Bagatoz Temirbayeva is known as pastor Batagoz to her parish. She has worked as pastor with the Evangelical Christian Centre “Presviterianstvo” (Presbyterianism) or simply put, the Presbyterian church in Kokshetau, for 15 years already. How the daughter of the Soviet faith fighter has become the preacher, how female pastors are treated, and the difference between men’s and women’s sermons are described in the material by CABAR.asia.
– Batagoz, how did you come to religion? Were you born in a religious family?
– No, I was born into the atheist family. My deceased father worked in the department that managed fight against religion. But I trusted in God because I was raised by my grandmother, who used to pray to Allah. When I was 25-26 years old, I had a disease that could not be cured. Treatment helped me for two-three weeks, and then the disease recurred. It lasted for several years.
I started to attend mosque because I was so fed up with the disease that I did not want to live. I had a husband, a little child, I worked at school and taught math. It was so burdensome, especially when you were ill. I failed to receive any response to my prayer.
– And then you chose another religion?
– I understood that if I had right relationships with the Supreme Being, I would feel better. And once I came home, fell to my knees and asked the God to guide me. And God replied – I was taken to the church, where I am now, and they told me that Jesus Christ could help because he died for people’s sins.
– Weren’t you confused as a Muslim?
– I knew that Jesus was not a human, but God, and not the Russian God, as he is called – as God has no ethnicity. It was very important to me as a Muslim. After prayers to Jesus, doctors diagnosed “oncology” in me.
– How did you made up your mind to be a pastor?
– First, I was a regular parishioner, then I was the leader of home groups. God helped people via me – they received answers to their needs. Then, our pastor left for Canada because his tenure was over, and I became pastor instead of him.
– So, it turns out that a woman has a different position in Protestantism, unlike Orthodoxy and Islam?
– Yes, a woman can be a leader in Protestantism. There is a woman named Deborah in the Bible. It happened in the times of the Old Testament. Back then, it was a difficult situation in Israel and there were no men who could take the burden. The Lord saw Deborah’s faith and called her a saviour of Israel. When our pastor was leaving, he offered men to become the spiritual leader of the church. They refused to, and I agreed.
– How widespread is such a perception of female clergy in Kazakhstan? Do we have many female pastors?
– Protestantism is quite widespread in Kazakhstan and there are many female pastors here. I think there is the same number of women as men, but I may be wrong.
– Are sermons by male pastor different from the ones by female pastor? Maybe, they cover different topics?
– Men are men, and women are women, they have different views of the world. But they read one Bible. And it says that when a man becomes faithful, is baptised in the Holy Spirit, the man comes to understand the faith and the Bible through one’s spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit. And the sermon is delivered not by a man, but by the Holy Spirit. And when He speaks via the man, He does not care about the body He speaks through. The body is the vessel, the house of the Holy Spirit. The spirit inside the man does not have any ethnicity or gender.
It actually does not matter who God speaks through. When a man comes to our church, he has a strong need and pain inside. And it does not matter to him who will help him: a man, a woman, or even an elephant; finding answers to his questions is the only thing that matters.
Main photo: illustrative image, Freepik