When I started my ministry journey twenty years ago, I had strong call to reach my Kazakh people with the Gospel. I joined an existent Kazakh Christian Fellowship where, in 2005, I became their pastor. In 2012, I joined the Word of Life, a Russian speaking church, where I was an overseer of the Kazakh speaking believers in the church.
Kazakhs are nomad Turkic people who was established as a nation in 16th century. They are Muslims by faith and tradition. In the late 18th century, Kazakhstan was conquered by the Russian Czarist Empire which in the early 19th century became the Soviet Union, till, in 1991, this communist regime collapsed.
Most of the Kazakhs were oppressed by the Russian regime and had nearly lost their identity as nation. My generation could hardly speak our native language, and knew less about our culture. So, concerning the Gospel, the Kazakhs consider it as a Russian Orthodox religion or Western culture that is not welcome by most. The Lord spoke to many of Kazakh Christians to reach our people using our cultural approach and language. So we used that a lot and saw much fruit.
In the Fall of 2019, I was being led by the Spirit of God to step out and enter into a new phase of ministry. I left the Russian speaking church and some of the Kazakh and Russian believers joined me. Prior to this, the vision I had carried in my heart to see Kazakh people being saved and discipled through their own language and culture seemed to be “dead”. But that was not in God’s plan. In His time, He resurrects His own plans and purposes. A new Christian Kazakh Fellowship was founded based on forming home churches with interpersonal relationships and discipleship. That was a historical moment for us all.
My story of stepping out of the denominational boat and walking by faith on top of the water may sound very encouraging to some of you, but it is not without a cost to self, but it has been worth the struggle. During the last seven years I had been in a desperate situation in my ministry and I was ready to quit. It was like, you don’t see anything ahead of you; nothing was happening in ministry; nobody was getting saved, healed or delivered; the church members were occupied with and distracted by the worries of this world. It was so discouraging and demotivating! But there was one thing I wasn’t ready to quit: Praying and having devotional time with the Lord.
After six months of stepping out of the boat and being persistent in prayer, God blessed us so much. In spite of the Covid-19 Pandemic (March 2020) and Covid restrictions, we grew to planting several house churches in Kazakhstan, using social media. Now, we have six established churches, up to appr. 100 people online and offline. Presently, there are two churches which are about to be born in different regions. The head church which I am currently pastoring, is presently in Karaganda.
Yermek visiting a co-worker for the Gospel – Bridge partner Sargon in Ankara, Turkey.
As I have mentioned above, for almost two decades I was carrying the vision of reaching only Kazakh people, but in the last three years, the Lord has expanded my vision from Acts 1:8 to reach other nations. The interesting thing is, as I kept submitting to a new phase of God’s calling, more Turkic people came to salvation and became part of our church. So, we don’t have “only Kazakh church” anymore but according to Isaiah 56:7, it’s the House of Prayer for All Nations. As we reach out and serve people from all ethnic groups, salvation, healing and deliverance are taking place among them. Recently, we baptized over 20 new people; almost all of them are ethnic Kazakhs and Uighurs.
Yermek visiting another team for the Gospel – Bridge partners Steve and Sophia Schmaltz in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.
Our first hub is in Karaganda, Central Kazakhstan. We have been praying about moving with my family to Almaty in Southern Kazakhstan to start an outreach hub there. We believe it’s His will, just waiting for the right timing and the right doors to open. As preparation, this summer, (July and August), we have decided to visit Almaty. We are beginning to gather people who are on-line members of our movement and start a house church. It’s going to be like a try run. The Lord showed me that I need to step out of pastoral and step into the apostolic ministry to edify, equip and raise up believers to send out into the unreached areas. This transition should take place within the next few years as we move to Almaty.
Pastor Yermek, Kingdom of God Ministry Kazakhstan (KGM KZ)
THE FIVE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL ASIA
Central Asia includes the five republics of the former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan pop. 19 mill, Kyrgyzstan pop. 6.5 mill, Tajikistan pop. almost 10 il, Turkmenistan pop. 6.4 mill, and Uzbekistan pop. 35 mill – a total population of almost 77 mill. Afghanistan pop. 40 mill, is at times included, bringing the population in Central Asa close to 120 million.
Central Asia is historically tied to its nomadic, Turkish language-based peoples, of which there are 25 ethnic groups, and the Silk Road, which has acted as a crossroad for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe, Western Asia, South Asia, and East Asia. In the 3rd – 4th Centuries, the entire region was Christian, evangelized by Nestorian, Assyrian missionaries, but later Buddhism and Islam became the dominant religions. Today, there are approximately 4% Christians in Central Asia, including the Orthodox Church; the majority of the population are Muslims. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there has been no major persecution of the Christian churches by the authorities; Uzbekistan perhaps being the most restrictive country. However, the various governments have a number of confining rules for the churches who choose to be registered, limiting the scope or freedom for the believers in expressing their faith publicly. On the basis of that, at times, local authorities imprison Christian leaders. That is one reason why many fellowship of believers choose to gather “underground” in home churches, away from the prying eyes of the authorities.
FROM R.K.’S CORNER
This year, we celebrate with one of our partners, Yermek Balykbekov and his family, 20 years of ministry to his Kazakh people. It is a far distance in time from being a young Kazakh athlete, passionately training in Marshall Arts in Moscow, Russia with the hope of being selected to the Olympic team, till 20 years later— a more seasoned man, married with three children, the oldest already through college, but with the same passion, this time reaching his Kazakh people with the life transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ!
We have had the privilege of watching Yermek faithfully walk this journey of faith—definitely not an easy road, but a rewarding one as he watches lives being changed by the power of the Holy Spirit while he is ministers to them. You can also follow his journey by going to our website, click on Countries, Central Asia, Kazakhstan.
In this month’s issue of The Bridge Report, Yermek is summarizing these years, and sharing what the Lord is showing him about his future ministry. If you want to honor Yermek and his family with a financial gift, please click on the yellow DONATE button to the top right on this website, and mark your donation “8342 Kazakh Worker”.
RUSTAM: I was born on December 24, 1982 in the city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan. I had a very difficult childhood. We were five children, but when my parents fell into despair because of unemployment, my father became very aggressive and began drinking. When he was drunk he was violent and beat us. Often, we did not have bread at home because Dad drank away all the money. Often as a little boy at 5:00 am I would I leave my home and walk through the garbage heaps in the city looking for something to eat. When my mother contracted tuberculosis we were removed from our home by the authorities and placed in an orphanage. I was five years old. 
Then, my older sister came to know about a church nearby. During the visit she heard the Gospel and became the first in my family to believe in Jesus Christ. She then asked me to join her. We began attending the church regularly, and gradually I came to faith in Jesus Christ. Learning that God loves me and is my heavenly Father brought me much happiness. 
On October 1, 2000, a tragedy took place in our church. More than 350 believers were gathered for worship service. Suddenly, during the collection two bombs exploded among the people in the midst of the sanctuary. It was carried out by Islamic radicals. Just before the explosion, I had gone to the bathroom so I was not in my seat when one of the bombs went off, only two meters from where I had been sitting! I miraculously survived but there were 11 dead and 48 wounded among my brothers and sister in Christ. One brother who was my friend died right there. The church survived—to the Glory of God, and became stronger and grew, as we kept fasting and praying. 
I had a deep desire to play the guitar and God helped me quickly learn how to play correctly. After a while I began to play in a worship group and kept praising God for this gift. Later, I started two courses in the church for those interested in learning to play the guitar; many joined and became quite good. We began the study sessions with praying and sharing the Word of God with each other. As time went on we also began studying and learning the Word together. I led two groups, one for young men and one for young women.
Many years ago, I dreamed of having a good family and a good ministry. Today, the Lord has fulfilled everything that I dreamed of. He has given me a good wife in Zamira.
We do what we love doing among the Kyrgyz, Kurds, Gypsies and Russians peoples: serving with the love of Jesus widows, orphans, families, and parents who have lost their jobs. 
The Lord has given Zamira the gift of healing. When she prays and lays hands on the sick, people often receive physical healing, which demonstrates God’s power and love to the unbelievers and encourages the faith of the believers. My dream is that as many orphans of widows and families as possible learn about Jesus Christ and accept Him as a personal Savior in their hearts. Thank you brothers and sister for your prayers and love for us and our people!
ZAMIRA: I was born in 1984 as one of four children to a Muslim family in the capital city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan. My parents were devout Muslims, so we learned the Surah from the Qur’an at an early age and knew the entire biography of the Prophet Muhammad. Every night we would gather to recall what we had learned from the Qur’an. The required 40 day fasting according to Muslim custom was also part of our lives. 
I locked myself in my room and secretly began reading the booklets. Something happened to me as I read that Jesus loved me and what a good God He is. The presence of God filled me with such an overwhelming sense of the awareness that He loved me personally that I began crying and I kept saying, “You are so kind, so very kind, Jesus. I want to believe in a God like You, I want to accept You as my Savior.” I knelt and prayed the prayer of repentance printed at the end of one of the booklets and simply invited Jesus Christ into my heart.
From that day on, big changes took place in my life. The Lord Jesus is never late, He comes on time. He found me and came to me, as His mission is to seek and find the lost. 
I told my grandmother about Jesus. At the time she was a Muslim who faithfully read the prayers in Arabic from the three books of the Qur’an which had been left by my grandfather who had been a Great Mullah. When I told my grandmother about Christ and that God loves her very much, she listened very carefully. In the evenings, when I read the Bible to her, the Holy Spirit touched her and she would cry. Her leg and knee were painful. The day she agreed to pray with me, her leg was healed. She accepted Jesus as her Lord!
TAJIKISTAN is a country in Central Asia surrounded by Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan . Tajikistan has the smallest amount of land among the five Central Asian states, but in terms of elevation it has the highest mountains of any other country in the region, with nine-tenths of the territory being mountainous, half reaching over 10,000 ft above sea level. It is the poorest country in the region. Dushanbe is the capital city. In 1991, Tajikistan became an independent sovereign nation as the Soviet Union collapsed. Almost immediately after independence, a civil war broke out between ethnic groups, lasting five years, causing much death and destruction. Since then, some political stability was reached, but under the present authoritarian regime led by President Emomali Rahmon who has been in power since 1994, there is still extensive corruption and widespread violations of human rights, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, worsening political repression, and a lack of religious 
My wife and I have two precious daughters, the oldest is already attending college. In 2004, God gave me a promise that we would also have a son. By the grace of our loving God, in March 2019, He gave us that precious gift – our long awaited son Ansar came to this world! We are so grateful to the Lord.
Here in Kazakhstan we have great steppes, which are expansive mountain plateaus with valleys in between. During the summer season I used to go up to a nearby steppe. There I would seek the Lord and pray while fasting. Sometimes I would be praying for 3-6 hours, desperately asking God to show me the way. One day, while I was praying as usual and seeking His face, the Holy Spirit told me clearly: “You are so impatient, wait on my time”.
My assistance’s wife had been diagnosed with spinal cancer. She underwent surgery and chemo therapy, but it didn’t help much. The doctors didn’t give her any hope of recovery. We kept praying and interceding—and the Lord healed her! After her healing, she went back to the doctor and ask to be tested, and the medical professionals confirmed she was totally healed. She is doing great and is now serving the Lord with us!
An older man who is the brother of one of our sisters in the church had developed gangrene in his right leg from the knee to the toe. He had been told by his doctor that his leg needed to be amputated, otherwise he would die. His sister asked us to visit him and pray for him, but we were not able to get there, so we prayed over a piece of cloth and sent it with her to do what the disciples did in the Book of Acts. She placed the cloth on his leg and prayed. Two weeks later we received a message that this old man’s leg was healed, the gangrene was gone and he had turned his heart to Christ. He had heard about Jesus many times before, but had refused the Gospel. When the miracle happened, he could resist no longer.
Recently, a young Kazakh man attended our home group. He had an infection in his inner ear, and the pus was seeping into his brain. Every morning when he woke up the pain caused him to take strong pain pills. When we prayed for him he felt heat radiating in his inner ear and into his brain, and suddenly pus began flowing out of his ear. That night he slept very well, and when he woke up the pain was gone. He needed no more pain pills! After one month he visited his doctor who told him he did not need any surgery because the infection was gone and his ear was perfectly okay. He was deeply impacted by the Power of God, and although he did not repent right away, this miracle made him think seriously about who Isa (Jesus) really is. He is in the process of coming to know Jesus Christ.
Central Asia includes the five republics of the former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan pop. 17.5 mill, Kyrgyzstan pop. 6 mill, Tajikistan pop. 8.5 mill, Turkmenistan pop. 5.4 mill, and Uzbekistan pop. 30.3 mill – a total population of almost 69 million. Afghanistan pop. 31.5 mill, is also sometimes included. Central Asia is historically tied to its nomadic, Turkish language-based peoples, of which there are 25 ethnic groups, and the Silk Road, which has acted as a crossroad for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe, Western Asia, South Asia, and East Asia. In the 3rd – 4th Centuries, the region was Christian, evangelized by Nestorian, Assyrian missionaries, but later Buddhism and Islam became the dominant religions. Today, there are less than 3% Christians in Central Asia, including the Orthodox Church. They are increasingly being discriminated against by the authorities – Uzbekistan perhaps being the most restrictive country against Christian believers.
In June, my wife and I, and our two daughters had a great opportunity, to spend our vacation in a very special way. In the middle of June, we traveled from our northern city Karaganda to Almaty, located in southern Kazakhstan, near the Chinese border. We participated in a Turkish language speaking gathering of Pastors, (“kurultrai” in the Kazakh language), where national pastors and Christian leaders from Central Asia came together – from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tatarstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Karakalpakstan, and Christian leaders from the Uighur people.
During our gathering there were so many great and powerful testimonies that touched our hearts. Some of the pastors and church leaders have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. They are experiencing opposition from their families, the authorities, Muslim leaders, and their neighbors. In spite of the many trials facing the followers of Isa (Jesus Christ), there is a deep hunger for God, so, the number of those coming to faith and learning to be disciples of Jesus, keeps growing!
A leader from one of the Central Asian countries shared his testimony. He told us how God used persecution for His own glory. That man (let’s call him Omar) was imprisoned for 15 days for simply being a believer and being unable to pay a fine of 1.500.00 USD, which is the penalty for being a Christian and doing religious activities in this country. While in prison, he was placed in the same cell with an inmate who had been convicted of terrorism.
When Omar himself was released from jail, he was sternly warned by the authorities not to preach about Jesus. You all know how the Apostles in the Book Acts responded when they were threatened not to share their faith; they just continued to preach! 
This was one of dozens of similar testimonies I heard in this conference. It proves that Central Asian believers are becoming more mature and eager to make disciples. Many of the them are working underground, due to safety issues for the believers and their families. Supernatural healing, visions and dreams are taking place in people’s lives, which also contribute to the spreading of the Gospel among Muslims, and the growth of the Church in Central Asia. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. I also strongly believe, it is due to the work of intercessor groups who have been faithfully praying without ceasing. 
Those of you who have been with us throughout the years know that The Bridge has been active in supporting the Christian faith in Central Asia by partnering with a number of indigenous faith-based groups various countries It goes back as far as 1993, when we helped establish the first Bridge-sponsored Bible-based Leadership School with Agape Evangelical Center in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Gradually, our ministry began serving other groups and individuals in other areas. One of them is Yermek Balykbekov.
