It’s also vastly unreached by the Gospel. But to quote Jesus in Matthew 9:37: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) says, “The area that’s considered the Far East of Russia is a landmass the size of the lower 48 States of America — yet, with 5% of our population.

“This is a very vast land with many different resources, but not really interconnected like we have an interstate system. [There is] nothing like that out here. So it is a vast, unreached region that desperately needs the Gospel.”

Valery, the first missionary pastor in the vast region of Yakutia. Valery along with his wife led the first indigenous believers to faith in 1991. He was then part of initial SGA training that started in 2016. (Photo, caption courtesy of Eric Mock/SGA)

Russian pastors tell SGA one of their biggest needs is for more local, indigenous missionaries and pastors willing to take the Gospel to the Far East.

It’s easier said than done. Mock explains, “One of the struggles we have is providing the resources so these pastors and missionaries can actually reside in villages where economically it’s pretty impossible for them to be a tent-making pastor.

“So we pray, the Lord will raise them up. But we also pray that the Lord will raise up those who are willing to support missionary pastors throughout that region.”

SGA provides biblical training to missionary pastors in the Far East.

“Through our Antioch Initiative and also through the support of our seminary in Siberia, we see that these men are faithfully taught and trained,” says Mock.

Please join SGA in prayer. Mock asks fellow believers to be “praying that God raises up more faithful missionaries and pastors — but additionally, that they are supported, cared for, and trained up. These are critical needs in the Far East of Russia.”

Learn more about SGA’s ministry.

Header photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association. 

However, Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) says in churches across Eurasia, youth ministry covers teens and young adults, and they’re not there to be entertained. Instead, young people consider themselves as active members of the Church and seek out their own ministry opportunities.

Mock gives an example of young people in a Russian church who heard about nearby villages that didn’t know Jesus. 

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

“The young people actually went out to some of these villages and started picking up trash [and] started taking the time to walk around and be a blessing to people they have never met before. They [would] go to the playgrounds and start fixing the playground equipment that might have been broken down and doing repairs and painting things,” Mock says.

“The locals couldn’t believe that someone that wasn’t from their town was taking the time to make a difference. That opened the door and they began sharing the Gospel with different people.”

Then there’s the story of Dmitri, a 23-year-old young man who saw a need in Eastern Ukraine for Christ’s hope amidst intense conflict.

Mock says, “He and his friend both went out there and not only were they delivering food, but even in the midst of all the conflict…they’re being youth leaders out there [and] enabling the youth to be used even in the middle of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.”

SGA mobilizes the Church to be the hands and feet of Christ across Eurasia, and young people are an active part of their ministry.

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

“Several months prior to Christmas, they were the ones that were preparing the programs,” Mock says. “Many of them are the ones that are performing in the dramas for the Christmas programs [and] are the ones Christmas caroling from house-to-house. They are the ones that are leading the Emanuel’s Child-supported Christmas ministries. When they complete the Christmas outreach, they begin a series of follow-up…. By the time they get into March, they’re preparing for summer camps, and by the time they get through summer camps, they’re looking for other outreaches.”

Young people also fuel SGA’s Orphans Reborn program. They are often the ones visiting with the orphans, playing with them, and ministering to them.

This model of empowering young people in ministry is a positive example for our Western brothers and sisters in Christ.

Mock encourages, “Don’t discount the younger in the Church as being those who are just given a separate ministry, but instead enable them to not just attend Church but be the Church, to give them the skill set they need and the opportunity to bring much glory to God.”

You can get involved by supporting youth ministry through SGA churches. Click here to give at SGA’s website!

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

Along with giving, your prayers also fuel the Body of Christ in Eurasia. Mock offers these requests:

“Pray as needed for the resources. They need the gas to go out to the village, the gas for the airplanes. We’ve got several airplanes over there that we work in partnership with another ministry. Those airplanes are flying to remote regions with youth and they’re going into these villages and taking the Gospel to them.

“Pray that God, in advance, begins to open up new avenues — whether it be to unreached villages, whether it be to orphanages, whether it be to urban settings in inner cities where people are so discouraged. Pray for the youth to be active in taking the Gospel to a lost and hurting world.”

Header photo courtesy of Akira Hojo via Unsplash.

(Photo courtesy of Matthew T Rader via Unsplash)

However, one addict-turned-pastor named Alexander is now reaching other drug addicts through a denominational halfway house ministry.

Global Disciples supports Christian denominational leaders in Siberia. The denomination runs a halfway house for drug addicts and introduces them to the Gospel.

Tim* with Global Disciples recently met with Alexander and other denominational leaders and visited their halfway house.

“In this halfway house, we visited and talked with about seven men there,” Tim says. “Some had gotten out of prison not long ago. Others were there trying to break the addictions of alcohol and drugs.

“We prayed with them [and] they shared their lives and how through Jesus, they have been given new life and hope.”

Click here to support Christian leaders in Siberia reaching the least-reached through Global Disciples!

Alexander’s Story

As a young man, Alexander was one of many in Russia who found himself trapped in a drug addiction.

“He had no hope and he was on a path of destruction,” says Tim. “The Lord saved him out of that and brought him new life. But the good story about Alexander is that eventually he went on to Bible school.”

Today, Alexander is a pastor and leader in a denomination with about 40 churches throughout Siberia.

“After Jesus changed his life, he talked about how he went to his old friends — those who he had done drugs with or he had sold drugs to. One of those young men accepted Christ and came to know Jesus.”

Alexander’s friend, Anatoly, traded his drugs for Bible school as well, earned his doctorate in Missiology, and now leads their mission Bible school.

“One of the things that thrilled me that he told me after this story is, ‘You just never know what will happen when you witness to others,’” Tim says.

Hope for Siberia’s Addicted

(Photo courtesy of Sergey Pesterev via Unsplash)

Russians clung to drug addiction and alcoholism as coping mechanisms after the fall of the Soviet regime. Since the Soviets sent many people to Siberian labor camps or exiled them in the vast, vacant land, Siberia was left with society’s outcasts.

“A lot of people live there without hope and it seems that alcohol and drugs is one of the ways that they try and cope with their issues.”

Knowing the spiritual plight of Siberia informs our prayers as we support the local Church.

“In this area that is remote, it might have been an area that is cast out,” Tim says.

“We’re praying and we’re asking people to pray with us that this historically exiled, beaten down place would become a place where God’s people are finding refuge.”

Learn more about Global Disciples’ ministry here.

*Last name withheld for security purposes.

Header photo courtesy of Cherry Laithang via Unsplash.

Mock says, “Reach Russia Now is…an intensive effort to reach unreached villages. It includes Compassion Ministry, supporting churches as they reach out to those in need…. It is helping Gospel missions. We’re helping groups from churches go out to unreached villages. And then it also includes training.”

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association via Facebook)

There are high drinking and suicide rates in areas where these pastors work. Depression and addiction are also common. In some communities, people have never heard the hope of Christ.

SGA’s training equips pastors to know how to respond and speak hope into these situations.

“The training they were receiving was not only to give them [the] strength to deal with these very real issues in the Church today, but to give them the confidence to know that God’s Word has something to say about these issues — to let them know that God’s Word can be applied to a human heart in such a way to see them transform,” Mock says.

Iron Sharpens Iron

To provide this training, SGA sends pastors from America to “pass on their knowledge and experience” to the Church in Far East Russia.

“It’s an exciting thing. It used to be known at SGA as the Antioch initiative, and that represents the training portion…. But in this case, it’s under the umbrella of Reach Russia Now,” Mock says.

The Antioch initiative provides pastors in Far East Russia with six to seven years of theological training by SGA.

“The capstone to that is not only to learn to preach and teach the Word of God, [but] that you also take it, [and] learn to invest one-on-one in disciple-making [and] in counseling others,” Mock says.

Applying Practical Theology

In teaching Biblical counseling, practical theology is a necessary accompaniment. During the training, SGA-supported pastors dived into the “what” and “how” of practical theology. As described by Mock, practical theology takes a person from explaining the Gospel to applying it to the human heart.

“It’s one thing for someone to ask, ‘Can I explain the Gospel to them?’ It’s another thing for a person to say, ‘I just lost my child. What does God’s word have to say about that?’,” Mock says.

“Practical theology is the tool that comes back and says there is great hope. There is hope in Christ. You’re no longer shackled to sin. In Christ, you can move forward, not only the strength for today but the hope for tomorrow. The reality of John 16:33 is the statement that in this life, in this world, we will have a great number of tribulations. Then Christ says, ‘Take heart, have courage [for] I have overcome.’”

Will You Help?

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association via Facebook)

Will you help support the training of these pastors through the Reach Russia Now initiative? Begin by praying for God’s guidance in their ministry. Pray God would equip and encourage these pastors to not only share the Gospel but to disciple their congregations well.

Pray that despite increasing pressures, these churches would continue their ministry and be a light for Christ in their communities. Finally, pray the doors will stay open for the Gospel in the lands of Russia.

Another way to support the Reach Russia Now initiative is by giving.

To give, click here.

Head photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association.

(Photo courtesy of SOAR International)

Historically, Russia has struggled with alcohol abuse. In 2014, the BBC reported a study where 25 percent of men died before age 55. The study attributed most of these deaths to alcohol. In fact, according to Rehab International, there are 20 million people in Russia who are dependent upon alcohol.

The same is true in the Far East, even in locations that are hard to reach. In Chukotka, a federal subject of Russia in Provideniya, it’s no different.

According to the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, some of the major concerns in this region include alcoholism, suicide, underdeveloped health care, and poverty.

We spoke with Joanna Mangione of SOAR International who visited the region years ago. She describes Provideniya as a dark, treeless tundra — harsh and barren in its appearance. SOAR works with a church near the remote villages of Chukotka. Alcohol, especially among indigenous Eskimo and Chukchi people, has been an evident challenge in their work.

Mangione says, “You will see, or at least I saw, young children on the street drinking. So they’re exposed to it at a very young age. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of hope. The struggle, even sometimes with the Church, is keeping people strong in the faith — the instinct is to just fall back into their old ways and go back to doing whatever they want.”

But even in this dark corner of the earth, there is a light. Recently, we shared a prayer request with you from SOAR International for God to open new doors for ministry when others have closed in Russia. That is what He has done for them in Provideniya.

Paperwork challenges make it difficult for SOAR’s team from Alaska to visit this area, but God has brought a family in from Moldova who can minister full time. In 2012, Ruslan and Olya came to serve there under SOAR.

In 2012, the church needed some repairs. (Photo courtesy of SOAR International).

“They serve in the small church there in Provideniya. So they help, pastor the church, coordinate, [and] take care of the church and the church members. And they have continued since the U.S. teams haven’t been able to visit and go into Provideniya and do the camps we used to do — they have taken up the mantel of conducting Bible clubs and camps and Bible studies and such. So they have just kind of continued to keep the light on — the Light of Christ on,” Mangione explains.

And this light is very much needed. In fact, according to the Joshua Project, only 0.7 percent of the Chukchi, one of the people groups in this area, are evangelical Christians. Mangione says in Provideniya, people are just trying to survive. There isn’t much there as far as livelihood goes, and so many times adults have to travel to find work.

“You often will have kids living months at a time by themselves. It is a very harsh climate, a very harsh way of living, so it makes it very difficult to live there and therefore to have missionaries there. They face a lot of difficulties and struggles with trying to reach these people who are so set in their ways, but also just have a hard time believing there is such a hope that is being spoken to them.”

Even worse, the villages are often cut off from the rest of the world because of weather conditions during both the summer and winter. They can only be accessed by special vehicles.

God provided a family to serve. (Photo courtesy of SOAR International)

Recently, they were able to purchase the vehicles needed to do outreach to the remote villages.

“It’s a wonderful thing to see that God has provided and their ministry is growing and reaching out to the surrounding people.”

Clearly, the work is an uphill battle, and that is what makes your prayers so important.

“Pray that the church would continue to grow. Pray for the members of the church, that they would remain strong, that they would just be filled with the Spirit, filled with God’s strength, filled with God’s love.”

Also, pray for the missionary family as they’ve had recent health issues. Pray for their protection, strength, and perseverance.

If you’d like to support this project financially, click here.

(Image courtesy 8thirty8)

But in addition to praying, often the best way to make a connection and have an impact for Christ is through personal relationships. According to Perry LaHaie with Frontiers USA, eight out of 10 Muslims have never met a Christian.

“They have misconceptions about what a Christian is, and they have misconceptions about who Jesus is,” says LaHaie.

“[Jesus] spoke over 90 times in the Koran, but it’s not the full picture of who Jesus is. So they just need to meet real Jesus followers who can explain what Jesus is all about and introduce them to the Bible…We want to introduce Muslims to Jesus so they can experience the joy we have in Him.”

For Frontiers and their mission teams, their goal is to make connections in Muslim communities and build friendships that lead to an exchange of faith conversations.

“It’s all about relationships. Muslims are highly relational people and we’ve just got to take the time to build those relationships and build that trust so we can speak into their lives the truth and the love of Jesus. That’s really Frontiers approach. We’re just all about building relationships with Muslims, sharing our faith, listening to them share their faith, and here’s an opportunity to dive in and see what that’s like!”

Frontiers offers several trips to get immersed in Muslim culture and communities for short-term opportunities. Their hope is that team members would gain a heart for the Muslim people, and maybe even be open to a long-term missions calling.

LaHaie shares several missions opportunities for you to travel to various* Muslim communities.

Contact MOB@frontiersusa.org for more information on any of the following trips.

Missions in the Arab Gulf

(Photo courtesy of Maks Karochkin via Flickr)

Frontiers has a trip from July 4 – August 5 headed to the Arab Gulf. The main part of the trip would be teaching conversational English in a Muslim community.

LaHaie explains, “It would mean being a part of the team we have on the ground there….. It would be spending a number of hours during the day teaching conversational English, and then just opportunities to scope out the city that it’s in, taking in the sights and sounds and being immersed in the Muslim culture, and perhaps get a heart to go long-term.”

The experience is bound to be eye-opening and life-changing. “It’s an opportunity to… build relationships with Muslims, to see what it’s like to be in the Muslim world and there will be opportunities to share your faith.”

The cost for this trip to the Arab Gulf is $2,500.

Missions in Central Asia

Frontiers will be leading another trip to Central Asia in November specifically for pastors and Christian leaders. They are calling it a Vision Trip, where the team members will work with unengaged people groups —  a community of people who are not currently reached with the Gospel.

(Photo courtesy of Project Isa)

LaHaie says this trip in particular will stretch team members out of their comfort zones, because a lot of it will be grassroots outreach led by Frontiers as they search for opportunities presented by the Holy Spirit.

“It would be a lot of figuring it out as you go along, because these are areas where the Gospel has never gone. You know, no one’s going to meet you at the airport. It would be just, ‘Lord, what’s the next step? And who are the people of peace you want us to meet?’ [You’ll be] trying to build relationships, trying to see if people will invite you into their homes and sharing faith and sort of just scoping out the land.

The hope is that this trip would move pastors and Christian leaders to take what they’ve seen and experienced while sharing Christ in the Muslim community, and pass it along to others.

“Just to go and see, ‘Wow, this is a place that really needs the Gospel.’ And just to have the Holy Spirit breathe that into them and then bring that to their ministry, bring that to their congregation and start mobilizing their congregation for these unengaged parts of the world.”

Missions in the Far East

Besides Frontiers, LaHaie is also in connection with another team taking people for missions in the Far East with another unengaged Muslim people group.

(Photo courtesy of Jeff Attaway via Flickr)

This trip is really a frontline witnessing opportunity. The Muslim people group this team would be working with in the Far East is made-up of a couple million individuals, and only one team to reach them all with the Gospel.

LaHaie explains, “My friend and his team are now working in this group so in a sense they’re now engaged, but in a very small way because they’re the only team working with this group. So if you’re interested in doing frontline work with a group that’s up till now never had a Christian worker, you can reach out to us and we would love to see if you might be a good match for this team.”

Muslim communities in the Far East often have a variety of needs both tangible and spiritual. “There’s a lot of poverty in situations like that; not in all cases. There’s need for education, for social justice. But they really just need the Gospel and they don’t know what Christianity is really all about.”

If you can’t go on any of these trips, you can still contribute financially and make it possible for someone else to go. For a limited time, a matching donor will double every dollar of your gift to Frontiers’ mission work.

Click here to support a Frontiers missions team.

Prayer Requests

In addition to giving to or going on these trips, the teams need the encouragement of your prayers as they engage in Muslim friendships for Christ.

(Photo courtesy of Beth Rankin via Flickr)

LaHaie asks, “Pray that God will open hearts to the Gospel. Muslims are having dreams and visions of Jesus. [Pray] that God will just really show up in dreams and visions especially during Ramadan because they’re really open to hearing from God.

“Pray for workers. There’s 1,108 Muslim people groups that don’t have Christian workers. So pray for laborers…. More and more people are responding to go, and I just believe the greatest harvest in the Muslim world is ahead.

“And during Ramadan, just pray that it will be a season of jubilee. That there will be debts forgiven and slaves set free.”

*Locations are vague for security purposes. To learn more about any of these trips to potentially join a team, contact MOB@frontiersusa.org.

Director of FEBC-Mongolia and President of Wind FM Bat Tuvshintsengel says, "We're basically dealing with an audience that has no concept of God (and) no concept of salvation. And so we are established there as sort of an entry into the community, and we're working along with the churches there to try and get them involved in Gospel broadcasting."

Since 1997 there has been an explosion of Christianity. The Christian population went from zero to more than 40,000 today. Tuvshintsengel says the challenge is obvious. "The church has been wide in evangelism, but in terms of discipleship we're lacking a lot of capacity like leadership. That's why the churches have a goal to make 10-percent of our population disciples of Jesus Christ by the year 2020."

According to Tuvshintsengel, radio is key to this effort. "We have 21 provinces, so there are some centralized places where we can actually place radio stations, like FM stations. So we can reach out to about 80,000 (people) per village."

Wind FM is on the air in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, reaching over a million people. Tuvshintsengel says they've also started buying airtime on another station in the province of Hentij. "We're actually working together with the local church as we syndicate our programs and it's creating a lot of response. So that's kind of a sign to do the same thing in the other 20 provinces."

Tuvshintsengel describes the responses Wind FM is receiving. "We have received questions (from) people who are really angry (asking), 'Why are you talking about this foreign religion?' But then we have received some message (asking) 'Where can we find a Bible? I want to go to this church and try it out.'"

However, Mongolia isn't the end of their vision. Tuvshintsengal says Inner Mongolia, China, is their next step. "We have six million Mongolians living in China who have no chance of exposure to the Gospel. And so we want to reach out to these people via shortwave. Today shortwave is still very, very prominent."

Recruiting a Christian for broadcasting in the Inner Mongolian dialect is underway.

Funding is needed to buy airtime on radio stations, but it's also needed to purchase equipment to establish radio stations in these areas.

If you'd like to help FEBC Mongolia, click here.

Far East Broadcasting Company is addressing many of these issues through local programming. FEBC's Director of Russian Ministries is Rudi Wiens. He says talk radio is a great vehicle to do this. "We have a weekly one hour talk show that is done out of Moscow to AIDS related kind of issues. That is becoming [very] popular, and newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations quote some of our material from our broadcast there."

According to Wiens, while discussion of HIV/AIDS is important, they're also addressing the orphan population by talking about foster care and adoptions. "We talk about these issues and encourage Christians to be willing to pray about it — maybe to take in some children from the orphanages and more and more Christians do that. And, it really has some impact on the society."

While the government has cracked down on some radio stations because of their political views, FEBC is non-political. "We share the Good News, and we help socially as well. [We talk about] social problems, like alcoholism and drug abuse, which isn't actually in opposition to any government."

FEBC has radio stations in four cities. "Three of them are AM stations. [One is] in the city of Khabarovsk. Then Moscow and St. Petersburg, the two largest cities in the west [we have AM stations], and also, the largest city in Siberia, Novosibirsk."  However, they air a daily program on closed circuit radio.

Wiens says FEBC is still using short-wave as well. "We still broadcast from Saipan 7 hours a day by short-wave. Short-wave is not as popular today, but still there are those distant areas in which it is the only source of the Good News for many, many towns."

Wiens believes the evangelism potential is incredible in Russia. "There are hundreds of thousands [of people] that regularly listen to us by short-wave and the same on local stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Khabarovsk it's more like in the dozens of thousands who regularly listen, but potentially there are millions."

Funding is needed to do even more broadcasting in Russia. Click here to support FEBC's work.