Pray for: Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is the strategic key for all of Central Asia, and tensions remain high between the post-Soviet regime and the Islamist movements (most radical in the Fergana Valley). Much of the population is tired of poverty, corruption, and failure to make economic progress, and Islamists attract jobless young men. Pray for genuine change, and leadership that governs for the sake of the people. Pray for the true peace only Jesus can give.

Most Christians come from minority groups, and large numbers have returned to their ancestral homelands since independence. Evangelical Christianity, especially Pentecostals/charismatics, grows among those who remain. Russians and Koreans have some freedom to evangelize their own people, but the government punishes any who attempt to reach Uzbeks or other Muslim peoples. Tashkent is the Islamic capital of Central Asia, in numbers and influence. Pray for the Muslim peoples of Uzbekistan to hear – in a way they can understand and respond to – the good news of Jesus.