By Owen Toomey —
One of the first places that Islam spread to, Bukhara, Uzbekistan, along the trade routes to China, is now cracking open the door ever so slightly to the Gospel.
Less than 0.3% of the population is evangelical Christian, but the second elected President Shavkat Mirziyoyevhas loosened restrictions on churches and allowed freedom for evangelization. More house churches have been granted legal permits than ever before.
“In recent years, thanks to the current government in Uzbekistan, we’ve seen a noticeable openness, significant progress and potential,” says Sergey Rakhuba, speaking through translation. His organization, Mission Eurasia, educates Christian leaders to maximize the coming waves of revival.
“We are experiencing amazing changes to today in Uzbekistan,” says Paul, an Uzbek church leader. “It all started several years ago with the new government.” In 2016, Shavkat was elected, and he brought liberal reforms to the state that once was a part of the Soviet Union.
In a climate of freedom, Uzbeks are eager to learn about Christianity. They ask for prayer and invite evangelizers into their homes. Music is a key for evangelizing in the homes. Following the trend of Muslims receiving dreams of Jesus, many Uzbeks say they saw Jesus while asleep before they knew who he was.
“One person told me, ‘I didn’t know who Jesus was. But I saw him in my dream. He showed me his hands, and I saw the nail pierced prints of his palms and his feet,'” tells worship Pastor Alex, who leads three small house churches.
“We are witnessing how God is miraculously touching people’s lives,” Alex adds. “We get invited into their homes. We sit on the floor, have tea, share a meal, then we start singing and explaining how Jesus touched our lives. Muslims then open up and tell us how they have seen Jesus in their dreams.”
Bukhara has the fame of one scholar culling and sifting through the hadiths to provide one of the pillars of Islam. His Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī sayings and narrations of Mohammed are considered by Sunni Muslims to be the most authoritative. It also has the oldest mosque in the region.
It is here, right in one of the main arteries of Islam, that Christian workers are seeing a subtle shift towards Christianity.
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