Miralieva, Jamila, Nurali and Haidar. These are the names of four young people. They live in a neighboring country to Afghanistan and they are Christians. We meet them in a small caf\u00e9 in the capital. They have set aside the afternoon to talk to us and tell us a little about what life is like as a young Christian living in a country where most people are Muslim and where many have never heard of Jesus.<\/p>\n
The four young people all grew up in a family where one or both parents are Christians. Their parents are the first generation of Christians in the country, as Christianity first came to neighboring Afghanistan after the fall of the Soviet Union, when many missionaries traveled there to spread the gospel. There is a Christian tradition among the ethnic Russian minority in the country, but the indigenous church in the country is young. In contrast, the Muslim tradition goes back further in the country's history. For many, it is therefore strange to be a Christian and belong to the majority population at the same time, says 25-year-old Miralieva. \"As a native of this country, you should be Muslim, many people think.\" Similarly, 22-year-old Jamila experienced how her fellow students at university were shocked when she told them she was Christian.<\/p>\n
Throughout the conversation, all four recount this tension between their Christian faith and the perception of national character, which is characterized by an Islamic understanding. For some, this tension has social consequences. Even as a toddler, Haidar was prepared by his father when his father told him on the way to school: \"We are Christians. Your life will not be easy, but you have to be patient, because Jesus also went through difficulties\".<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em>The four young people deal with the challenges and confrontations that can arise when you are a Christian and a minority in different ways. But common to the four young people, fear does not seem to get the upper hand. Instead, they emphasize their freedom and hope in Jesus.<\/p>\n \"If we have any problems, we pray to Jesus. We put all our hope in Jesus,\" says 18-year-old Nurali during the interview. For many years, he has been alone in his faith, as his brother, a strict Muslim, would not let either Nurali or his mother go to church. For many years he lived his faith in solitude to avoid conflict with his older brother, and every Sunday he went up to the rooftop where he hid a Bible and sat and read.<\/p>\n Like Nurali, 22-year-old Jamila has also experienced the fear of openly standing up for her faith and telling her friends that she is a Christian. \"When I was at school, I was shy. I was afraid to share that I was a Christian,\" she says. Throughout her life, Jamila's parents told her about Jesus, but it wasn't until she was 18 that she accepted Jesus as her savior. This personal entrance into the faith was a turning point in terms of fear. \"When I accepted Jesus, I experienced being set free from fear,\" she says, \"and at university I now have the boldness to share my faith with others. I tell them that God is love.\" Jamila has invited several of her fellow students to church and one of her friends has now accepted Jesus. Like Nurali, Jamila says that her family's attitude towards the Christian faith has a big impact on how easy it is to live as a Christian. \"My friend can't tell her parents about it. Because my parents are Christians, it's easier for me,\" she says.<\/p>\n 29-year-old Haidar does not experience restrictions in his life in neighboring Afghanistan because he is a Christian. \"God gave me freedom,\" is his answer when we ask him about it. \"I was prepared for difficulties. My father had told me that,\" he continues, emphasizing that challenges should not prevent him from boldly sharing his faith. \"I started at university where we had a religion class. My teacher asked me to stand up and talk about Islam. Here I had an opportunity to talk about my faith, so I said, 'I can't, I'm not Muslim. I don't know anything about Islam because I'm a Christian'. There were about 40 people in the class and my words caused a lot of unrest and made my time at university difficult.\"<\/p>\n My teacher asked me to stand up and talk about Islam. Here I had an opportunity to talk about my faith, so I said, 'I can't, I'm not Muslim. I don't know anything about Islam because I'm a Christian. - Haidar\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n For Miralieva, it was the challenging questions of her classmates about her faith that led her to her personal faith. God used this tension for Miralieva to reflect on her Christian faith. She says: \"Throughout my childhood, my parents told me every day that Jesus is our savior, but I didn't take it in. I was too young to understand the deeper truth of Christianity. But one day when I was in school, my classmates asked me why I chose the Christian faith. I was 16 years old. Then I started thinking: Why am I a Christian? I asked God and started praying. The question opened me up to God and he became min <\/em>God, and not just the God of my parents\".<\/p>\n
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\n\"My friends' questions led me to personal faith\"<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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