The Adventist Mission Committee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church recently approved a 10-year initiative for the 60 million indigenous people of Central Asia.

The five countries of Central Asia--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan--represent a highly challenging area to Christian mission, Adventist church leaders said.

In September, two Adventist pastors in Uzbekistan were sentenced by a court for "unduly organizing and holding worships." In 1999 an Adventist Church was bulldozed to the ground by the government in Turkmenistan.

Although the Adventist Church has had a presence in this area for more than 100 years, the social-political climate and lack of resources has impeded church growth and the ability for church members to build bridges of understanding and friendship with the indigenous peoples of Central Asia.

"We want to train church members to minister to the physical, social and spiritual needs of the indigenous people," said Rubin R. Ott, president of the Adventist Church at the regional headquarters in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This initiative will also help to establish an Adventist vocational school and a health-training program.

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan lie within what Christian missiologists call the 10/40 Window, an area stretching from northern Africa into Asia where two-thirds of the earth's population live. Home to many of the world's major religions, the 10/40 Window has the largest and fastest growing cities, some of world's poorest people and the fewest Christians.

"Helping the indigenous people of Central Asia is a priority for the Adventist Church," said Gary Krause, director of the Office of Adventist Mission. "Thanks to the generosity of those who support Global Mission and mission offerings, we can help meet this need."

Seventh-day Adventists are a mainstream Protestant church with over 15 million members and a church family, including non-baptized children and attendees, estimated at close to 30 million in 202 countries. As a worldwide denomination the Adventist church has working relationship with the World Council of Churches (WCC), and the Christian World Communions (CWC’s), a loosely structured group of confessional families.