Bishkek – Kyrgyzstan’s small Baptist minority is alarmed by plans of the government in Bishkek to stiffen laws on religious freedom. This is reported by both the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists and the German “Light in the East” mission. A new religious law is on the verge of official approval. When it comes into force, new and existing congregations with less than 200 members will not receive state authorisation. Only native citizens are to be permitted to engage in evangelistic activities. If foreigners are active on management level in a religious organisation, the entire organisation will be regarded as foreign and will need to register on an annual basis. It is not only congregations, Bible schools and seminaries that will require registration, but also Sunday schools and any other church-based educational groups. The dissemination of Christian literature will only be permitted in church buildings and certain specific bookshops. All events outside of church buildings will require permission from the government’s agency Ministry for Religious Affairs. Only clergy can receive exemption from military service for reasons of conscience.

Alexander Shumilin, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s Baptist Union, is alarmed by the new legislation: “We have seen the situation get dramatically worse in recent times.” Shumilin stressed that Baptists are praying for the retention of religious liberty in their country. They are nevertheless also preparing themselves to serve God under the possible new state of affairs. The Russian Evangelical Alliance, headed by Baptist pastor Vladimir Ryaguzov (Moscow), resolved at the annual conference in Moscow to send a German-Russian delegation to Kyrgyzstan in March to assist Protestants in their struggle to come to terms with the new situation.

Most of the country’s five million inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. There are roughly 3.100 members belong to the Baptist Union’s 84 congregations. They are not part of international Baptist organisations such as the European Baptist Federation (EBF) and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), but do co-operate with the Euro-Asian Federation of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. At the beginning of the 1990s, approximately 100.000 ethnic Germans still resided in that country, but their numbers have dropped to 12.000.