Azerbaijan sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, where East meets West, and the ancient meets the modern. With more than 10 million people, it is officially a secular state, yet around 97% of the population identifies as Muslim, mostly Shia. Christians are a small minority — roughly 3–5% of the population — and Protestant believers are just a tiny fraction within that. Into this landscape, God is quietly building a community of faith.

As The Outreach Foundation learns more about our brothers and sisters building Christ’s church in Central Asia, we hear stories that inspire us, and some that bring us to our knees in prayer. Before He was crucified, Jesus foretold, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). One of our partners sent us this story that captures the situation many Christians face in this dark space in the world.

John 1:5 contains a beautiful promise: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” The Outreach Foundation is engaging congregations and donors to bring Christ’s light into some of the world’s darkest spaces. In such locations, Christian persecution is frequent and severe, and we must exercise caution in speaking of the gospel-centered work being done there. In these areas, there are tremendous opportunities to join in the miraculous story being written, yet the U.S. church allocates the least amount of its mission resources to them. We are privileged to have trusted partners in these hard areas, and to share some of their stories with you.

During this past summer, The Outreach Foundation’s partner in Central Asia, the Center of Evangelical and Protestant Churches in Central Asian Countries, hosted its annual pastors’ conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Funds from The Outreach Foundation helped make this possible! 250 pastors from 12 countries attended. Pastors came from both registered and unregistered communities from multiple denominations.