YOUR MONTHLY MEMBER’S REPORT SEPTEMBER 2024
KAZAKHSTAN
Ethnic Kazakhs derive from a mix of Turkic nomadic tribes that migrated to the region in the 15th century. The Russian Empire conquered the Kazakh steppe in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1925. Forced agricultural collectivization led to repression and starvation, resulting in more than a million deaths in the early 1930s.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the agricultural “Virgin Lands” programme generated an influx of settlers — mostly ethnic Russians, but also other nationalities — and by the time of Kazakhstan’s independence in 1991, ethnic Kazakhs were in a minority.
However, non-Muslim ethnic minorities departed Kazakhstan in large numbers from the mid-1990s through to the mid-2000s, and a national programme has repatriated about a million ethnic Kazakhs (from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and China) to Kazakhstan. The Kazakh share of the population now stands at 71 per cent, with Russians making up 15 per cent.
The Communist Party had sought to eradicate religion, and even after its collapse, anti-religious sentiment has remained strong. In 2011, the government of Kazakhstan enacted its Religion Law that outlines strict registration requirements for religious communities. However, despite that 17 per cent identify as Christian.
Many people are dual Kazakh and Russian speakers with 80 per cent speaking Kazakh, the official language, and 84 per cent speaking Russian. After being approached by Russian-speaking churches the Bible Society of Kazakhstan is producing a children’s Bible, which is already available in Kazakh, in Russian.
Your gift to Bible a Month Regular Giving will help to support this project this month.
View the PDF version of your Member’s Report here.
Prayer Points for KAZAKHSTAN
Give thanks that the number of Christians grew from virtually no believers in 1990 to 15,000 in 2010.
Pray for well-trained, godly leaders despite most Bible schools and seminaries being closed.
Pray for misconceptions around Christianity such as it being the religion of Russian people to be broken.
Give thanks that Kazakhstan is becoming a missionary sending nation, with Kazakh believers reaching out into central Asia.
Pray more with us here.
FURTHER BIBLE MISSION PROJECTS
Panama
Panama is located between North and South America. It controls the Panama Canal, which handles around five per cent of global maritime trade. However, wealth in the country is concentrated in the hands of a few, with 40 per cent living in poverty. Around 65 per cent of the population identifies as Mestizo (Amerindian/white), with the rest made up of other ethnicities.
Around 80 per cent identify as Christian. Several ethnic groups such as Ngäbe, Kuna, and Emberá have received the New Testament in their heart language. Now, Bible Society is working to engage them with audio Scriptures. This includes showing the Jesus Film, including the distribution of Bibles.
JORDAN
Working in a country which is predominantly Muslim, the Bible Society of Jordan reaches out to people through bookfairs and bookstores. This includes the Amman international book fair, which features around 360 publishing houses from 20 different countries and lasts for ten days. For years, Bible Society has been the sole Christian supplier at this bookfair. This year, they designed an interactive children’s corner where 659 children received Bible Story Books and thousands more participated in games and contests. There was also a dedicated reading space for adults to read and study the Bible. It’s all part of the Bible Society of Jordan’s commitment to making the Bible available to Jordanian people, including Christians and non-Christians.
FINLAND
Finland is a country with a strong Christian tradition. However, although many Finnish people identify with Christianity there are also many other forces at work in their society such as secularism and materialism.
The Finnish Bible Society sought to change that with a ground-breaking translation of the New Testament, UT2020. Completed in October 2020, this audio New Testament has the original Greek translated into modern Finnish. It is aimed at smart phone users of all ages who want to listen to the New Testament, and it uses language suitable to a digital audience. Representatives from all church denominations welcomed the new, ecumenical translation.
ANGOLA
Angola was a Portuguese colony for 450 years up until 1975. A coup brought a Marxist president to power, who vowed to eliminate Christianity, but he was unsuccessful. Between 1990 to 2010, the number of evangelicals quadrupled with over eight million today.
However, the country has had to contend with forty years of civil war (1962 – 2002), with ongoing issues with landmines, poverty, and illiteracy. Amid this, the Bible Society of Angola is reaching out to visually disabled people with Braille Scripture portions, large-print Bibles, and audio Bibles. It is training church leaders about the importance of including the visually disabled in church activities.
Panama
Panama is located between North and South America. It controls the Panama Canal, which handles around five per cent of global maritime trade. However, wealth in the country is concentrated in the hands of a few, with 40 per cent living in poverty. Around 65 per cent of the population identifies as Mestizo (Amerindian/white), with the rest made up of other ethnicities.
Around 80 per cent identify as Christian. Several ethnic groups such as Ngäbe, Kuna, and Emberá have received the New Testament in their heart language. Now, Bible Society is working to engage them with audio Scriptures. This includes showing the Jesus Film, including the distribution of Bibles.
JORDAN
Working in a country which is predominantly Muslim, the Bible Society of Jordan reaches out to people through bookfairs and bookstores. This includes the Amman international book fair, which features around 360 publishing houses from 20 different countries and lasts for ten days. For years, Bible Society has been the sole Christian supplier at this bookfair. This year, they designed an interactive children’s corner where 659 children received Bible Story Books and thousands more participated in games and contests. There was also a dedicated reading space for adults to read and study the Bible. It’s all part of the Bible Society of Jordan’s commitment to making the Bible available to Jordanian people, including Christians and non-Christians.
FINLAND
Finland is a country with a strong Christian tradition. However, although many Finnish people identify with Christianity there are also many other forces at work in their society such as secularism and materialism.
The Finnish Bible Society sought to change that with a ground-breaking translation of the New Testament, UT2020. Completed in October 2020, this audio New Testament has the original Greek translated into modern Finnish. It is aimed at smart phone users of all ages who want to listen to the New Testament, and it uses language suitable to a digital audience. Representatives from all church denominations welcomed the new, ecumenical translation.
ANGOLA
Angola was a Portuguese colony for 450 years up until 1975. A coup brought a Marxist president to power, who vowed to eliminate Christianity, but he was unsuccessful. Between 1990 to 2010, the number of evangelicals quadrupled with over eight million today.
However, the country has had to contend with forty years of civil war (1962 – 2002), with ongoing issues with landmines, poverty, and illiteracy. Amid this, the Bible Society of Angola is reaching out to visually disabled people with Braille Scripture portions, large-print Bibles, and audio Bibles. It is training church leaders about the importance of including the visually disabled in church activities.
The Truth in True Crime
For decades, cold-case homicide detective J. Warner Wallace investigated the causes behind deaths and murders, chasing one lead after another as he attempted to solve the case. These cases exposed the truths of human nature: what’s important to us, what threatens our well-being, and what causes us to flourish. This sixteen-session series introduces you to an investigation from Wallace’s detective career and teaches guiding principles to help you thrive as a human being created in the image of God.
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EMPTY HANDS
BIBLE POVERTY
EMPTY HEARTS
BIBLE ENGAGEMENT
EMPTY MINDS
BIBLE LITERACY