Tajikistan – Seeking Jesus

DAY 13 – JUNE 18TH, 2016

Tajikistan – Seeking Jesus

“How do we actually know if we are one of Jesus’ sheep?” asked Ali, a young Tajik student, as we were reading through the book of John together.

We were in the midst of a weekly Bible study with Ali and 3 other young Central Asian college students. It was good to see Ali’s interest in Jesus grow as we studied together. He asked for a Bible, which he read regularly, and even took with him when he travelled back to his hometown to see his family on summer break.

6 weeks later, at the start of the school year, he returned to the campus. Without his Bible.

I was a bit concerned and asked him who took his Bible from him. Had he gotten into trouble? Was his Bible confiscated?

Ali shared a story that surprised us and gave us great hope: His sister, in her searching for materials about Jesus, had asked for his Bible to keep as part of her reading collection. As we enquired further, Ali told us how she was always looking for more info – stories, movies, music, anything – about Jesus. In Ali’s words she was a ‘Jesus person’. Still a good Muslim, yet seeking Jesus.

Jesus told us that the harvest is ready. Even in a poor, hard-to-reach mountainous nation like Tajikistan, many Muslims – like Ali and his sister – are longing for truth and hope. And they are finding it in Jesus.  

How to Pray

• Pray that Tajiks would be open to the Good News that is found in Jesus. And that many Tajiks would have opportunities to meet Christians who will lovingly share Jesus with them.

• Currently, there are very few believers in Tajikistan. Pray that the church will multiply!

• Pray for a greater hunger among Tajiks both in Tajikistan and in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Russia. There are very few believers among the Tajiks living abroad. Pray that God would send more laborers into these communities (Luke 10:2).