Russia (MNN) — In the early days of communist rule in Russia, the government exiled many Christians to the region of Omsk Oblast in western Siberia.
Eric Mock with the Slavic Gospel Association says, “Christians would be sent away to gulags. Omsk was a place where people were actually sent to die. More than 500 believers were martyred for their faith.”
But that didn’t stop the growth of God’s kingdom. Mock says, “In this region where Christians were literally sent to die, and where they hoped that Christianity would cease, it has become a location of faithful churches who are proclaiming the Gospel.”
SGA Partnership
In recent years, SGA has begun partnering with churches in this region, supporting pastor development and community outreach.
Mock says they have a lot of ground to cover. “I was standing with a pastor in a portion of the city that has over 120,000 people and no Bible-teaching church at all. There are countless numbers of villages and cities where there is no Bible teaching or Bible preaching presence.”
Ask God to raise up missionaries and teachers in these regions. Pray churches would grow, and that they would be known for their love for all people.
Mock says the people in many of these regions live in poverty and hopelessness. The winters bring harsh cold, while the summers have seen severe wildfires in recent years. “Think of orphanages full of orphans that have never heard the hope of the Gospel, and villages caught up in alcoholism and self-destruction. The further east you go, [you find] hundreds and hundreds of villages have never heard the hope of the Gospel.”
Want to support SGA as they assist churches in this region? You can donate here.
Header photo courtesy of Алексмар, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
