Belarus (MNN) — It was an outreach that they were told would never work. When Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) first launched its Compassion Ministry in Belarus — delivering food and essentials to needy families — local pastors were skeptical. They insisted that Belarusians would never open their doors to strangers.
However, Eric Mock with SGA says, “What they hadn’t counted on is there are a lot of people that didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from, and they would happily open the door to a pastor that wanted to tell them a message of hope and bring them a bag of groceries.”
In the countries of Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, SGA-sponsored missionary pastors are visiting needy families in their regions with much-needed parcels of staple food items. (Photo, caption courtesy of SGA)
Now, 11 years later, the SGA-supported Compassion Ministry is flourishing.
SGA supports 55 missionary pastors in Belarus, 35 of whom are actively involved in the Compassion Ministry.
“The figure the pastors last week gave me is that 7% of all people coming to faith, out of all the ministry of the churches in Belarus, are through this Compassion Ministry!” says Mock.
“Ten percent of all the pastors in Belarus are engaged in this Compassion Ministry through support from SGA.”
The pastors themselves often have very little. Yet, Mock says, “They faithfully declare the Gospel in their community, and here they give of the abundance of their heart more than an abundance of resources. So we help them in that, and that’s opened up doors and people have been coming to faith.”
Praise God for open doors and hearts to the Gospel in Belarus!
You can support SGA’s Compassion Ministry here.
Header photo courtesy of SGA.
