Kalkaman Bible Church 2007

Last Updated 1/20/2008

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Kalkaman Bible Church 2006

General Information about Kalkaman Bible Church:

We started holding Sunday services in our home in Kalkaman on September 26, 2004.  At that time we had 12 members and regular attenders.  This was the culmination of 6 years of preparation including 5 years of ministry in Kalkaman.  Nearly 3 years after that on May 7, 2007 we had completed the process of official registering Kalkaman Bible Church with the Department of Justice in Kazakhstan.  At the end of 207 we have 19 members and regular attenders.  To give you some context, there are roughly 600 Protestant churches in Kazakhstan (including around 200 Russian Baptist churches).  According to the Director of the Teen Challenge program here,  in 2006 alone roughly 200 of these churches were dissolved due to lack of membership.  We took over and reregistered with the documents of one such church.  The fact is that we have survived (by Gods grace) during a period of time in Kazakhstan when the majority of churches have either folded or declined in membership.  You can read more about this at:  

The State of the Church in Kazakhstan

2007 Highlights

You can read more about everyone in our fellowship at the following link. Photos and Profiles of Regular Attenders 2007.  What follows are the headlines of what has happened this year.  After 3 years of training Byeram we have come to the mutual conclusion that he is not gifted in teaching.  He has transitioned from being an intern to being a valued member of our congregation.  He leads worship and prayer time and still helps with our administrative work.  Misha and Yulia had a baby girl in November of 2006 and continued to adjust to their new responsibilities. Two of our early converts finished 2 years of alcohol rehab successfully.  One of them is our church caretaker Kooderbye.  The other works as a staff member at the rehab center and attends our church once a month.  Their continued spiritual progress is a big encouragement to me and I have written much about it on the profiles page in the link above.  We have a new couple attending our church:  Adilbek and Amangool.  Adilbek is Kooderbye's nephew.

Our Weekly Schedule:  Meal preparation from 10-11,  Service from 11-12:15,  Prayer Meeting from 12:15-12:30, followed by a meal and fellowship until about 2pm. In the winter we offer ice-skating on our yearly winter ice-rink in the backyard.  At other times of the year we play ping-pong.  During the week we have men's and ladies Bible study. 

Ongoing Prayer Requests

We are praying for and looking for the man God will raise up to pastor this church after me.

Pray for our fellowship to delight in and live for the glory of God.

We are praying that another family will join us on the field.

We are praying that more families in our supporting churches will decide to visit us on the field.

Pray for our adjustment to our oldest (Lucy) being in America at Clearwater Christian College.  Amanda will start at the same school in August of 2008.

Before: Sept 2004

After:

Above:  Our Building In Kalkaman.  We purchased this building on September 22, 2004.  It is located about 2 miles from our house and 3/4 of a mile from our ministry center in a Kazakh speaking area of Kalkaman.  Most of the homes in the neighborhood are less than 4 years old.  Since it takes most people 10-20 years to finish their houses that means that most of them are works in progress.    

For a Map and tour of our neighborhood see:  Map/Tour of Our Neighborhood

You can see an overview of the work we have done at:

 Building Remodeling Overview 

And you can see step by step photos of each project by following these links:    Fence      Driveway       Front      Basement

Left and Above: Sunday Services in Kalkaman.  Some Kazakh's prefer to sit on the floor so we have an area set aside for them.  We have fellowship meal (pictured below) every week after service. 

Freedom of religion is still severely limited in Kazakhstan.   In July of 2005 Kazakhstan passed a law which made this country one of the 15-20 countries in the world who require the registration of churches.  You can read more about this at:   Registering a Church under the New Law On Religion.  Legally, we became a church on May 7, 2007.  This enables us to meet and teach legally.  But, Biblically, we are not a church, since we do not yet have more than one elder.

Read about the increasingly difficulty (due to the political climate here) of obtaining visas to remain in Kazakhstan at: 

Hostility toward Humanitarian Foundations and other NGOs. 

Read about the process we must go through when we obtain visas during a bad year at: 

The Road to Bishkek: How we spent our summer vacation getting visas.  

Right.  Ping-pong in the church basement after service.