The following is a report from our partners in Samara highlighting the recent advances of the Word of God through Bakhid N.’s influence and ministry in Kazakhstan. Bakhid is a graduate of Samara Center for Biblical Training, and he has been supported by HeartCry since 2012. We rejoice to see how the Lord is answering our specific prayers. Namely, that He would open up more doors for the Word and the Gospel to spread throughout Kazakhstan!
Bakhid N. Takes Teaching into Kazakh Language – by Brad Klassen
The mission of Samara Center for Biblical Training (SCBT) is founded on the Apostle Paul’s final words to Timothy:
“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
2 Tim. 2:2
Not only do SCBT instructors strive to convey faithfully the sound doctrine entrusted to them, but to convey the spirit of teaching and responsibility of transmission as well.
An exciting example of this is the ministry of Bakhid N. in Kazakhstan. Bakhid, a Kazakh national, was raised according to nominal Muslim customs and grew up speaking the Kazakh language. But because of the heavy Russian influence in his home city, he quickly became much more fluent in Russian. Though intelligent and promising according to worldly standards, his unsaved condition soon led him into crime, and in turn, to prison. Yet it was there where he heard the Gospel and was saved.
After being released, Bakhid soon joined a local evangelical church where his zeal for the Scriptures and the church grew quickly. At the recommendation of his pastor, he completed SCBT’s Level 1 training in expository preaching in 2008, and in 2010 he was ordained to pastoral ministry to serve alongside his church’s senior pastor. It was at that time when Bakhid felt compelled to return to his Kazakh language roots. With very few evangelical believers among the Kazakh people (who are traditionally Muslim), and with very few biblical resources written in Kazakh, Bakhid began improving his language skills in order to achieve enough fluency to preach and write in the language.
A unique opportunity came earlier this year. A small evangelical magazine published for Kazakh believers in the country (the print run for the magazine is 3000) invited Bakhid to contribute an article to the 2014 spring edition. Bakhid was overjoyed and wrote an exposition of Galatians 3 entitled, “From Curse to Blessing,” where he boldly presented the truths of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.
Shortly after the article’s publication, the editor of the magazine contacted Bakhid with an urgent request: Thank you so much for your sermon. Please send more—on any topics you can write about. Your sermons are very much needed. Bakhid is now busy preparing the next articles, which in turn will be distributed to thousands of readers in the Kazakh language all across Kazakhstan.
Bakhid continues to grow in his theological and ministerial abilities. He is scheduled to graduate this June from SCBT’s modular training in biblical counseling, and is also involved in developing new opportunities for church planting in the southern region of the country, among the highest concentrations of Kazakhs. At the request of Kazakh believers, he is also now beginning to record his sermons in Kazakh, and then make them available over the internet.
We can only marvel at God’s grace in Bakhid’s life and how God has used him to strengthen believers and spread sound doctrine among a very, very needy people/language group in central Asia.