The Bashkort
The Russian Federation from the archive, 2002
History of a People Group
The Bashkorts are an unreached people group of about 1.5 million people who were once nomadic hunters and cattle breeders in Central Asia. Centuries ago they gave up their nomadic lifestyle and settled in the western foothills of the Ural Mountains.
A few trade centers soon sprang up at the base of the Urals, which divide Europe and Asia. These trading centers were not as rich as those clustered along the Silk Road to the southeast, but they nevertheless drew merchants from all parts of Asia and the Middle East. Among the traders, Arab merchants brought their goods and their religion, and by the 10th century Islam had gripped this region.
Though the Bashkorts were warriors at times, they were not often an aggressive people like many of their neighbors. In Central Asia that meant they were rarely an independent people. In the 13th Century the Mongolians conquered the Bashkorts and ruled over them until the 15th century.
After the demise of Mongolian rule, various neighboring peoples vied for power over the Bashkorts until the mid-16th Century when Russia's Ivan the Terrible conquered this whole Ural region and brought the Bashkorts into the Russian empire.
Today most Bashkorts live in Bashkortostan, which is an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation. Though the republic bears the name of the Bashkorts, Russians and Tatars far outnumber the Bashkorts. Of the republic's 4.5 million citizens, Bashkorts number about 1.5 million. In Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, the Bashkort population accounts for only 6 percent.
Yet this minority status pales in comparison to another minority group—Bashkort Christians. IMB workers and other Christians committed to reaching the Bashkorts can only identify a hand full of Bashkort Christians in the world.
Helping end winter in Bashkortostan
As the cold night approaches, Gulya carefully tends the kitchen fire in her log cabin. Before the sun sets, chilled air claims every room in the cabin except the kitchen, making it the family's center of activity. Even a television in the next room cannot compete with the lure of warm flames.
Outside, icy winds probe the cabin's thick timber walls. A hardened mix of forest moss and mud seals every crevice, but it is no match for the frozen air that penetrates this Bashkort village in the foothills of the Ural Mountains.
In this part of the world, winter demands respect. Every family has at ready tall piles of chopped wood in the yard and bulging bags of grain and flour in corners and under beds.
But an economic crisis overwhelming the Russian Federation may prove to be harsher than the most bitter winter wind.
"These are frightening times," an International Mission Board worker in Bashkortostan said. "And that makes it all the harder for many to hear what we have to say about Christ."
"They're having to ride out the economic crisis like they ride out the winter," explained the Christian who has become a friend to this Muslim family. "All they know to do is wait."
A regular flow of headlines from the Russian Federation tell of the plight of unpaid Russian workers and troops. Many just manage to survive. Last November, hundreds of thousands of teachers, miners and other workers marched in protest throughout the country for not being paid for months. News reports estimate that the Russian government owes its citizens about $7 billion in back pay and social benefits.
Gulya and her family have not received a paycheck in eight months. They used the last of their savings to buy grain for the winter. Their only safety net now is a family network and a code of cooperation in the village. Such tight interdependence within Muslim villages presents a daunting challenge to Christians here who are working to start a church movement.
The fear of becoming an outcast because of one's faith is very real, the IMB worker said. To become a Christian in the village can mean the loss of relationships with family and neighbors.
Yet the IMB team here believes God has called them to focus their efforts on a village-based church movement. "We hope that a village will become a hub for the spread of Christ's church," one IMB team member said. "We are praying that this is where the light will begin and the church, the first Bashkort church, will plant its roots here."
Such an endeavor demands commitment from Christians, he said. If the gospel is to take hold, Christians must invest their lives in the villages.
"We care about Gulya's family," the IMB worker said. "That makes it hard to wait on God. They've waited spiritually for so long, but I know God is going to have to work in their hearts so that they don't just close out our message."
There's a Bashkort saying: "So you've just come to borrow some coals." It is a mild rebuff to one who drops by with only a concern for business and not friendship. The IMB team understands this cultural warning, and each member tries to invest in lives with Christ-like compassion, the IMB worker said.
The efforts, though often emotionally and physically draining, have formed key relationships. And now the team believes it is time to move into a new phase of the work here. The ground work is now in place to support a larger team for reaching the Bashkorts, he said.
"It's a thrill to actually be here in the former Soviet Union. But, as Christians, our excitement over political change and seeing things like the (Berlin) wall come down, will not mean anything if we don't act on it—that's what we are about here," he said.
The current IMB team feel a sense of urgency in the midst of the current economic crisis. A change of power in Moscow could spell the end of access for outsiders to villages in Bashkortostan. As the Russian Federation pieces together a new economic and social system, no one is sure how much time the current government has left to plot its own course.
For many of Gulya's neighbors and family members, they believe the only way to get out of this crisis is to return to the former communist system.
"Before, we had long lines for things," explained a relative of Gulya's. "But this new system has taken care of that. Now there are no lines because no one has any money to buy things.
"This is now supposed to be a democratic society," he continued. "We can now do what we want to do, but only with our tongues. We have nothing that our hands can work with. It is just words."
"We can't pay them," the IMB worker said. "But we can stand up for them spiritually and call others to the work. We can live with them so that they can see Christ in us. If we can give them a chance to hear about Christ, then there is hope in all these other areas."
*Names changed to protect believers.