Good News for the Oppressed – The Tide Uyghur Project Update

What is Good News to a downtrodden people, whose homeland has been turned into a foreign land from which there is no escape? Where families are separated, and their culture and ancient ways of life are becoming memories of the past? Where children grow up speaking a language that their parents cannot understand? This is the reality faced by the Uyghur people of northwest China, and the reason many have sought refuge in other countries.  

The Good News is that our Creator God loves everyone everywhere and that the Lord is walking with the Uyghur people even now as they pass through the valley of the shadow of death. The Good News is that no work or human effort — no amount of prayer, or fasting, or alms giving, or anything else — can merit favor with God, but rather, the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind through His death on the cross. The Good News is that the Lord Jesus was resurrected on the third day, and His resurrection life, His eternal life, is freely given to all of humanity. 

The vast majority of the Uyghur have never heard this Good News about Jesus. Their homeland in the Xinjiang province is full of natural beauty, has a vibrant cultural heritage, and is a popular tourist destination. As such, it is relatively easy to visit and interact with Uyghur society as a tourist, but there is a pervading spiritual darkness and legal religious suppression that makes it extremely dangerous to attempt to engage in any type of evangelistic activity. While the long-term goal of our Uyghur Project is to eventually be creatively sharing the gospel and making disciples of Christ among the Uyghur population within China, we are first focusing on evangelizing the Uyghur diaspora and forging relationships with Uyghur followers of Christ in other central Asian countries who can assist with the creation and dissemination of Uyghur language gospel content.  

The Tide Uyghur Project is in the process of creating and collating digital content for evangelistic outreach and tools for disciple-making among the Uyghur people around the world. We praise God as reports continue to emerge of more and more Uyghur people finding freedom in Christ and we are working diligently to maximize this window of opportunity. 

As is common across the 10/40 window, hearts are open and evangelism leads to spiritual fruit, but discipleship is a difficult process due to isolation, pressure, and persecution. It is important that Uyghur believers, especially those new in the faith, be able to feed themselves with the Word and be equipped to share with their families and friends, as they may not have reliable access to shepherds and pastoral care. Some existing audio and visual resources are available in the standard Uyghur dialect as well as central Asian dialects, but they are not easy to find. A dedicated digital outreach effort can enable them to be accessed by a broader population.  The process has not been without opposition and technical challenges, but we are thankful to be in a position to launch sometime this year. 

It is our prayer that this Good News is made available, accessible, and understandable to the Uyghur people around the world, and that in the freedom and joy of their hearts they would receive God’s greatest gift. We praise God for already facilitating connections with some disciples among the Uyghur diaspora in amazing ways that clearly demonstrate God’s hand at work. We are convinced that with patient perseverance we will be able to share the Good News about Jesus and the hope of salvation among this predominantly Muslim people group.