As we consider discipleship this month on New Hope Digital, we can learn what discipleship includes through the ministry of missionaries in other countries. I asked to share this recent news from a mission servant in Uzbekistan. His report provides an excellent example discipleship, the approaches we can use, and the impact it can make on a life. I’ve included a reminder of the persecution believers face in Uzbekistan.
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Like anything with life, growth and change are inevitable. What we find God has for us today is very different than it was when I first came, and even very different than last year, or last week. It’s a constant effort to resist doing what we have always done and always ask the questions:
1. What is most needed in the Kingdom effort in our region?
2. What are we uniquely gifted to do?
3. What opportunities do we have to serve?
4. What roles and responsibilities do we have to maintain?
Most obvious for us is something that began in the spring of 2005. A Bible study with our teammates and a handful of Uzbek believers quickly morphed into a weekly fellowship. Jamoat as we refer to it, meaning “Community.”This fellowship has gone through many changes and currently meets in a home each Sunday doing a study through the book of James. The children have a story time and games or drawing connected to the day’s theme. There are now 3 families, a married woman with her 3 children and one single lady that come rather consistently. That gives us 12 adults and 6 children excluding our family.
We spend most of every Sunday together, having a meal after our gathering and sometimes going to a park or swimming on hot summer days. It’s more like a family than the traditional idea of a gathering. In addition to Sunday, a ladies’ prayer time has become standard each week with 4 or 5 ladies attending, including one all-nighter each month.
We have been part of a network of workers since 2000. We still maintain those relationships and have partnered to run seminary classes, a marriage retreat and a youth festival in recent years.
In our effort to train leaders locally we are restarting a seminary program which runs once a month for 2-3 days year round all in Uzbek without translation.
Last year we held our first marriage retreat with 10 Uzbek couples attending. That retreat was led by an Uzbek couple from Uzbekistan and turned out to address a real needy area. We followed up by gathering for Valentine’s Day this year and hope to further disciple marriages to forge Biblical marriages in the blossoming Uzbek believing community.
We also hosted a youth festival last summer, mostly coordinated by Uzbeks with one young pastor addressing the youth. Godly relationships among the youth are critical and finding those with a passion for that ministry was a delight.
A women’s prayer group has since grown to 2 groups meeting in various homes in the city. Many women come who can not attend weekly fellowships due to family pressure.
Another aspect of the network is shared resources. We have come into a rather large supply of books and videos, as well as audio materials. These are always made available to leaders in other villages or fellowships across the city. Currently our primary role in this task is CD and DVD duplication with literally thousands distributed. Over 100 cases of new Scripture portions also came in January which were promptly sent to 5 leaders for safe keeping and use in their own ministries.
We have a conviction that all brothers and sisters in this city and region are placed here by God, that we are ONE and that God intends us to work in cooperation for the furtherance of His Kingdom among all peoples.
One ministry is that of radio. Programs are written and recorded nearby for every language across Central Asia, including Uzbek. We have provided them with every resource we have in Uzbek so they have everything available at their fingertips should the need arise.
Last year while talking with a pastor in a village who has a great concern for the growing Uzbek believing community in his region he mentioned that they all have trouble providing for their families. That led to us giving a $1,000 interest free loan thru this pastor to buy a cow that could serve as additional income for an Uzbek man leading a house group in a nearby village.
Than another family came with a similar situation and we gave another loan for livestock. Then a loan for seed to plant in spring to a believing Kurdish family with no income. One turned out extremely well, one OK and I think one was a failure. We have learned from those experiences and now look for opportunities to give loans or partner with others to get them on their feet rather than the age old practice of handouts which have done so much damage.
We bought a fixer-upper last year and are now remodeling that house to resell. We go to the worksite almost every day, pray together and are learning how to seek each other’s good and even resolve differences, all under the constant view of our families and the 3 unbelieving Uzbek men who work for us.
We are seeing many advantages to this type of setup:
1 Getting our friends on their feet financially
2. Living and working together as a real life discipleship
3. Giving us a great witness before unbelieving workers
4. Giving us a presence in a new Uzbek neighborhood and already dozens of new friends.
5. Giving me another understandable identity as a businessman
With the understanding that as always, God is more concerned about growing us as His servants than about the work we do for Him, we constantly struggle to make time for a growing relationship with God. Growing in intimacy and developing habits that keep us moving in that direction is a priority.
