Kyrgyzstan deported Pastor Pavel Shreider in April, and police then went after the rest of his small congregation, Christian Post reports, citing the rights group Forum 18. The church is a Soviet-era pacifist group, the True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church, and it isn’t part of the worldwide Adventist denomination. As a matter of principle it won’t register with the state, and in Kyrgyzstan that makes its worship illegal.
- A court banned the church as “extremist” in March 2025, and the Supreme Court made the ban permanent that August.
- Four days after the deportation, an investigator opened a new case because members were still meeting on Saturdays in private homes. Police used wiretaps and video surveillance, then raided 10 homes on June 6 and seized religious books.
- Five members spent months in pre-trial detention. Prosecutors asked for up to seven years. Judges reduced the charges and fined them instead.
The lead investigator told Forum 18, “I would keep them in prison if it depended on me.”
My take
I come from a different stream than these believers, but that doesn’t matter here. Calling it extremism to read your Bible and pray in a living room tells you where things are headed. Pray for these five as their appeals go forward, for Pastor Shreider, who is now cut off from his flock, and for courage for every believer in Central Asia who gathers quietly in homes.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
God Bless, and May the Source Be with You!
