[2024 Ramadan Day 5] Kyrgyzstan, who will run with all their life carrying the gospel of grace

Kyrgyzstan, located in Central Asia, is one of the former Soviet Union countries and is currently home to over 80 ethnic groups and 6.5 million people after gaining independence in 1991. Kyrgyzstan borders four countries, with Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the southwest, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east, making it a gateway country to Central Asia that allows you to go anywhere.

There are 1,983 schools in Kyrgyzstan, and the total number of mosques is 1,680, which is close to the number of schools in the country. These temples number about 1,000 and are concentrated in the southern region of Kyrgyzstan (Fergana Valley). On Easter 2019, the first united church meeting (churches of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan) was held in the Fergana Valley. On the same day, in front of the city hall, six Turkic countries (Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan) gathered to pray for this land. It was also declared the center of the Muslim cultural world. It is truly amazing that on the same day, the same Turkic peoples gathered together and declared this land as theirs. The year after the Kyrgyz Church thought it was standing in the middle of a huge spiritual war, the coronavirus outbreak led to a long period of silence between the two groups.

Last year's Ramadan, when the coronavirus pandemic ended, Ramadan was held in a festival-like atmosphere that was completely different from previous Ramadans. Ramadan is no longer a period of abstinence and fasting that must be tolerated without even being able to swallow. Placards celebrating Ramadan are hung on every street, balloons are blown in large parks, youth volunteers dance and encourage children, hand out teas and gifts called “Ramadan - Rest for Body and Soul,” and children’s Quran schools are set up in every mosque and medreses. Ramadan has become a huge social system, with taxi drivers volunteering to help the sick for free. If there is a restaurant open during the day, there are imams holding long poles knocking on the door and yelling to keep it holy. As evening approaches, when the fast ends, cars are parked on the streets, and Ramadan staff members hand out water, dates, and small envelopes containing Quran verses, and run from car to car waiting for the signal, encouraging each other that they have won.

After Corona, the church will not be the same as before. The church has become largely divided into a group devoted to missions and a group opposed to missions, and they stand at opposite ends of the spectrum, unable to understand each other. However, our God is the great King of the nations, rules over his kingdom, and gives missions to those he has chosen. A new generation is rising up who realize the final vision and dedicate themselves to it. In worship, He is raising up a generation that discerns this era, willingly dedicates their lives, and wishes to become a kernel of wheat.

One of them, a 16-year-old girl, was kicked out of the house because her parents became involved in heresy. She decided to live in the teacher's doorway and worship every day, and earn about 4 dollars every day by working as a ride attendant at a park that gave relatively flexible work times. Some days, this girl was so hungry for she had been sitting out since the morning without making any money, she could not stand it any longer, so she got up and declared, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.” Then she took out her phone and started reading the Bible. As she was reading the word of God, clutching her aching stomach from hunger, she suddenly burped and felt full and at peace. Not only did she experience a full meal, but she also experienced that we should not worry, that the Lord would provide, and that our lives depend on the word of God. This little girl once again said, “Even if I die, I will die for the Lord and not live for bread!!!” She devoted herself more to the Lord.

The confessions of generations of women who received missions training and went to the Middle East to meet refugees and share the gospel are also surprising. They cried and confessed that they were thankful to have been born in Kyrgyzstan, that peace that they have in comes only from the Lord, and that they must serve the Middle East as a people indebted to the Gospel. They confessed that they would raise 40 young people from the school where they worked and go forth to serve the Middle East. They dreamed of starting a workplace church and began to gather and pray.

The gloomy and dark previous period of Ramadan has passed, and the mission entrusted to the church is very important amid the false Islamic world view that is coming with false light and brightness. God's world administration is running towards the end.

Lord, please raise up a generation of kernel of wheat who will discern the times and do the mission they have received from the Lord, testifying to the gospel of grace with all their will, all their strength, and all their lives! Please raise up a holy generation that does not run towards the world to live, but follows the Lord only to die for the Lord and for the gospel!! Renew them with the Holy Spirit!

[Today’s prayer]

1. Let the flow of secularization and re-Islamization in Kyrgyzstan be cut off, and during Ramadan, let the light of the truth shine greatly on those who are deceived by false light, and let the eternal life giving gospel be spread throughout Kyrgyzstan.

2. There is deep fatigue and stagnancy among the churches of Kyrgyzstan. We are not those who shrink back and fall into destruction, but we are those who have faith that leads to the salvation of the soul. Let us become a church in Kyrgyzstan that rises anew through the renewal of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Gospel and moves forward in obedience before the calling of the times.