How should we pray?

  • Pray for the stability of the region.

  • Pray that the regions people would receive dreams, visions, and encounters with the Lord and that Jesus would be understood as the Son of God and Emmanuel—God with us.

  • Pray for the Gospel to flow through the historic Silk Road.

  • Pray for people to be released from former Soviet Union strongholds and that their ethnic identities would be found rooted deeply in who Christ is.

  • Pray against the multiple religious strongholds that the region has had to carry as a yoke; that the liberating message of Jesus Christ would free them from the bondage of Islams oppressive servitude, shamanism that requires a never-ending chase for righteousness, and the pursuit of escape of. Eastern religions.

What makes up Central Asia?

Central Asia is the region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia. It includes the former Soviet Republics, which are colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as the countries all have names ending with the Persian suffix "-stan meaning "land of.” It was historically closely tied to the Silk trade routes, acting as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe and the Far East.

Countries in Central Asia:
Afghanistan - Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan - Tajikistan - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan

Who are the people of Central Asia?

In the pre-islamic and early Islamic eras ( 1000 A.D. and earlier), Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by Iranian peoples, populated by Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians Sogdians, Chorasmians and the semi-nomadic Scythians and Dahae. After expansion by Turkic peoples, Central Asia also became the homeland for the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tartars, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, and Uyghurs; Turkic languages largely replaced the Iranian languages spoken in the area, with the exception of Tajikistan and areas where Tajik is spoken.

What is the predominant religion?

Islam is the religion most common in the Central Asian Republics. Most Central Asian muslims are Sunni, although there are sizable Shia sects. Buddhism and Zoroastrianism were the major faiths in Central Asia before the arrival of Islam. Zoroastrian influence is still felt today in such celebrations as Nowruz.

The Russian Orthodox Church has a significant presence with many members in Kazakhstan, where about 25% of the population of 19 million identify as Christian, 17% in Uzbekistan and 5% in Kyrgyzstan. The Bukharan Jews were once a sizable community in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but nearly all have emigrated since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In Siberia, shamanistic practices persist, including forms of divination. Contact and migration with Han people brought Confucianism, Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism and other Chinese folk beliefs into the region.