EEC Blog

About Uzbekistan (source: Wikipedia)

Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country in Central Asia.  Less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases.  The rest is vast desert and mountains.  Its capital is Tashkent.  Uzbekistan’s economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, and natural gas.  About 45% of the population of 27.7 million lives on less than US$1.25 per day.

Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.  It has been an independent republic since December 1991. Uzbekistan has been heavily criticised by international organizations for arbitrary arrests, religious persecution, and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level. 

Islam is by far the dominant religion in Uzbekistan.

Persecution of Christians

Uzbekistan is 10th on the Open Doors World Watch List of countries in which Christians are persecuted.

Barnabas Aid says that in Karakalpakstan, state controls on religious activity are among the tightest in Uzbekistan.  In May 2009, the senior religious affairs official for Karakalpakstan announced they were banning the Bible, the film "The Passion of the Christ" and other religious literature, including a hymn book, a Bible encyclopaedia, a Bible dictionary and a children’s Bible, for "import, distribution or use in teaching."

Release International tells the story of Pastor Serikbayev, a former Muslim, who leads an unregistered Pentecostal church in Karakalpakstan.

Pastor Serikbayev has been jailed several times in the last 10 years for conducting Bible studies, performing baptisms and having dozens of Bibles and Christian books in his home.

In 2007, he was charged with illegally teaching in an illegal meeting and his wife, Aitgul, was confined to her home by authorities after her husband’s arrest.  Out of fear, Christians refused to help the family and relatives rejected them because of their faith in Jesus. Their oldest daughter Rachel, just two at the time, almost starved to death.

"I was not mad at God," says Aitgul. "I found in the Bible that man does not live only by bread, but the Word of God.  Of course it was a hard time, but it was also a time of blessing." Following his return home from prison, Pastor Serikbayev sent out an invitation to his now disbanded congregation for a church service, but no one came.  "So I opened the Bible and started to worship by myself.  I had prepared a sermon and I spoke to the empty walls, no one came.  For two days I had sermons for nobody, but it was the most powerful and spiritual time in my life."

After a month, the majority of his congregation returned.  By then the church had been stripped of its official registration.  "Our church is a cell church; every cell has three to five people.  There are many groups.  Once a week I gather together the leaders of these groups and preach to them," he says.  "I also go to the hospital with members of our church to visit the many ill people in our city, some have tuberculosis, and we try to comfort them with food, medicine and hair cuts.  Because we have no registration we must do all charitable work illegally.  If they catch us, it would be big trouble for us."

Pastor Serikbayev and Aitgul now have five children, and in spite of the dangers they face there is no thought of stopping their ministry. "God put me here as a shepherd to care for His flock.  As long as my heart beats I will care for the flock as a shepherd."

Prayers Needed

• Pray that the Lord will touch the hearts of government officials in Karakalpakstan, that they will see the importance of religious freedom
• Pray for Christians in Uzbekistan, that they will remain strong in their faith and find courage to continue to meet together to share God’s Word
• Pray that those whose Bibles and other Christian resources have been taken will be reminded by the Holy Spirit of all that they have read and learned previously.