Central Asia lay at the heart of the Silk Road trade route linking East and West. Successive empires have sought to control this strategic region leading to successive conquests by the Persians (C5th BC), the Macedonians (C3rd BC), the Arabs (C7th AD), the Mongols (C13th AD) and most recently the Russians (C19th AD). As a result, the region has been subjected to a wide variety of cultural and religious influences including those of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam some of which is still evident in the cultural traditions and festivals of today.

However, since the Arab invasion of the 7th century, Islam remained the predominant religious influence until the dawn of the Soviet Union, when all traditional forms of religious belief and practise were suppressed and atheism was heavily imposed by the state. With the sudden break up of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the formation of independent and secular states, came a period of openness and a potential window of opportunity.

In 1998 a couple from The Coign Church, Woking moved to join a church planting team in an ancient Silk Road town. In time this led to the formation of a Newfrontiers team which for the next 11 years worked through many ups and downs to try to establish a biblically based and culturally relevant church plant in that city.

In 2006, in response to a prophetic word, part of the team relocated to another 'gateway' town about 200 km away where at that time there was no established church, no other church planters and no known believers. On the contrary it had a reputation as one of the two main hubs for radical Islam in that country. Since then, the Islamic revival has continued apace but at the same time God has been growing and developing his team of ordinary men and women for his extraordinary task.

Fortunately, though we are called to obediently follow God’s calling and to step out in faith and action, it is ultimately God himself who builds his church. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, 'I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith may not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God' are so relevant to church planting in the Muslim world where so often even the best 'persuasive words' can be met with hard and unresponsive hearts.

The team have been seeking God for this divine dimension – dreams, visions, healing and deliverances – and in recent months, after four years of struggles and challenges, they are beginning to see evidence of God’s hand at work. A neighbour had a dream of Jesus and came to ask questions. A lady, who together with several other family members had been a hidden believer for over ten years, was prompted to make contact following another dream. God used an invitation to a wild boar hunting trip to introduce a friend of a friend who is eager to meet to read the Bible.

Jesus said, 'I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'