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Central Asia Facts and History

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Central Asia Facts and History

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    3. Central Asian Regional Facts from a Kingdom of God Perspective

    4. Map

    5. Central Asia Demographics 277,000,000 people, of which 266,000,000 are ethnically Turkic or Persian 500+ distinct ethno linguistic people groups and population segments 51 of these groups have more than 1,000,000 people 372 of these groups have less than 100,000 people 252 of these groups have less than 10,000 people

    9. Status of Evangelization .037% (.00037) of people in Central Asia are Christians, therefore, percentage-wise, Central Asia is the most unreached region of the world.

    10. Status of Evangelization The vast majority of all Central Asian people are Muslims The entire Bible is available in only four languages of the region: Russian, Turkish, Persian and Korean There is one Christian out of approximately every 2,700 people in the region There are approximately 1400 churches among Muslim-background believers in the region—one church for approximately every 190,000 people

    12. Top 5 unreached people groups in the region Southern Pashtun of Pakistan 7 million people, no known church, 12 known believers Azeri Turks of Iran 16 million people, 5 known church, 37 believers Kurmanji Kurds of Turkey 12 million people, no known church, 250 believers Crimean Tatars of Turkey 4.6 million people, no known church, no known believers Uzbek of Tajikistan 1.6 million people, no known church, no known believers

    13. Reasons for Vast Amounts of Lostness Difficulty of access Politically restrictive areas Strong Muslim identity Unknown to the Great Commission Christian world “Stan-a-phobia” Historical barriers and reaction against colonialization

    15. Hope for the Future There has been a many-fold increase in the past decade in the number of churches (total among Central Asians: From almost 0 to more than 1400) High annual growth rate in the number of believers in the region A few people groups in the region may be close to experiencing a Church Planting Movement (CPM)

    17. One Example of Dramatic Growth: Kazakhs

    19. Reasons for Spiritual Openness in Central Asia Consistent cross-cultural witness has entered the region Change in attitude toward Muslims by Christian community “Closed” country concept was challenged Geo-political change since fall of USSR Economic stress Growing disillusionment with fundamentalist Islam Growing prayer movements and diversity of missionary force

    21. Characteristics of Central Asian Missionary Force Work of IMB Gone from zero to 420 personnel in the region Assisted in the planting of hundreds of churches Gained access into areas that were previously inaccessible Assisted in helping other GCCs from around the world into the region

    22. Lives Changed by Jesus in Central Asia “Rosa” Kazakh woman First exposed to concept of Jesus through Jehovah Witnesses material Difficult life circumstances caused her to seek closer relationship to God Supernatural path to Jesus Using small business to support family and spread the gospel

    23. Lives Changed by Jesus in Central Asia “Yerbol” Orphaned as a young boy Fell into a life of crime, almost died from stabbing incident Got involved in black market caviar trade Moved to Almaty to flee authorities, witnessed to by Kazakh bus conductor Leader in Kazakh church

    24. Characteristics of Central Asian Believers Most have been believers for less than five years Majority women Majority young people Maturity rate appears more rapid than in the West Persecution: from family and friends can begin immediately wide-ranging responses from governments Most oppressive: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Afghanistan Highest levels of openness: Turkey, Kyrgyzstan Trend is toward more restriction in former Soviet States, lessening in Iran, Afghanistan Some have been imprisoned and martyred Heads-of-households that come to faith are often followed by their whole family

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