ICC Note:

A rise in Muslim radicalism and the anti-religious freedom agenda of governments in certain Central Asia regions have led to a grave persecution of the followers of Jesus Christ. Incidents facing Christians in Central Asia include the pastor of a Baptist church in Tajikistan being killed in his home. Also, in Kazakhstan a new religious law has been adopted in which already registered Protestant churches were forced to go through an extremely complicated re-registration that has caused almost 40% of the Protestant churches to go underground. This led to the face of the Protestant Church in Central Asia to be the Secret Church.

11/28/2016 Central Asia (Evangelical Focus) – It is not right to state that “everything was bad in the USSR”, but unfortunately the main postulate of this nation was atheism and denial of God, which subsequently led to the “shipwreck”, or the destruction of the “empire”. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90s, almost all of the former Soviet Union countries, including Central Asian states, seemed to be open to religious freedom, in contrast with the previous Communist regime. However, the rise of Muslim radicalism, combined with government desires to control those freedoms, has led to a persecution of the followers of Jesus Christ in Central Asia, by both the Muslims and the government.

Thus, in some regions of Central Asia where radical Islam is flourishing, Christians are under constant threat. Additionally, state authorities are tightening the religious laws which regulate the relation between the state and religious organizations. For instance, in 2003, Sergey Bessarab—the pastor of a Baptist church in Tajikistan—was killed in his home by members of radical Muslim movement “Al-Bayat”. In 2010, the pastor of a big charismatic church in Makhachkala, Dagestan, Arthur Suleimanov, was killed by a shot in his head near his church building. In 2012, Kazakhstan adopted a new religious law which forced already registered Protestant churches to go through re-registration, but this process of re-registration was extremely complicated. As a result, almost 40% of the Protestant churches went underground.

Today, due to the threat from radical Islamists and the pressure from the authorities, the face of the Protestant Church in Central Asia is the Secret Church. Secret Church is that one where Christ’s followers gather secretly in private places, usually in private houses or in apartments, and conduct worship services together in small groups.
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