MENU

2022 Impact Report: Central Asia | Closed Country

WordPartners


October 31, 2022

“We have been praying for three years for someone to come to train us in the Word of God.”

Earlier this year, WordPartners’ regional director for Central Asia, met Samuel* at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey. Samuel had traveled from a country in Central Asia that has restricted access to Christians for many years. Along with other pastors in the area, they had been praying for training in order to equip others so they could plant churches in the unreached northern parts of the country. 

When a team from WordPartners was able to travel to this remote city, many of the key pastors from the area had declined the invitation to come. Jeff pulled Samuel aside and asked why the pastors weren’t in the room. Looking down, Samuel admitted that he had not given them enough time to respond, and instead of rescheduling the workshop, he had invited any Christian he could find who was willing to come. 

As they talked, Samuel was ashamed. He was seeing the importance of training pastors and giving them the opportunity to faithfully teach and equip the people of the church. Later that night, he went to each pastor, imploring them to come the following day. 

The next morning, the room was filled with these pastors, and as they studied the Word of God together for the next two days, one of them exclaimed,”This is exactly what we need and what we have been praying for!”

Though the training was shortened, the right pastors were in the room and have committed to coming back later this year. Pray for these pastors as they train others and pray for opportunities to plant churches among the unreached.

*Name changed for security reasons.

TAGS

More Stories