Chechnya (MNN) — Chechnya has been the site of armed
conflict between Chechen rebels and Russian military for years. While the battles
have eased, the uneasiness hasn't left the area. Those uneasy feelings have
many children living in constant fear and hopelessness.
Russian Ministries is doing something about that. Vice
President of Russian Ministries Sergey Rakhuba, speaking for Russia, just
returned from the region. He says
Christians from the region are doing great work. "It was so exciting to
see young people that reach out to that community — reaching out to children
with lots of outreach projects. I was
just so impressed to see how much fruit the ministry brings when they see
how much response is there among young Chechen people."
Rakhuba says it's an incredible story of people who have
been targeted by Chechen terrorists, traveling to Chechnya to do God's work.
"Instead of taking revenge or retaliating for all of the destruction that
terrorists brought to Beslan, they go back and reach out to the Chechen
children. They organize summer camps; they hold sports games."
Traveling to Chechnya is still dangerous. They must travel to many army check-points to
get to Grozny, but the population welcomes the Russian Ministries teams.
"Christians are welcomed. They have an opportunity to preach the Gospel
and tell those kids about the hope in Jesus."
Rakhuba says they were only able to get into Grozny because
of the assistance of one leader. "He came out of Chechnya with his
personal car and offered his service to take us back to Grozny. Otherwise we
wouldn't be able to go there."
It appears God is using non-Christians to allow the Gospel
to penetrate these young hearts.
Rakhuba says Russian Ministries would like to send as many
young people to summer camp as possible. "For $50 it's possible to send
one child to summer camp and potentially to help change this
country for Christ."
According to Rakhuba, Russian Ministries' young people will
do the ministry work. "Young people motivated and mobilized and equipped
through our 'Schools Without Walls' [program] will go to the
summer camp and reach out to children, helping them build their lives on
moral biblical principles."
