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”.