Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan sits at the heart of ancient Central Asia, where the Silk Road once carried silk, spices, and the gospel across the known world. Merv — located in what is now southeastern Turkmenistan — was one of the great cities of the ancient world, at times the largest city on earth, and home to an early Christian bishopric. Arab conquest brought Islam in the 7th century, and successive waves of Mongol and Timurid rulers left the region's magnificent tilework and domed architecture as their legacy. Russia absorbed the territory in the 19th century, and the Soviet era suppressed all religion for decades. When independence came in 1991, it brought not freedom but one of the most repressive personality cults in the post-Soviet world — first under Niyazov, who styled himself Turkmenbashi, and then under the Berdymukhamedov family, who continue to rule today.
7,619,000
People live in Turkmenistan today in one of the most closed and controlled societies on earth — a country that ranks among the worst in the world for press freedom, political rights, and religious liberty. The government controls all religious activity; unregistered churches are illegal, and evangelical Christians face raids, fines, detention, and imprisonment. The ethnic Turkmen population is almost entirely Muslim, and the number of Turkmen believers in Jesus can be counted in the hundreds. A small underground church exists, sustained by believers who gather in secret, often with no pastor and limited access to Scripture. They are among the most isolated Christians in the world.
Prayer points
A Nation Sealed Off
Pray for Turkmenistan — one of the most isolated countries on earth — that God would open what no government can keep shut. Ask Him to bring the gospel across sealed borders through radio, the internet, returning migrants, and the Spirit's movement in dreams and visions. "See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." (Revelation 3:8)
The Underground Church
Pray for Turkmenistan's tiny community of believers — meeting in secret, without legal recognition, without trained pastors, and often without Bibles — that God would sustain them, multiply them, and give them everything they need to flourish in impossible conditions. Ask for protection for those who are known to the authorities. "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown." (Revelation 2:10)
The Turkmen People
Pray for the Turkmen people — a proud and ancient people who trace their roots to the great nomadic confederacies of Central Asia, who once welcomed the gospel along the Silk Road, and who today have almost no access to it. Ask God to raise up Turkmen disciples who will carry the good news to their own people in their own language. "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:15)