0.01 percent, that’s the percentage of people in Kazakhstan who are evangelical Christians. If you fill up the Dallas Cowboys Stadium with Kazakhs there would only be 8 evangelical Christians in attendance.

I had the opportunity to visit Kazakhstan for 2 weeks with a team from Germany, where we found a rich culture on the edge of Asia. Kazakhstan is home to over 130 different nationalities and ethnicities. Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks and Uighurs make up the largest portions of the population.

Kazakhstan has only been its own nation since 1991, previously a Soviet republic. The country is the ninth largest by land mass in the world, yet with just 20 million people living in Kazakhstan it has the least population density of any country.

It’s a very interesting melting pot of people, during my 2 weeks spent in Kazakhstan I got to see this melding of cultures. Most speak Russian, but the native Kazakh language is alive and well, still spoken by 52 percent of people in the central Asian country!

Much of the country is the steppe, a high dry grassland. The mountains in southern Kazakhstan are absolutely breathtaking; high snow covered peaks tower over the yellow grasslands. There we saw cowboys herding cows, sheep and horses. 

The land has long been inhabited by nomads who would take their yurts (portable shelters) from place to place. Kazakh translates to ‘free man’ in Turkic. When the Soviet Union began, Kazakhs were forced to settle down into cities.

You can see this conflict of cultures coming together between Russian and Kazakh, in some places you find yurts, horses and falcons as symbols. In others there are still squares and monuments to the time as a part of the Soviet Union. 

I spent most of my time in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. In places, Almaty is a stunning modern city! Almaty is right on the edge of the Tian Shan mountains, with rich malls and amazing parks. However, the city also is quite polluted and has some very poor areas. When you drive down the road in Almaty, everyone has high metal fences built to protect their homes. 

Kazakhstan is the largest economy in central Asia and has massive borders with both Russia and China. 

2.4 million people in Kazakhstan are below the poverty line, as we went to different cities we learned more about the disparity in day to day life between the poor and the rich in Kazakhstan. In Taraz, Kazakhstan’s 6th largest city by population, our team visited a government run house for the elderly and disabled. These people are living on the bare minimum in very rough conditions, not receiving any consistent care.

One third of marriages in Kazakhstan end in divorce. Also Kazakhstan has the third highest suicide rate in the world. There is a massive need for God to move in Kazakhstan.

As you walk Almaty or Taraz you are confronted with elaborate mosques that decorate the cities. Islam is the leading religion in Kazakhstan, and it has been since Arabic Muslims brought it to the region over 1000 years ago. Out of the 3,600 religious ministries documented in Kazakhstan, 75 percent are mosques.

Arman Aubakirov, a pastor in Kazakhstan, wrote in an article: “Islam appeals to young men for two main reasons. First, young men in Central Asia want to have an identity that’s not tied to the Soviet Union, and Islam offers that identity. Second, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have funneled significant funds into the construction of new mosques and into the education of young people in our region.”

Just last year in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, the Grand Mosque was opened. It is touted as the largest mosque in Asia. The hulking building can fit 30,000 people inside. In all of Kazakhstan there are 15,000 evangelical Christians.

As the country continues to build its national identity after Soviet rule, Islam is growing. But also God is moving in Kazakhstan. Not long ago there were no bibles translated into Kazakh and precious few people who could teach in Kazakh. Now the Lord is providing these bibles through Bible Mission and equipping leaders.

There are stories we will get into over the coming weeks of churches and families standing up for the Lord in this country.

When we arrived in Almaty we prayed for Kazakhstan. The country has a beautiful blue flag with elaborate golden symbols. A member of the Bible Mission team pointed out a cross in the weaving. We prayed together that this flag would not turn green like so many Islamic countries in the region. 

I would urge you to pray for the believers in Kazakhstan, pray for their ministries and pray for the Lord to move in a powerful way in this country.

Psalm 3:3 

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

‍