Dramatic Changes Along the Silk Road.

Two men from a Central Asian country recently flew to Afghanistan. They were on a spiritual mission. Upon arrival, they drove to a city in the north. After resting and changing into local dress, they picked up their backpacks of Christian literature. They had plans to visit five towns during their two week stay. 

These were places where no foreigner has ever preached the message of Jesus Christ. The men befriended a taxi driver who took them to his house, showed them around town, introduced them to his friends and invited them to stay the night. Many relatives and friends came to dinner. The men shared openly and a young boy who had been beaten and left disabled by religious Muslim leaders listened with tears. The men then prayed earnestly for the group of guests, especially for the boy. No one had heard prayer like that before. 

The same taxi driver continued with them from town to town. Everywhere people seemed poor and desperate. Islam had not provided them with what they had hoped for materially. Many pushed passport size photos into their hands begging them to give these to anyone who might be able to come and help them. The men considered ways in which they might help the people better themselves. Could they start some income generating business there?

In one town they made contact with a shoemaker who had converted from Islam to Christianity. His parents had been killed because of their Christian faith. They learned from him that there are at least one hundred families who follow Jesus though their understanding of the faith is weak. If teachers came they would be eager to learn. Soon the two men were full of ideas. "Choose 10 leaders from among yourselves. Gather them in a safe place and we can send someone to teach them. They in turn can teach the others. Perhaps two or three could even come and stay with us a for a time of leadership training."

Back home, at the end of this life changing trip, they shared their experiences and spread out the photographs on the table. They remembered their pleading, "Come and help us. Give us hope." Two small churches in Central Asia, who are very poor themselves, decided to "adopt" the new Christian believers in northern Afghanistan and help them grow in their faith. Such are some of the dramatic changes along the Silk Road.

One way that Christianity is being spread in Afghanistan is through radio. Pamir Productions has contact with many Afghan Christians. More stories like this can also be found at: More than Dreams.