E-Connected Archive - February 2009
Breaking the ground
A current day pioneer traces the story of how the gospel has taken root amongst his adopted people - the "Uy".
Across a wide region of eastern Central Asia dwell a Muslim people of perhaps 12 million—the Uys. For thousands of years their homeland has been a crossroads, as traders and merchants, new ideas and religions have travelled along the Silk Road between Central Asia and China. Shamanism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Nestorian Christianity have each flourished among the Uy peoples over the centuries.
In the 6th century, Nestorian monks founded churches that lasted a thousand years. Islam arrived in about 900 AD, and for the next 500 years Christians and Muslims dwelt together in many of the oasis towns. However, as the Nestorians lost vitality, and also through tribal conflicts, Islam became the dominant religion and knowledge of Jesus faded.
In the 1890s, Swedish missionaries began working in the region. After 40 years of labour, several hundred believers were in fellowships. However, severe persecution destroyed these in the wake of political upheavals in the 1930s.
In the 1980s, doors reopened. Foreign teachers and students were allowed into the province and began winning young Uys to Christ. Several elderly believers from Swedish days, who had held their faith through fiery trials, came forward. Despite poor living conditions, difficult travel, government harassment, illnesses and many other trials, Christians came from across the globe to work, to study and to share the good news of Jesus. Since the early 1990s, a small network of Uy believers has begun to emerge.
The Uys’ strong traditions of music and hospitality have brought many opportunities to meet and make friends. Their Islamic heritage made many eager to hear about the faith of others and their views of God. However, developing friendships to a level of trust where spiritual truths can be openly and deeply discussed takes time. The spread of the gospel amongst the Uys has thus demanded faithfulness, gentleness and perseverance.
Government interventions and pressure from local imams and their own communities to conform to Muslim traditions have also made the work challenging. Add a fiendishly awkward language that few foreigners can master, and it’s easy to see why there remain only dozens rather than thousands of Uys following Christ.
Last year, most long-term workers were expelled and some Uy believers were jailed. These developments call us towards greater prayer – for the young believers to grow and for the Lord to send out new workers with apostolic vision and faith.