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Global Mission Fellowship holds Historic Meeting in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan had not been the focus of mission efforts for any of the 42 Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches and mission agencies assembled there September 17-22. They came for the second meeting of the Global Mission Fellowship (GMF). So why Kazakhstan?

Johannes Reimer of Germany, a member of the GMF planning committee whose dynamic networking leadership helped to coordinate the complex but timely event said, “GMF members had expressed a desire to hold their next meeting at a place of Mennonite involvement and of special mission interest.

“Kazakhstan, with its history of Mennonite presence, (Reimer was born in Kazakhstan and grew up in neighboring Uzbekistan.) is a unique mission frontier where Muslims are coming to Christ in unprecedented numbers. Thirty-two of the 100 expatriate Christian workers in the country have Mennonite affiliation. Several of the GMF member agencies have workers in other Central Asian countries, but Kazakhstan is less restrictive and an exciting option for the GMF even though we didn’t have an official inviting agency or church.”

On an exploratory trip Reimer connected with the Kazakh Evangelical Alliance and the Turkish Kurultai, an association of Central Asian Turkic pastors. Both groups warmly welcomed the GMF and this opportunity to connect with the global church. They believed such a meeting would also give excellent visibility to the fledgling evangelical movement in Central Asia.

By the invitation of the Kaz Evangelical Alliance, this unique assembly, which included 91 GMF participants from 36 countries, the Kurultai, and a Kazakh mission partnership, all came together in the “City of Apples.”

The mixed assembly of about 400 communicated in a Babel of local Turkic and Russian languages in addition to German, French, Spanish, and English. It was simultaneously intense, exhilarating and bordering on chaotic, but full of life-giving insight and rich cross-cultural fellowship.

Javier Soler, chair of the GMF, and Ahaman Egizbaev, president of the Evangelical Alliance of Kazakhstan welcomed 3,000 guests to the opening rally at the Silk Road Vision Center in the Grace Church. After a parade of flag-waving internationals, a fifty-member Kazakh youth choir bedecked in sparkling blue and gold embroidered shirts led in passionate worship. On the edge of the stage another group of youth worshipped with graceful Kazakh dances.

In his opening address Bishop Danisa Ndlovu, Zimbabwean vice-president of MWC, said, “I used to associate missions with the west. But in this era, every congregation, no matter where it is, if it’s part of the true church, should be involved in missions. We are all part of the emerging missions movement.”

The following three days Wilbert Shenk, Anabaptist missiologist recently retired from the Fuller School of Intercultural Studies, gave three addresses to the united assembly on “Transforming Mission,” “Crossing Frontiers,” and “The Anabaptist View of Mission.”

It was understandably difficult to address such a mixed audience – one which ranged from highly educated missionaries and church leaders to semi-literate new Christians who did not even have the scriptures in their own language, but Shenk worked hard to connect with his audience.

“I’m very gratified to witness this upsurge in mission initiatives from the Global South,” Shenk said. “I hope that networking through GMF will help to encourage the sending of international and intercultural teams into situations of inter-ethnic conflict in which the gospel of reconciliation is desperately needed.”

Three participants of the GMF, Ruben Dreidger from Uruguay, Rudolph Wiens from the U.S., and Alexander Neufeld from Germany gave Bible studies on the book of Jonah. Even though Wiens and Neufeld both spoke in Russian, connecting with the majority audience at a deeper heart level, young Turkic pastors thumbed vainly through their New Testaments trying to find “Jonah”. (Many of the Turkic languages do not yet have a translation of the Old Testament.)

Leaders of the World Evangelical Fellowship and the European Evangelical Alliance each gave major addresses emphasizing the reality of the global body of Christ and the fact that the rest of the church is standing in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Central Asia, sharing in the fellowship of their sufferings.

A Kazakh Christian historian, Bayeke Manarbek, introduced a new book in which he is reconstructing the Christian heritage of the Kazakh people. He said that the Parthians, present on the day of Pentecost, first brought the gospel to Central Asia where there was a strong church until it was decimated by Tamerlane in the 15th Century.

“Because of the Arab and Russian empires we have forgotten our Christian roots,” Manarbek said. “But since 1990, these ancient roots are giving birth to new trees. We Christians came alive through the prayers of our ancestors, and your prayers. God is calling us to again take the gospel along the length and breadth of the Silk Road.”

There were eight workshops, one led by Dr. Kim Sam Seong, Korean pastor of the Grace Church, the largest evangelical congregation in Kazakhstan. It has about 5,000 members and was the site of the GMF meetings. Other workshops were led by GMF members and Christian workers in the region.

In one of the workshops, a missionary strategist who has served here for 13 years noted appreciatively, “All this talk of missions and the presence of the GMF is helping Kazakh pastors develop new mission vision for the least reached regions here.”

Many GMF participants knew very little about Central Asia and its 300 million people which stretch from Turkey to western China in what is known as the Turko-Persian world. Until 15 years ago it was a very restricted area, but the church is currently growing at a rate of up to 30% per year.

Each evening the Kazakh planners led in celebrations vibrating with testimonies, preaching, songs, and dances. None of the music was familiar to western ears. There were contemporary keyboards and guitars, but also the ancient music of the Central Asian steppes.

When the Uighurs broke out their traditional instruments Tuesday evening, the floor quickly filled with gyrating Turkic dancers. Soon even the more inhibited and uncoordinated internationals were drawn into the dance by the irresistible joy and beckoning arms of the worshipping Turks.

“Most of these Central Asians have been Christians for only about five to ten years,” Reimer explained. “This is a very young, but rapidly growing church. Many well-known artists, musicians, and professionals have also joined the movement. All this is happening outside the traditional Russian Orthodox, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches.”

As he led the concluding communion service, Siaka Traoré, a Mennonite leader from Burkina Faso who serves on the GMF planning committee, said, “During these days here I’ve rejoiced to see how the Kazaks have made Jesus their own. We invite each of you to appropriate Jesus, to make him your own.”

Traoré, who also came from a Muslim background, told the Central Asians, “I discovered that I have much in common with you. I was educated to believe Islam was the only way. I thirsted for God. I tried to please God with rites and fasts. In my thirst I found Jesus. Jesus is the center of all my life. He wants to be in all aspects of our lives. His transformation in our lives will transform others. May God bless you in that pilgrimage.”

Willi Ferderer, a Mennonite pastor and missions leader from Germany who served as the planning assistant for GMF said he is grateful for the new vision Turkic Christians now have of the global church. “They are a suffering church,” he said. “But it’s powerful for them to know that they are not alone. This meeting gave the small evangelical church here a big boost and positive visibility with the government.”

“It’s also been good for GMF members to see what God is doing here,” Ferderer added. “Many in Europe are afraid of Muslims. This shows another side of what’s happening in the Muslim world.”

Birthed in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, three years ago, GMF is led by representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America along with representatives from Mennonite World Conference. In Kazakhstan, members of the GMF met separately from the other groups for both plenary and continental caucuses on two different days.

During one such session the GMF voted to move in the direction of becoming a mission or witness commission of the Mennonite World Conference, thus becoming an integral part of the MWC structure. They also voted to continue funding GMF activities through the “fair share” formula.

GMF and MWC staff will work on restructuring along these lines and present next steps for action at the 2009 MWC assembly in Paraguay. Current plans are for GMF to meet once every three years, including each time the MWC meets in global general assembly. The GMF planning committee appointed Janet Plenert (North America) as chair and Siaka Traore (Africa) vice-chair for the period 2006-2009.

One of several Mennonite mission leaders who helped to catalyze the formation of the GMF, Richard Showalter, president of Eastern Mennonite Missions, said that it was highly fulfilling to be a part of the early engagement of the GMF in Central Asia, a significant mission frontier arena.

The day following the conference many of the GMF participants took the opportunity to tour the city’s historic parks and monuments, drive up into the snowy mountains peaks that ring the city to the south, and visit the Nur Church, an indigenous Kazakh-Uighur group of about 400 members in 15 different branches, for a time of worship and food.

At the Nur Church, guests removed their shoes before entering the carpeted, mosque-like sanctuary. They sat on floor cushions until the worship began drawing even the most timid into lively circle dances. The pastor explained how honored they were to see people from so many different countries. “This is a little taste of heaven before the big taste!” he said. GMF guests from Zimbabwe, Dominican Republic, and India gave short testimonies.

Following the service the hosts served dinner on low tables in a yurt, the traditional felt-domed home of the Central Asian nomads. There were colorful salads, fermented mare's and camel’s milk, horse meat, and beshparmak (the national dish of roast lamb, potatoes, noodles, and onions). In a traditional symbol, the meaning of which had long been forgotten, the lamb’s head is scored with the sign of the cross, and presented to the oldest, most honored guest.

Why Kazakhstan? “I had no idea there were so many Muslim background believers here. Their enthusiasm and zeal surprised me. They have much to teach our churches. We’d like to have exchanges with them,” said P.B. Arnold, a GMF member and president of the Mennonite Brethren Conference in India.

“GMF, you’ve been a great encouragement to the Turkic church,” said a missionary who has worked in Central Asia for 15 years.

Why Kazakhstan? It now seemed clear. And Reimer who had worked tirelessly to pull off this assembly said, “Lord, I’ve seen ‘the promised land.’ Now I’m ready to go home!”

— Jewel Showalter, EMM Staff Writer for Global Mission Fellowship

Photos available on request. Photo credit for 1-7 is Richard Showalter

1. While conversing with Ahaman Egizbaev, president of the Evangelical Alliance of Kazakhstan, right, Javier Soler, chairman of the GMF, wears a traditional Kazakh robe and cap presented to him as a gift from the Kurultai.
2. Javier Soler, chairman of the GMF, left, and Larry Miller, right, general secretary of MWC, pose with Ahaman Egizbaev, president of the Evangelical Alliance of Kazakhstan.
3. A Kazakh-Uighur worship team welcomed the GMF group to the Nur Church with traditional Central Asian music.
4. A Uighur woman shows Jewel Showalter how to tie on a scarf before they enter the Nur Church.
5. The GMF group joined a worship service at the Nur Church.
6. The music-dance team at worship in the Nur Church.
7. The worship team at the Nur Church.
8. GMF members Youngson Palibendipo from Mozambique and Shinichi Igusa from Japan join in a worship circle dance at the Nur Church. (Photo provided by the Nur Church.)