{"id":5376,"date":"2025-12-17T16:44:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:44:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:44:05","slug":"discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Discipling Christians in Kazakhstan: The Church Must Be Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pastor &#8220;AZ&#8221; saw his church in Kazakhstan grow the fastest during a season of intense Christian persecution. The church began with AZ, his wife and one other believer. Two years later there were 250 believers! AZ knew that reaching Kazakh people required communicating and demonstrating the gospel in their heart language. The church also needs to be ready to assist new believers when persecution comes.<\/p>\n<p>AZ became a believer in 1992, just as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Soon after repenting of sin and believing in Christ for salvation, AZ experienced persecution from his family. His own experiences help him prepare church members to face persecution, which he teaches them to expect. AZ will share three things needed to prepare a church to advance the gospel no matter the cost.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest challenge for church planting in Kazakhstan\u2014the 9<sup>th<\/sup> largest country in the world by territory\u2014is distance. The greatest encouragement for AZ is discipling new believers. &#8220;Disciples are our crowns;&#8221; AZ says, &#8220;that&#8217;s the greatest reward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pray for unity in the Kazakh church and for pastors to be strengthened and encouraged to endure for Christ despite persecution. Pastor AZ encourages us to pray for the next generation of believers as they take on leadership in the Kazakh church.<\/p>\n<p>September 2024 marks the ten-year anniversary of VOM Radio.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vomradio.net\/feedback\">Please share how <em>you&#8217;ve<\/em> been encouraged and inspired<\/a>\u00a0by the testimonies and stories of our persecuted Christian family on VOM Radio over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>Never miss an episode! <a href= \"https:\/\/www.vomradio.net\/subscribe\">Subscribe to the podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vomradio.net\/episodes\/detail\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\" target=\"_blank\">Listen to this episode on VOMRadio.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pastor &#8220;AZ&#8221; saw his church in Kazakhstan grow the fastest during a season of intense Christian persecution. The church began with AZ, his wife and one other believer. Two years later there were 250 believers! AZ knew that reaching Kazakh people required communicating and demonstrating the gospel in their heart language. The church also needs to be ready to assist new believers when persecution comes. AZ became a believer in 1992, just as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Soon after repenting of sin and believing in Christ for salvation, AZ experienced persecution from his family. His own experiences help him prepare church members to face persecution, which he teaches them to expect. AZ will share three things needed to prepare a church to advance the gospel no matter the cost. The biggest challenge for church planting in Kazakhstan\u2014the 9th largest country in the world by territory\u2014is distance. The greatest encouragement for AZ is discipling new believers. &#8220;Disciples are our crowns;&#8221; AZ says, &#8220;that&#8217;s the greatest reward.&#8221; Pray for unity in the Kazakh church and for pastors to be strengthened and encouraged to endure for Christ despite persecution. Pastor AZ encourages us to pray for the next generation of believers as they take on leadership in the Kazakh church. September 2024 marks the ten-year anniversary of VOM Radio.\u00a0Please share how you&#8217;ve been encouraged and inspired\u00a0by the testimonies and stories of our persecuted Christian family on VOM Radio over the past 10 years. Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the podcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vom-radio","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Discipling Christians in Kazakhstan: The Church Must Be Ready - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discipling Christians in Kazakhstan: The Church Must Be Ready - Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pastor &quot;AZ&quot; saw his church in Kazakhstan grow the fastest during a season of intense Christian persecution. The church began with AZ, his wife and one other believer. Two years later there were 250 believers! AZ knew that reaching Kazakh people required communicating and demonstrating the gospel in their heart language. The church also needs to be ready to assist new believers when persecution comes. AZ became a believer in 1992, just as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Soon after repenting of sin and believing in Christ for salvation, AZ experienced persecution from his family. His own experiences help him prepare church members to face persecution, which he teaches them to expect. AZ will share three things needed to prepare a church to advance the gospel no matter the cost. The biggest challenge for church planting in Kazakhstan\u2014the 9th largest country in the world by territory\u2014is distance. The greatest encouragement for AZ is discipling new believers. &quot;Disciples are our crowns;&quot; AZ says, &quot;that&#039;s the greatest reward.&quot; Pray for unity in the Kazakh church and for pastors to be strengthened and encouraged to endure for Christ despite persecution. Pastor AZ encourages us to pray for the next generation of believers as they take on leadership in the Kazakh church. September 2024 marks the ten-year anniversary of VOM Radio.\u00a0Please share how you&#039;ve been encouraged and inspired\u00a0by the testimonies and stories of our persecuted Christian family on VOM Radio over the past 10 years. Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the podcast.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-17T16:44:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vomtechsupport\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vomtechsupport\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"vomtechsupport\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5ff286fd5505fccd2d5ebfd9d4203216\"},\"headline\":\"Discipling Christians in Kazakhstan: The Church Must Be Ready\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-17T16:44:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/\"},\"wordCount\":265,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.persecution.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/VOM-Stories-VOMRadio-Placeholder.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"VOM Radio\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/discipling-christians-in-kazakhstan-the-church-must-be-ready\/\",\"name\":\"Discipling Christians in Kazakhstan: The Church Must Be Ready - 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The greatest encouragement for AZ is discipling new believers. \"Disciples are our crowns;\" AZ says, \"that's the greatest reward.\" Pray for unity in the Kazakh church and for pastors to be strengthened and encouraged to endure for Christ despite persecution. Pastor AZ encourages us to pray for the next generation of believers as they take on leadership in the Kazakh church. September 2024 marks the ten-year anniversary of VOM Radio.\u00a0Please share how you've been encouraged and inspired\u00a0by the testimonies and stories of our persecuted Christian family on VOM Radio over the past 10 years. Never miss an episode! 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