A children’s ministry shuts down in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan (MNN)–We begin today with a look at the end of a children’s ministry in Tajikistan.

The government has shown itself increasingly hostile to Christians, even though freedom of religion is protected by the Constitution.

In May of 1998, the government passed a law to prohibit the creation of political parties with a religious orientation. This restriction has since been lifted and two members of an Islamic party sit in the lower House of Parliament.

However, government pursuit culminated earlier this summer, when it seized land owned by the churches and closed Christian camps operated there.

With recourse exhausted, Bible Mission International‘s Malcolm Smith says, “The camp was taken away from the church there in Tajikistan, and it’s being held right now by the government, and they’re awaiting again, another petition, the court case is officially closed.”

Smith says they’re encouraging believers to respond on their knees, but also, “What the churches have asked us to do is to intercede through our government so that letters can be addressed to the government of Tajikistan asking them to return the property to the church in Tajikistan so they can continue to use it for ministry.”