KAZAKHSTAN: PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, CHRISTIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000050

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN M O'MARA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2018
TAGS: KDEM KZ PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, CHRISTIAN
SATELLITE TELEVISION FLOURISH DESPITE CHALLENGING
ENVIRONMENT

REF: A. A) 07 ASTANA 654


B. B) 07 ASTANA 741

C. C) 07 ASTANA 1371

D. D) 07 ASTANA 2718

Classified By: Ambassador John Ordway; reasons 1.5(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Kazakhstan is home to the world's largest
Russian language Christian satellite television network and a
steadily growing, openly evangelical Pentecostal church,
surprising facts considering the negative attention the
country sometimes receives for its treatment of groups that
are not part of the Muslim, Russian Orthodox, Catholic, or
Jewish mainstream. Though the religious freedom landscape is
far from perfect, some minority religious groups are able to
operate very effectively. End summary.

A MEGA-CHURCH IN ALMATY


2. (C) Poloff met on December 14, 2007 with Maksim Maksimov,
founding pastor of the New Life (Pentecostal) Church in
Almaty and head of a worldwide satellite television ministry
called New Life Channel ("CNL"). The meeting took place in
Maksimov's office in the main New Life ministry center in
Almaty, a multi-building complex including a church, offices,
classrooms, broadcast production facilities, cafeteria, and
prayer center. The complex was swarming with dozens of
staffers and volunteers, and in many respects had the look
and feel of an American mega-church.


3. (C) Maksimov, who is as much an entrepreneur as he is a
pastor, founded the first New Life Church in Kazakhstan in
September 1990. He reports that the denomination is
registered nationally, and there are approximately 100 New
Life churches throughout Kazakhstan, with a total of
8,000-10,000 regular attendees. In Almaty alone, there are
seven New Life churches, including a Kazakh-language and a
Uighur-language church. In addition to traditional church
activities, the ministry center in Almaty runs a soup kitchen
for homeless and poor people, provides health care to the
indigent, trains pastors and missionaries, and organizes
ministries for deaf people and prisoners. Maksimov said that
pastors and missionaries trained in Almaty have helped
establish churches throughout Kazakhstan and other countries
in the region, and that the church regularly sends
missionaries abroad, including to China. Maksimov also runs a
website popular with church members in Kazakhstan; among
other things, he writes a question and an
swer column addressing spiritual questions from church
members (www.maximmaximov.org).

BROADCASTING TO A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE


4. (C) Maksimov was most energized when discussing CNL
(www.CNL.org),which began broadcasting for a few hours a day
on the local Almaty cable network in December 2000. In July
2002, he secured the first satellite contract for the
network, and has steadily expanded its reach since then.
Today, CNL is broadcast through three satellites which
together reach virtually the entire world, with the exception
of South America. CNL is also shown on over 400 cable
networks worldwide, including several in Kazakhstan.
According to Maksimov, it is the largest Russian-language
Christian television network in the world. The network
features some original programming, including broadcasts of
Maksimov's Sunday morning services, as well as other
evangelical programming from throughout the world, all
translated into Russian by the network's in-house translation
staff. The ministry center features a separate production
facility for the network, and is crammed full of young, savvy
workers pouring over broadcast schedules, d
esigning graphics, and recording Russian-language
translations of the programming they have acquired from
abroad. Maksimov reports that most of their workers are
trained in-house, and that they are a largely self-sufficient
operation. The ministry center also offers television
broadcasting training to interested students from throughout
Kazakhstan, and actively encourages local churches to use
television as part of their ministry.


5. (C) CNL does not aQ&N,588