Central Asia Bible and Literature Fund

Omar* is a young man who recently started at a Central Asian university. He long ago rejected Islam. His early exposure to the gospel never led him to faith either.

But Omar’s curiosity was sparked again as he began questioning the purpose of life. That’s when he reached out and asked for a New Testament, which your generosity helped provide. It addressed many of Omar’s questions and led him to a church.

There, he found fellowship and gave his life to Christ. Omar is now going through a discipleship course as he prepares for baptism.

Omar is just one of those who heard the gospel through the gospel ads that your sacrificial gifts enabled. People respond to those ads each week. We have sent out more than 5,700 New Testaments in response to requests.

Thank you for providing Scripture and gospel literature to Central Asians like Omar, who are seeking the truth and want to learn more about Jesus.

Please continue joining us in prayer:

• Praise God for Omar’s salvation. Ask Him to help Omar grow deep spiritual roots.
• Pray that many more seekers will see gospel ads and request a New Testament.
• Ask the Lord to draw those who read His Word to salvation and into fellowship with other believers.

Your gifts and prayers help get God’s Word into the hands of those who are seeking Him. “[My Word] shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

*Name changed

Damir* is growing in his walk with Christ because he can finally hear Scripture in his own language. He no longer listens to the Bible in a language he has not studied since grade school and knows very little. Because of your generosity, Damir has access to God’s Word and listens to it daily!

We praise God for your faithful and sacrificial giving year after year. Our team is progressing toward translating the entire Bible into Damir’s language. We continue to polish and refine the New Testament draft completed last year. We are also translating the Old Testament and developing resources for people like Damir to hear and understand Bible stories more readily.

Please continue partnering with us in prayer:

• Pray for unity and ongoing fruitfulness in the translation team’s work.
• Ask God for increased opportunities to use the written and audio translations with those we meet.
• Pray for God to open eyes and hearts as Central Asians hear Scripture in their own language for the first time.

Thank you for joining us in translating the Bible as we share the gospel and disciple unreached peoples in Central Asia. Your partnership allows us to share Christ throughout our region.

*Names changed for security

We have been waiting for many years for a new, more understandable version of the Bible in the T language. The New Testament is finally finished and has been given approval to be printed. There have been a lot of challenges in getting to this point. Satan does not want this book to get into the hands of the T people! We want to print as many copies of this book as possible because there are still very few printed Bibles available for the millions of T people. 
 
Thanks to your gifts to the Central Asia Bible Fund, work has also progressed in translating the Bible into the L, K and A languages in Central Asia. There is still much work left to do to get the Bible translated into every Central Asian Language. Please pray for this ongoing translation work and that distribution efforts would get the Bible into the hands of those who have never read Scripture in their own heart language. 
 
Thank you for your generous partnership with us to take God’s Word to all Central Asian Peoples! 

Bible funds for a new church plant

Our IMB team planted a new church in a megacity with 200,000 people and no gospel witness. Recently, we rented space where we can gather for worship and engage the lost with the gospel. In the past few months since getting started, we’ve had close to 200 people walk through our doors. Most of them were very surprised to find that the Bible was available in their own language. On numerous occasions, we’ve sat down with interested individuals and groups, opening up the Scriptures and sharing the good news of Christ. We’ve seen several people clearly impacted by the words, but for various reasons, they have yet to trust in Christ. Join with us in praying that our God will work in power through his Word as it gets in the hands of more people.

Psalms & Proverbs in the “U” language

We are being held back from printing the Proverbs and Psalms by every scheme of the evil one.  Our typesetter is having great trouble with his computer program. The coronavirus mandates for social distancing are also disrupting the work. God has thrown many ministry opportunities at us, even in this time of social distancing!

I hope to get our printing schedule back on track during this isolation time. We are really focused on making the Scriptures available to the “U people” through our broad seed sowing work, constantly creating material to post on Facebook and Instagram, so they can hear Scripture and download the Bible App. In the past two weeks, we have had 2,138 full video screenings of a video where part of Psalms 23 and part of Romans 18 are read.  These videos have resulted in 614 link clicks that take them to the Bible Apps for download.  If half these people were to download the Bible, I would be ecstatic.

The Central Asia Bible Fund is a partnership with a Russian-based Bible society that translates the Scriptures and also develops audio and video resources that make the Bible accessible in smaller, easier-to-digest segments. These segments are shared rapidly via social media and messaging apps by those who are listening and watching. The Holy Spirit delights to use the Word of God to penetrate the hearts of those God is drawing to himself. Give today to help Muslim peoples in the North Caucasus know that Jesus, his gospel, and salvation is for them by giving them the Bible in their heart language.