Russia (MNN)—When people think of Russia, they often picture Moscow and St. Petersburg. However, in small churches across Russia, the Slavic Gospel Association is experiencing powerful stories of people going out to preach the Good News.
“There in the southern portions of Russia that are more Islamic, you have someone like German, who is faithfully ministering in a community that is resistant to the Gospel. There is a community area where there’s great tensions, and he is faithfully ministering to people one life at a time, even with threats against him for doing so,” explains Eric Mock of SGA.
In Siberia, SGA is seeing a massive ministry to orphan children, where children who have been surrounded by destructive parents or have no living parents can go to summer camps and hear the Gospel for the very first time.
“And then these kids age out of the orphanages, and then become ministers to other orphans,” says Mock.
Then, on the far east side of Russia, is Yakutia—a huge land mass almost the size of India, with only 1 million people. Among the 1 million, there are about 1000 believers. There, in a little city, is Valery.
“He and his wife first came to that region in 1984 after they were newly married. In fact, all their family members said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t go there. It’s cold, it’s desolate. There aren’t other believers to help you.’ And they went, and it was brutal. For the first six or seven years, no one was coming to faith. And then, as God would have it, 1991 the breakup of the Soviet Union, relative freedom came to Russia—they were able to be more open with the gospel. And from there, some of the first people in 1991 to 1994 came to faith, and they literally just started going up and down the tributaries. The gospel went out, and churches are being planted.”
Also on the far east side of Russia are Avel and his wife, Olessya. They used to own a major business, until they heard about a need for pastors.
“So they moved to this little church, and this little church just had this little fellowship room on the back. They had [around] eight people in the church, and they moved into the fellowship [room]. That’s where they were living with their children. They went from having a two-story house to having nothing because they heard there was a village there that needed to hear the gospel,” says Mock. “By God’s grace, it looks more like a house now, and they’ve been able to improve it, because he’s quite the handyman, but they still minister in a church that has about 25 people.”
The pastors and churches SGA serves often urge Mock to share their stories—not for their own sakes, but for Christians in other parts of the world.
“They’re thankful for the financial support and for our prayers, but they most often tell me, ‘Tell our story, that the Americans would feel emboldened to be the same faithful witnesses in their own communities.’ So often we think of missionary work as over there, sending people over there, and certainly being a missionary is being sent. But I think we pass off the responsibility to be a gospel witness. And the so what SGA really strives to communicate is that the ministry of the gospel is all of our responsibilities. And we hope, by telling the story of what God is doing in those countries, like in Russia, that we too become the story behind the story. There are many headlines in our own country, of many difficulties, trials and confusions that are going on. But what we pray is that the people, the believers in our country, will become emboldened witnesses for the sake of Christ, because certainly he’s coming again soon.”
Header photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association
