Church historians tell us that true revivals, where masses turn to Christ and cultures are transformed, are always proceeded by prayer: faithful, long-suffering, fervent prayer.
We can think of nothing we would rather hang our lives on than seeing Christ’s kingdom come… and we are glad to pray and live toward that end among the Uyghur people, together with you. Thank you for joining us in this work.
Let us beseech the Lord…
~ That the Holy Spirit would come, rescue Uyghurs from death, awaken their souls and senses to Christ, cause them to see him, taste him in his Word as good and true, be drawn to the fire of his love. Please pray boldly, great requests of our great God who deserves great praise… Pray for truth and discernment, wisdom, as Uyhgurs face a myriad of obstacles: centuries-old misconceptions of Christianity (i.e. “you worship three gods: Father, Jesus, Mary”) and Christians (“you are all adulterous, like we see in the movies, right?”) and the Word (“it has been corrupted entirely in translation and error and is no longer accurate.”) These lies will not be torn down apart from the Holy Spirit of God. Pray for the Shepherd to draw in his sheep, and that they would have ears to hear and courage to come!
~ The Written Word. Translation is still underway on the Old Testament. Pray for wisdom and help in distributing copies of the New T. It’s illegal to have these newly printed NTs in your possession in Xin Jiang so distribution is very difficult- but it is also crucial to the work! It’s His Word that will not return void…. All our efforts hang on His True and Living Word. May it be the seed planted deep in the hearts of Uyghur people, that it might grow to bear much fruit in them, to the praise of his glorious grace!
~ Media. Ask that web sites (with scripture and evangelistic/ discipleship materials) would be accessed online and hidden in the hearts of many U.s. Ask that the Lord would cause authorities to be blind to the good news available on these web sites, so the sites can be used and not blocked or censored.
~ Believers. In recent years, there have been several Uyghurs who have turned to Christ. These new converts face great persecution, lack of fellowship, and lack of maturity and training in the Lord. Ask that the Lord would spiritually nourish and provide for them physically: jobs, believing spouses, grace in marriages, help and protection in dealing with non Christian family, and maturity to grow in Christ even in ways that contradict their cultural norms.
~ Maturity and Theological Training for Believers. Ask that believers grow to gently and accurately defend the Gospel, and boldly, clearly proclaim it, despite persecution and longstanding deception that opposes the Gospel. Pray for wisdom as they divide between truth and error (distinguishing cults from true Christian churches.)
~ The Uyghur Church. It’s young and small in number and often believers are kept from meeting together for fear of persecution. Ask that foreigners would humbly serve local believers and ask for a Christ-centered church that is beautifully Uyghur in it’s culture to develop and flourish. Pray for a Uyghur worship style in the presentation of the Word and the atomosphere of the church and pray for excellent hymns in Uyghur.
~ Leadership. Ask that the Uyghur church have Uyghur leaders who are mature in Christ and who are raising up more leaders for more churches. Ask that they would have Christ-like spirits, servant hearts, that they would abound in the fruit of the Spirit as they lead. There has been at least one small Uyghur church body whose poor leadership and lack of maturity in the Word has been a major contributing factor to turning one young man back to Islam after he had professed Christ for several years.
~ Please pray for Alim who is serving a 15 year sentence for proclaiming Christ and for his wife and two sons who are left without him. Pray that God would use him to boldly proclaim the Gospel in his prison and ask the Lord for his protection in the midst of corrupt jailors and authorities. Pray for God’s provisions for Gulnur and their two sons. (www.freealim.com) And also for Osman, another brother in Christ who was recently put in prison for a second sentence related to his faith in Christ and how he has shared Christ with others.
~ Racial Tension. Uyghurs are a minority in China (with pockets of U.s who live outside of China) and there is a mistrust and often hatred between this minority group and the Han majority. Not only is there ethnic division, but the Uyghurs especially chaff at being under an atheist oppressor, since they are a Muslim people. Such tension led to riots in the capital city of the Uyghur province of China (Xin Jiang) in July 2009 which led to over 140 deaths. There is longstanding mistrust over exploitation of local resources and preferential treatment given to the Han majority in cases of legal justice and employment. Pray for peace, pray for the Gospel of Christ to be seen as the only hope for tearing down such dividing walls between people.
~ Chinese Believers to Reach the U. While the Christian church is booming among the Han (majority group) Chinese people, this Gospel expansion has not and will not naturally cross over to Uyghur culture because of language and culture barriers and racial tension and long, hard history between these peoples . Pray for wisdom and humility for Chinese believers to go to and serve U.s. (Very very few Chinese missionaries have ever tired to learn the u. language.)
~ Poverty and the new "Economic Zone." It has recently been announced that Kashgar, the largest U. city in the southern part of XJ (the area least reached with the Gospel) has been selected to be a new economic development zone. Please ask that the Lord would let this bring in good opportunities for help for poor Uyghur communities and especially for open access in Uyghur areas to outside believers. Most Uyghurs live in the southern part of XinJiang (China's northwestern-most province), in rural areas, where families often survive on painfully slim income (3 years ago we heard that normal day laborers' wages were about 12-15Y in some areas, about $2 US.)
~ More Workers. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Pray for more effective short-term workers and for a new generation of workers who will go the long haul to learn the languages and give their lives to reach the U. This is a long work and we've been challenged to set our aim on decades and generations to be given for the Uyghur people, not only weeks or summers or even a year or two. Pray for missionaries to come and be able to give the best of their lives for the Uyghur people to know Christ!
~ Access / Visas. Many missionaries have been forced to leave this province in recent years. Pray that workers who have been training to get there would find a good way to be allowed in, to have an identitiy and display Christ-like character in such a way that all who see our lives would recognize something of Christ, the True Light of the world, in us. Pray that we would "adorn the Gospel" and brightly shine Christ's grace, servant-hearted humility, displaying him on a lampstand for all to see!
~ Your own Heart. Pray that the Lord would burden your heart
for the Ugyhur people and unreached peoples of the world. Ask him to make it a joy for you, to give you his energy with which to labor on their behalf. Ask him to lead you in prayer and serving and sending and going for their sake and for the glory of His Name!
Surely our lives, our prayers
are not in vain
preparing for
and straining toward
Your glorious coming reign.
Come quickly Lord Jesus,
And may we not be ashamed
Of how we’ve spent our days
When we stand
before
before
You.
