In Central Asia, teenagers and their leaders are getting to know God more deeply through newly launched TeenStreet activities in the region.
Nelly (Central Asia) joined the OM team in Central Asia in 2022, where she found herself getting very involved with students, volunteering to help at camps where she taught non-believers about Jesus.
Her experiences at these camps led her to ask why she couldn’t do more work along similar lines.
“I thought, if these camps can change these people’s lives so much, why don’t we do it with our own believing teenagers?” she said. “I knew there was TeenStreet, and I thought it would be amazing to do that in Central Asia.”
A heart for young people
The following year, she met with other OM workers over coffee, and she shared her ideas.
“I knew we had people [working with young people] in OM, but they didn’t do anything like TeenStreet. I couldn’t ever imagine we could do it in this country, although it would be amazing for teens,” she said. “Then they said they had had the same idea, but there was no one to organise it. I thought: ‘It’s a sign!’"
Nelly started to organise TeenStreet activities in the country “little by little”, starting with training leaders.
The training programme helped potential leaders not only learn how to run small groups and guide teenagers but also to learn more about themselves and develop leadership skills.
“Change happens on such a small dot,” Nelly said. “We did TeenStreet training for 12 people and one was a 19-year-old girl, Safiya*, with a really strong personality. After the training, she’s like, ‘I’m not going to use it. I’m not born to be a missions worker.’ I was like ‘okay’ but I was a little disappointed because we hope that the training will help people and make a change.
“A few days later, she shared that she met a girl of 26 and started talking with her. The girl had said she didn’t know if she could be a leader; she didn’t know she had a voice.
“Safiya told her everything we did in TeenStreet training. The 26-year-old said, ‘Wow, even if I’m not in leadership, I can do something.’ It made a really big impact on her life. Big changes happen with a really small start.”
A thriving start
Two young women completed the leadership training and have started a group with seven girls.
Nelly said, “One girl from our small group has grown so much in these past six months — she even started to consider taking over the small group after the current leader leaves.
“Girls share that they never skip our weekly Bible study time because they feel peace and can be themselves.
“Some have gone to church since childhood but never wanted to read, but during our small group, they started to read the Bible by themselves in the group and also outside of our small group time.
“One even said, ‘I have never read so much Bible like we read with our small group.’”