The official language is Chinese and all commerce and higher education must be done in Chinese. Even as little as six years ago, when Mutalip graduated from college, 80% of the teachers and 90% of the students there were Uighur. Today that same college has just 20% Uighur teachers and 3% Uighur students.
Last year, as Mutalip was reading about the history of the Uighur people, he wondered where many of the modern-day rules about living in Uighur society originated. He studied various Muslim rules and regulations, but found that they did not completely explain some of the things he was seeing. As he dug further, he found that a group of Nestorian Christian Uighurs significantly affected the culture before they were converted to Islam.
Why had he never heard about this before? Through a Christian Chinese man, Mutalip learned about Christianity, and found out that the Bible had been translated into Uighur. Later he managed to obtain a copy of this translation from a traveller passing through his home town. As Mutalip read the Bible in his mother tongue, he found that it really embraced the heart of what it is to be Uighur. If any Uighur man could live by these principles, he would truly be great!
He started to wonder whether this book was really trustworthy. After reading for a few months, he had a dream in which God spoke to him and clearly commended the modern Uighur translation of the Bible as true and reliable. (Only the New Testament, Genesis and Exodus are currently available.)
A heart for the Uighur
Today more than 10 million Uighur people live in the region where Mutalip lives. Out of every 50,000 Uighur, 49,999 would say they are Muslim and only one would be a follower of Jesus! Mutalip found himself struggling to discuss matters of faith â€" he had never met anyone who trusted Jesus and could speak his mother tongue.
I met Mutalip when a friend phoned one day, and asked me to meet with him. The three of us started out speaking Chinese together. Then, as the conversation turned to matters of faith, Mutalip and I began to speak in Uighur. Over a period of three days, we grew to be friends, and Mutalip discovered it was possible to be certain of his salvation.
I am encouraged by the way that God is growing my faith through Mutalip and his faith through me. God seems to be giving him a heart for the 10 million Uighur people who are lost and desperately in need of Jesus.
The team I work with would love to see people from many nations join us. Then men and women like Mutalip will have an opportunity to speak about matters of faith in their own mother tongue.
Read more: http://www.sim.org.au/index.php?axn=view&newsID=394