Women of Far East Russia

Mock describes Far East Russia as an area as large as the contiguous 48 states of the United States, but with 5 percent of the U.S. population. The region presents many challenges for ministry and daily life.

“I was just in Far East Russia, and over and over again, I saw the unsung heroes of many of these ministries. In fact, I told many of the men [that] they married up,” Mock says.

“They have incredible wives who not only cared for family… but also were striving side-by-side. They’re the Sunday school teachers. They’re the Bible study leaders. They are the evangelists. They are the ones that are ministering to the countless widows.”

Mock says these women are an amazing gift to the Church. As a pastor in northwest Illinois, Mock knows firsthand how important his wife is to his ministry, and he knows other pastors would say the same.

“By God’s design, we see this beautiful, complete package where He designed men and women in the covenant of marriage to complete each other…The image of our triune God is most visible when a man and a woman are living life on mission, for the sake of the Gospel, displaying Christ among the nations,” Mock says.

Gulmyra, whose husband pastors four churches, moved with her husband to an area in Far East Russia where shamanism is prevalent. Every week she helps her husband prepare for ministering to various villages. While he is away, the mother of two maintains their home and cares for the day-to-day operations of the church. She also conducts ministry with local women and children.

“She really became a 24-hour a day missionary, not only to her family but to the church that was there,” Mock says.

Reach Russia Now

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association via Facebook)

Today, we want to recognize women like Gulmyra and their hard work while offering a chance to support them through the Reach Russia Now initiative.

Through Reach Russia Now, Christians can help support ministry happening in Far East Russia. A financial gift helps fund missionary pastors and church plants. It also helps support the ministries many women help run, such as Orphans Reborn or Immanuel’s Child.

“This is a great opportunity to build a relationship with these missionary pastors, to send notes to the wives and encourage them,” Mock says.

Learn more about supporting these women, and ministry work in Far East Russia, at our website here!

Want to send an encouraging note to the incredible women in Far East Russia? Call 1-800-BIBLE-50 or visit www.sga.org.

If you would, pray for the encouragement of these women. Pray for their steadfastness, patience, and courage. Ask God to bless their ministries and their marriages and pray for joy in their circumstances.

Header photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association.

However, York Aspacher with Operation Mobilization, a member of the Alliance for the Unreached, says there is more to the Great Commission than ethnolinguistic categories.

Defining a community

“We recognize that there are different contexts and different opportunities to reach people with the Gospel,” Aspacher says.

“Essentially, we look at the things that separate people from access to the Gospel, and sometimes ethnicity and language can be great ways to define those barriers — but not always.”

(Photo courtesy of Operation Mobilization)

OM’s vision is to foster and multiply vibrant communities of Jesus followers among the least-reached. Sometimes this looks like mobilizing believers to live out the Gospel in their contexts. Other times, it looks like distributing Bibles and hosting community events. And sometimes it looks like refugee care or medical aid.

Within their various ministries, OM sees several defining factors in communities beyond ethnicity and language.

For example, sharing Jesus in contexts of career, family structure, gender, age, or common interests are just as effective; sometimes more so!

“When we speak of communities, those are obviously groups of people with common characteristics. But families, businesses, government and social work, arts and media, medicine and science, all those play a role in the communities that we all live in.”

Same, near, and far

Aspacher says another way to think about Great Commission ministry is same, near, and far ‘cultures’ or ‘circles.’

He shares the story of one family on Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa. They were from a nearby village and went to live in the lakeshore community. “It was not a big stretch for them to go to another village that was basically in that same culture.”

Through their family’s example, they are able to model Christ to other families.

(Photo courtesy of Operation Mobilization)

“People are asking, ‘How do you treat your wife with such kindness? How does she respect you so much? Why do you treat your children the way you do?’ Those are leading to Gospel conversations that are bringing people to Christ.”

Near cultures and circles for proclaiming the Gospel aren’t quite the same, but similar. One example Aspacher gives is Latino and Middle Eastern cultures.

“Obviously, the language is different. But we have found that people from Latin America get along very well and fit right in very well into a Middle Eastern culture for many reasons,” says Aspacher.

“That’s someone who isn’t physically near, but their culture is near. So there can be some great opportunities for people from near cultures to step right in and fill roles in other cultures to bring the Gospel.”

Then far ministry is when believers pick up and go into a completely foreign setting to them and represent Christ.

“We all are called to be part of fulfilling the Great Commission…. So that might mean someone from America [or] from a Western culture going and serving, using their gifts. Perhaps they have trained as an accountant and they can bring those business skills to bear in another setting in a way that just blesses and accelerates the work there.”

What about your contexts?

Who is lost in your same circles right now at work, home, or in your community? Who is nearby whom you can reach with Jesus? Or, perhaps, who is far away that the Lord is calling you to go share the Gospel with?

OM wants to help believers get engaged in the Great Commission. To this end, they’ve partnered with an initiative called Scatter Global.

(Photo courtesy of Operation Mobilization)

“It really encourages people to seek out how their profession might be an opportunity for them to serve overseas in a least-reached community.”

Learn more about vocational ministry at scatterglobal.com!

OM also provides more traditional missions connections — both short-term and long-term. You can find OM’s missions opportunities here!

Finally, something all believers can do is pray.

Aspacher asks for prayer for “the coordination of those different parts of the Body of Christ across the world — same culture, near culture, and far culture all working together in their own roles to see the Gospel go out.”

Header photo courtesy of Don Ross III via Unsplash.

Renew, Reuse, Recycle

Mission Cry distributed two shipping containers worth of used bibles, seminary materials, and Christian books earlier this month. These materials were donated to strengthen South Sudanese Christians by fellow believers thousands of miles away.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

“These people are hoping and asking and believing that they could have a Bible, something that they can afford. And they want a Bible, they want a Christian book, even if it’s used. And if they can get a used Bible or a Christian book, then that’s going to change their life,” says Jason Woolford of Mission Cry.

Since 1956 Mission Cry has been distributing used Christian literature around the world.

In South Sudan, Woolford is partnering with Far Reaching Ministries, which focuses on training chaplain soldiers who serve in the field. Being a chaplain is a high-risk role; 18 chaplains have been killed in the past few years.

“Where we’re partnering with them is giving them their first-ever mission Cry Christian Resource International Bible, giving them the ability to read about the very God that they’re being martyred for,” Woolford says.

A Nation in need of Healing

Even now, citizens deal with the aftermath of civil war and ongoing tensions. The brutal conflict saw child soldiers, widespread torture and sexual violence, displacement, and destroyed lives. Read more about South Sudan’s ongoing struggles and the events of the past year here.

“People need the word and they want the word, so we’re going to give it to them, especially those that are suffering real persecution for the name of Christ,” Woolford says.

Though the shipment of materials has just arrived there is already a demand for more.

“There’s 80,000 people that are requesting, and needing, and have the ability to speak in English,” he explains.

Books for Believers from Believers

Woolford is asking for aid to continue getting materials to believers in need.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

“It costs us about $10,000 to send a sea container, but that’s filled with nearly a half a million dollars worth of stuff, so I’m asking about things that change people’s eternity forever or encourage them in a testimony,” Woolford says. Click here to give.

Your own used books could be what encourages a fellow believer in need. Donate your gently used materials here.

Woolford asks for believers to pray for Mission Cry and the continued success of the ministry. Pray that these materials will be a source of renewal and hope for South Sudanese believers. Pray for the peace and restoration of South Sudan and the healing of its people.

“We’re sending the only thing in the world that doesn’t return void, and that’s the word of God. And then on top of it, we’re sending the used Word of God. In other words, Bibles that were sitting on people’s shelf that we’re going to be thrown out the word of God thrown out but instead we’ve recaptured it,” Woolford says.

Header image courtesy of Mission Cry.

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.

Summer Camps

Summer camps have always been a part of the Soviet culture. After the fall of the Soviet Union, this cultural norm persevered. Countries which were once within the lands of the former Soviet Union continue hold summer camps as a part of regular life. It’s something both kids and parents look forward to.

(Header/Photo Courtesy Slavic Gospel Association via Facebook)

“These summer camps have been pretty profound because again, unbelievers are invited. It’s [a] tradition to go to summer camps. And a lot of times these Christian-based or church-based summer camps are run so much better and so much more exciting than the secular camps that might be available to unbelieving kids,” Mock explains.

Summer camps vary from location. Camps help in a city may take place at a park and act more as a day camp. While camps in rural areas may include an overnight stay and camping activities. Camps usually have themes for a week, all of which center around sharing the Gospel with these kids.

Overcoming the Past

Furthermore, anti-religious propaganda from the late 20th century has left a bitter taste in the lands of the former Soviet Union. For this reason, the camps are one of the few situations where non-Christian parents trust their kids with Christians or the Church. On top of this, these Christian camps are more accessible.

Christian summer camps are often of a higher quality and cheaper to attend than others held in the former Soviet Union. This is because of individuals who have given to support SGA’s summer camp ministry. Through those financial gifts, SGA and SGA supported churches can supplement the costs of attending a camp. This has helped create new opportunities to share about Christ’s love and sacrifice with kids who don’t know Him.

(Photo courtesy Slavic Gospel Association)

“Often, the costs for these camps, at a Christian camp, is significantly lower because both SGA and the local churches are contributing so that it’s very easy for these kids to go to camp,” shares.

In Belarus, summer camps take things a step further. At Camp Pearl, kids receive medical checks. This is vital because many kids attending this camp suffer from radiation. In fact, most people in this region are still suffering from the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

However, churches within Central Asian countries face the more challenges. In these areas, it’s more difficult to hold summer camps because of the pushback against religion. Out of fear and an attempt to curb radicalization and extremism, governments in this region often prohibit most of religious activity. This provides challenges to churches trying to hold community summer camps.

Be Prayerful, Be Active

So please, pray for these camps and the kids who attend. Ask God to open the hearts of kids at these camps and for them to experience Christ’s deep, transformative love.

Will you give a financial gift and provide an opportunity for a child to hear the Gospel?

“For every gift to summer camps…you’re providing a scholarship for these kids to go. You’re providing evangelistic literature for them and you’re providing the resources for these camps to be conducted,” Mock says.

Learn more about SGA’s summer camps and find ways to give here!

Or call 1-800-BIBLE-50 for more info and ways to give.

Summer Camp Season

“Those summer camps are developed by the churches we support. These are national churches in the countries we serve who are working with, not only the members of their own church, but specifically often with the youth in their church to conduct a series of summer camps throughout the summer,” SGA’s Eric Mock explains.

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association via Facebook)

Dating back to the days of the Soviet Union, it was common for people to take a break and send their kids to summer camps. In fact, those camps provided an outlet for families to get away from the daily grind of life for a little while.

There have been many secular camps made available for this, but lately, those camps have come across problems and aren’t nearly as available as they once were.

Thanks to supply and demand, people who still want to send their kids to a summer camp have been choosing to send them to SGA’s church’s summer camps because of their quality. With that said, this has been opening doors for children who’ve never heard the Gospel, or even the concept of Christ, to be exposed to Jesus’ love and truth for the first time.

What Are These Camps?

Mock shares how these camps put on by national churches are actually similar to the ones put on in the United States, but without all the bells and whistles to accompany them. However, national churches offer a variety of camps and themes can range from tent camps to adventure camps to even tourist/travel camps.

“You will see a culmination of day camps…much like vacation Bible schools, where for an entire week kids are gathering together either at a church or I have seen in a complex of an apartment building where they meet in the square in the middle near a playground and they have an outdoor camp,” Mock explains.

“And then there are stand-alone camps where either facilities are rented or they establish a tent camp out in the forest where they will be there for an entire week and can either camp out or stay at a facility. A lot of the situations are different.”

Sometimes these differences come as a result of the security in certain regions. For example, in a predominantly Muslim area, camps need to be cautiously conducted. It’s not uncommon for such camps to be held outside of cities or for them to be occasionally raided by local authorities.

“The summer camp ministry, in all of its different forms—which changes by geography and economic situation—these have become one of the primary tools, along with mercy ministry, in reaching people that you couldn’t reach any other way,” Mock shares.

Financial Need

However, the purpose of these camps isn’t just evangelism, but also to open the door for year-round discipleship in the form of Sunday school at a local church. SGA helps these churches put on summer camps to achieve this through the form of scholarships.

(Photo courtesy of SGA)

Just $41 sends at least one child to a summer camp while covering the cost of the camp ministry supplies. But sometimes, that $41 can be stretched to send even more kids, depending on the location. Yet, even with stretching the funds, there never seems to be enough for all the kids who want to go.

“We desire to help all these kids go, but what we’ve been providing is far short of the requests that come [every year]. And it breaks my heart as a pastor and as a missionary to think that there’s a child in one of these villages who has never heard the Gospel,” Mock says.

“And there’s a way to get that child to a camp to hear the Gospel, to make them a part of outreach, and they aren’t going because of the amount of money it would take to order a couple large pizzas. And do we feel comfortable that these children aren’t hearing the Gospel? Personally I don’t, which is why I’m excited to tell [MNN] listeners about summer camps and why we’re trying to equip the Church to reach to the ends of the earth.”

Last year SGA saw and helped more kids attend partner churches’ summer camps than in any of its previous years. Will you help SGA break that recent record and send even more kids to camps this year?

If so, click here to donate!

And please, always be praying for these camps. Pray for open doors, open hearts, protection from raids and shutdowns. Ask God to guide the national churches as they make plans to bring these camps to life. Finally, pray that these kids would respond to Christ, that their parents would respond, and for the necessary resources to be provided to send all kids requesting to attend these camps.

Donate and learn more about the summer camps here!