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Turkey is a beautiful country with a rich history. Some biblical scholars even speculate that Noah’s Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat! Turkey is also home to some of the most beautiful mosques in the world, and most Turks identify as Muslim. Turkey is considered one of the least evangelized and one of the hardest-to-reach countries in Central Asia.

One MBC partner there is shepherding a new church. The pastor spends most of his time evangelizing unbelievers and shepherding church members through preaching, counseling, and prayer. He and his family recently moved into a newly renovated space, where fifteen church members and three elders took the Lord’s Supper together and worshiped freely on their first Sunday. It was a joyous time! 

Now that the pandemic and its restrictions have receded into the background, there are many opportunities for ministry to increase. For example, the church hosted a training for Central Asian pastors and, starting in January 2022, welcomed a handful of pastoral interns. After expecting just one intern, they ended up with four! It’s exciting to see how God will use these men, each from a different language group, to share the gospel throughout Central Asia in the future.

Healthy local churches are the primary, God-appointed means for fulfilling the Great Commission. They’re a visible manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth, and God is doing exciting things in the Turkish church! 

• That God would continue to grow the new church in health and in love for one another; that God would save many through its faithful ministry.
• That God would use the 10-month pastoral internship program to equip and train up men—from places like Russia, Iran, Turkey, and the US—for future ministry in the region.
• That God would raise up another core team to plant a church in a second city in 2023. In fact, there’s a chance to establish two churches: an English-speaking one and a Russian-speaking one. Tens of thousands of Russians have relocated to Turkey due to the conflict in Russia.