This comes as the war between Russia and Ukraine nears its one thousandth day.

Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association draws out the fact that no matter what country you call home, it’s easy to view another nation as one collective group, with shared characteristics and intentions.

“We need to be careful not to connect the decisions of Russian national leadership to all Russian people,” Mock says. 

SGA serves alongside many churches in Russia engaged in faithful gospel ministry. These believers can sometimes feel disconnected from the world because of the political climate they live in.

Woman reading a Russian Bible. (Representative stock photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash)

Here’s a big-picture account of the changes Mock says Russian society has gone through over the past 30 years.

“In the late ’90s, there were financial challenges, but a tremendous amount of openness to the things of God. In 2005 things began to shift — both [a] shift away from God and shift toward a level of [affluence],” Mock says. Economic growth led to new businesses opening, even many from the West.

“But by the 2010s, churches were noticing the people where there [used to be] this excitement and openness to the gospel, they weren’t interested anymore. It was becoming more and more difficult to reach people with the gospel.

“Now in the 2020s, things are much more difficult for them. There are new restrictions that make it very difficult for open evangelism, if not impossible. There are restrictions on the pulpit, what could be said and not said.”

Another pressure point on public discourse is the war between Russia and Ukraine. Coupled with the restraints placed upon social media, it can lead Russian believers to feel that distance between themselves and the world. 

However, there’s more to this picture: gospel-driven unity. 

“One of the blessings of SGA is our ministry is unblemished by the changing events in this world. We have been able to serve [Russian] churches because it’s not been about us. We are serving their churches as they take the gospel to their people,” Mock says. 

“Because that vision remains unchanged, they have felt connected and not forgotten. They feel not abandoned and not apart, but instead, they feel that the Body of Christ is standing together.”

Immanuel’s Child (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

Learn more here about SGA’s gospel outreaches alongside local churches. Among them are Immanuel’s Child and Orphans Reborn.

But above all, pray!

“Pray that these faithful Bible-teaching churches would be those churches that stand tall in increasing and mounting difficulties,” Mock says. “[Pray] that we (the global Church) would be united in the single cause to know Christ and to make Him known among the nations.” 

Header photo courtesy of SGA.

The world may have moved on to the next crisis, but Japan has far from forgotten.

Mark Lewis, the director for the Evangelical Free Church of America Crisis Response team, just returned from one of many trips to Japan a few days ago. What he saw included immense physical progress yet extreme emotional devastation.

"The government has done a tremendous job with continuing with cleanup efforts," notes Lewis, who says most of the large debris has now been moved.

"Our teams and our partners recently have been focusing on smaller debris cleanup," explains Lewis. The smaller cleanup includes sweeping streets and cleaning clogged gutters.

Lewis says it will probably be another year until cleanup is complete, but things are so far going along smoothly on a physical scale. Although Japan is slowly starting to look more like herself on the outside, however, the people of the nation are still suffering inside.

"The stress that's evident in peoples' lives is really the most significant thing that we've been noticing lately — a lot of uncertainty and just a huge need [for people] to be able to talk and tell their story," Lewis remarks.

As Mission Network News has observed in previous articles surrounding the Japan tsunami, it's generally frowned upon for Japanese to express their emotions to others in public. The principal of "gaman" teaches them, in a sense, to "get over it." But Lewis says people nevertheless have been keen to speak to outsiders, in particular, about the disaster.

"We've found that outsiders represent a safe place–somebody who's not in the community, not in the group."

And not only are many survivors opening up, but they're eager to listen in return. "We have just experienced an incredible openness that our staff in Japan is saying is just unprecedented: [the] ability to engage with people without the very, very long process of relationship building. Those connections are happening in a very fast manner."

The Gospel is also being shared in unprecedented ways.

To allow people both an outlet to talk and a place to hear the hope of the Gospel, the EFCA is creating a mobile coffee shop ministry. The RV-type vehicle will move from camp to camp every week and will be staffed with believers. People will be able to go in, relax with a cup of coffee, and tell someone about their experience. Believers will be able to provide a listening ear and express the hope of Christ in return.

The EFCA is also working on a few projects with partners, including what will be a multi-denominational ministry center that will engage people in arts, crafts, English lessons and more all for the sake of spreading Christ's love.

Progress is being made like never before in physical cleanup and in spiritual revival in Japan, but many more hands are needed. Your church can send a team, or you can get involved on a personal level. Click here to view all of your options for crisis response in Japan.

In the last few months, the country's inhumane blasphemy law has held the spotlight as major political figures have died defending it. In the last few weeks, its been chided for claiming to have no notion that internationally-wanted killer Osama bin Laden had been hiding there for years.

The most innocent press Pakistan has gotten in the last year is probably to do with the extreme flooding that displaced tens of thousands.

Seldom, if ever, is the volatile nation reported in association with anything positive. And Pakistani youth are fed up–if not embarrassed.

"It's very painful to talk about Pakistan's image across the globe," one Pakistani university student told International Mission Board. "Pakistan is known as a 'terrorist' country. Wherever there are any terrorist attacks, Pakistan is held responsible–either directly or indirectly."

Despite the fact that most Pakistani college students want nothing to do with this deplorable image, they will suffer its consequences. Other university students may have the opportunity to travel, even to get a career in a foreign country if they want. As an IMB report points out, though, for Pakistanis, "Their passports will keep them from having access in many parts of the world."

The subject haunts them. One professor in Pakistan told IMB that his students regularly talk about the effects of world events on young people living in the nation. They seem to be getting frustrated. "These students represent a whole generation of Pakistani youth that are ready for a turning point in their country," noted the professor.

Intent on changing their country's reputation, Pakistani students have grown increasingly open to new ideas. They are so desperate for change that students in the predominantly-Muslim country are even open to discussing issues of faith. Blasphemy laws keep them from discussing Christianity in class as more than a philosophy, but doors seem to be swinging open.

Each time there's a significant attack or uprising in the Muslim world, more questions arise, and more people are open to talking about issues of faith. One missionary says nearly 70 people have come to faith in recent months. Incidentally, recent months have included trial after trial for the Pakistani people.

The kingdom is growing in Pakistan, despite ongoing persecution. Pray that many more would trust in Christ, and that university students would ask questions and pave the way for revival.