Russia (MNN) — Discipling children in Russia has become an even more pressing mission. That’s after Russia’s government placed Child Evangelism Fellowship on its list of “undesirable organizations” earlier this month.
“This basically means they cannot function in the country,” says Greg Yoder with Keys for Kids Ministries.
“It’s placed a designation that basically says, ‘You’re anti-Russian. You’re anti-everything that we are, and so you can’t organize, you can’t be here. You can’t be associated with it. You can’t get money from them. You can’t participate.’”
Yoder says people in Russia who had any relationship with CEF are at risk, as are those connected with Mission Eurasia, another ministry recently labeled as “undesirable.” These could be recipients of funds, church volunteers, or anyone found in possession of organization materials.
“There are thousands of them,” says Yoder of CEF’s and Mission Eurasia’s connections. “So I’d ask you [to] be praying for them.”
English edition devotionals for teens and kids (Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)
It is fairly obvious what led to Mission Eurasia being added to the “undesirable organizations” list in May, but it is less clear what led to CEF’s designation this month.
“Mission Eurasia put out a report back at the beginning of the year about persecution within Russia, and we believe that’s why they were placed on the list, because it was not a great report. Mission Eurasia believes that,” says Yoder.
CEF’s removal from Russia will leave a gap in children’s discipleship. This comes at a time when Yoder believes kids, teens, and families are searching for spiritual truth.
“There’s lots of fear and anxiety and depression,” he says. “And again, we get back to that 4–14 [years-old] window that 80 percent of kids are looking for spiritual truth. And they will find it. And we’re hoping and praying that they’ll find it through Christ alone.”
Keys for Kids devotionals help to unpack biblical truth in a story format. Yoder says their team isn’t aware of any other resources in Russia that offer the same type of teaching and application points accessible to children and youth. Pray for open doors to get these resources into the hands of young people in Russia.
“We’re not doing a lot of work there now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t,” says Yoder. “If there is an organization that wants to use our material, or we have a partner on the ground in Russia, we’ll do our best to get the materials in there for sure.”
Pray for God to move in the hearts of Russian leaders. “[Pray] that they will come to faith in Jesus as they’ve been investigating all this, and they actually see and read the gospel that maybe their hearts would change,” says Yoder.
Header photo: Boy in Moscow, Russia (Stock photo courtesy of Tanya Gorelova via Pexels).
