Submitted from Our Friends in Eastern Europe
Forwarded by Global Harvest Ministries
EASTERN EUROPEAN UPDATE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE NATIONS
Please continue to send prayer requests for events and issues and praise reports to: rwbullard@fastmail.us .. Your contributions of accurate, current information in best targeting the prayer needs of the former USSR/CIS are so important.
Belarus:
Praise report:
· Marketplace ministry is having its impact in Belarus. Gods creativity has been placed into a team of workers that have a project off the ground and running that will bring enterprise and jobs to many and will be a light to others as they see God meeting their felt needs in a special way. And, they are doing this with the nations natural resources. Most importantly, the indigenous citizens are taking hold of this, catching the vision and it will spread and bless many. Non-Christians that are providing some of the resources for this project are watching and asking questions. Discipleship is ongoing as church members get involved. This is all just as it should be --- praise the Lord.
Prayer points:
· Please pray for church outreach into the Shabany District of the city of Minsk. Shabany is considered to be a very dark part of Minsk In fact; it is the site of a former Nazi death camp where nearly 500,000 lost their lives. About 100,000 of them were Jews from Belarus and all over Europe. Shabany is full of alcoholism and demonic activities. Please pray for Shabany and for life-giving churches seeking to bring Gods Kingdom there.
· Pray especially for M.B.C ministry into this district of Minsk. God has already blessed them with a sizable congregation with a large contingent of youth. May Gods fire fall upon this church in an ever increasing measure and prepare an army of youth for His pleasure and harvest.
· Workplace ministry is at the heart of the outreach described in the praise report. The director will be traveling later in the year to spread this good news of what is happening in Belarus and encourage others to become involved in their vision for a country that is very difficult to work in right now. It is a model for what God can do through the marketplace. Please pray for this director to be right in the center of Gods plans and purposes for not only Belarus, but for this kind of ministry.
Kyrgystan:
Maybe this brother recognized that we have not yet included the Stan nations in our prayer coverage and seeks to move us in that direction. It was encouraging to hear from him. He is the pastor and for security reasons we hesitate to say in what city.
Prayer points:
· He says: God is showing to me and to my wife M. to go to North-West China, for work among Kyrgyz and Uigur people in Xinjiang region. Please, pray that God will open the door to Kashgar and will provide all financial needs for the preparation of visa and for staying there.
· Please, pray that the Lord will grant us wisdom on how shall we start the ministry.
Russia:
Hopelessness... For every 100 babies born in Russia today, 173 people die. The population has fallen by 5 million people since the collapse of the Soviet Union 13 years ago, to 145 million, and government forecasts say it will fall to 102 million or, in the worst case, 77 million by 2050 --- without accounting for AIDS. This statement was posted in the center of a page-long newspaper account of the AIDS epidemic sweeping some regions of Russia. It focused on the situation in Siberia, primarily Irkutsk (more below) which sits on the crossroads between Europe and Asia and drugs flood through. Addicts are made, needles are exchanged and young people are infected with AIDS and it becomes an epidemic.
Prayer points:
· The grim story does deal with prevailing hopelessness as being one serious root to the problem. We know Jesus Christ as being the solution to hopelessness. Hope in Him is immeasurable. Pray for workers to come or to spring up from the life-giving churches all across these 11 time zones.
· A team from the U.S. just returned from another of their mission trips to orphanages in Russia. Hopelessness is a plague there as well. They saw orphanages where children ages 16-23 had been placed there and forgotten by all. They saw the scars of rejection and aloneness developing and these young people becoming angry at circumstances. They feel responsible for where they are in life, and they usually hate themselves and others, and become destructive to themselves, others, towards their surroundings, etc. When they shared the Fathers love for them in the context of the gospel the children were totally responsive to us looking forward to our next trip. Please pray for their small teams that minister to the Russian orphan.
Northern Caucasus region:
This month one of the Northern Caucasus people groups in focus is the Lezgin (Lezghi). Population statistics for them vary from 189,000 to 382,000 and their language is Lezgin with 3 main dialects. They live in Southeastern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. They are predominately Sunni Islam in religion with a Shiite minority in Azerbaijan along with a few evangelical Christians. Bible translations for them so far are Mark, Luke, Acts and portions of Matthew. A translation of the entire New Testament is underway. (More detail on their history is available upon request or by visiting the following websites: http://www.travel-images.com/az-lezgin.html; http://www.adoptapeople.com/Profiles/p_code/1939.htm )
Prayer points:
· Please pray that churches who have contact with Lezgins would minister the Gospel to them
· Pray that missionaries would be sent to the Lezgin villages in the mountains to bring the Good News to the people there.
· Pray that more Christians around the world would become aware of the Lezgin, begin praying for them, and get involved in ministering to them.
· Pray that God would prepare the hearts of the Lezgin people to receive the Gospel.
· Pray for the Lezgin believers, that God would strengthen them and make them effective ministers of the Gospel
Another people group in focus is the Lak, having a population of 139,000 and living in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Dagestan. Their language is Lak and religion Islam. The number of evangelical Christians is over 30 and they now have the entire New Testament and a translation of the Old Testament is underway.
Many of the Lak people live in the mountainous central region of Dagestan, where sheepherding has traditionally been their primary occupation. They move their flocks from mountain pastures to the lowlands and back in accordance with the changing seasons. Field crops include barley, peas, wheat, and potatoes. The role of the men has traditionally been to raise and tend the livestock, while the women are responsible for the farming. They Lak are renowned for their craftsmanship in wood and precious metals with rug weaving and ceramics being specialties.
The Lak people are almost 100 percent Muslim. However, some of the rural people still observe some pagan traditions that date back to the time before Islam was brought to them in the eighth century. A few Laks have converted to Christianity in recent years; however, at the present time there is no active church planting work among them.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ksafe.com/profiles/p_code5/980.html; http://www.lakia.net/lak/lakku.htm
Prayer points:
· Pray that new missionaries would be raised up to go to the Lak people.
· Pray that Lak believers in urban areas would take the Gospel to their relatives' villages.
· Pray for the completion of an entire Bible for the Laks.
· Pray that the Laks would turn away from their heritage of Islam and embrace Jesus' ways and teaching.
· Please pray that God would rise up His Church in every town, city, and village where the Lak people live.
· Pray that the God would transform the Lak people and that their lives would reflect His light to those around them
Another focus this month is on the Kumyk people groups which has a population of 282,000, of the Turkic language group and speak Kumhk in 3 dialects. They reside in Northern Dagestan, are of the Sunni Islam religion with only a few evangelical Christians. The books of Mark, Luke and Acts are available for them and work on the entire New Testament is underway.
The Kumyk people, having three divergent ethnic groups, comprise 12% of the population of Dagestan, living primarily in the lowlands of northeastern part of that republic. They became Muslims in the eleventh century but also continue to practice traditional pagan rituals along with Islamic traditions. Among the younger generation there is a clear tendency to move into the cities where they leave behind the traditions of their fathers and break with Islam.
Today, many of the Kumyks are farmers on the plains of northern Dagestan. About one-third of them are industrial workers in Dagestan, with many working in its ports on the Caspian Sea. They are artistic, and often decorate their homes with wood carvings, clay objects and inscriptions. Traditional songs and dances play an important role in their culture.
To learn more about the Kumyk, visit the webpage: http://www.ksafe..com/profiles/p_code3/1998.html
Prayer points:
· Please pray that God would send workers to minister the Gospel to the Kumyk and show God's love to them.
· Pray that God would reveal Himself to the Kumyk and that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
· Pray that evangelistic work would be carried out with great effectiveness among the Kumyk students and intellectuals in the cities.
· Pray that churches will be planted among the Kumyk people in which there would be ministry in the Kumyk language with its different dialects.
· Pray that God would continue to bless the translation efforts, and that the whole Bible will be translated into the Kumyk language
We are also focusing on the183, 000 Karachai people group residing in Karachayevo-Cherkessia Republic and the Stavropol region. The religion is Sunni Islam and there are only a few known evangelical Christians. So far, they only have the Gospel of Mark in Karachai, but there is a New Testament in Kabardian, a very similar language.
The ancestors of the modern-day Karachai people were ancient tribes who had been native to the Caucasus for thousands of years. Until the middle of the nineteenth century the Karachais were primarily sheepherders and farmers with a patriarchal feudal social system. Islam was brought to them by the Kabard people in the middle of the 18th century. At then end of that century the Orthodox Church made an unsuccessful attempt to Christianize them.
In 1828 Karachai officially became a part of the Russian empire. In 1942-3 most if not all of the Karachai people were forcibly deported from their homeland to Kazakhstan and Siberia. The deportation was based on the largely unfounded accusation of collaboration with the German invaders during World War II. One third of the Karachai died during the deportation and resettlement period. They were finally officially rehabilitated to their homeland in 1957.
Since 1936 the Karachai have had their-own written language, Karachai-Balkaric. In contrast to the other smaller people groups of the Caucasus region, the Karachai have been more open to outside influences, which has led to a greater secularization of this Muslim people. There are a now a few Evangelical Karachai Christians, but no truly Karachai churches.
For more information visit: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/7675/chapt1.html
Prayer points:
· Please pray that God would send His workers to minister the Gospel to the Karachai who don't yet know Him.
· Pray the entire Bible would be translated into a language acceptable to the Karachai.
· Pray for the Karachai believers, that God would strengthen them and that churches would be planted in every town and village in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. Please pray for unity among the believers there.
· Please pray that the Karachai society would be transformed by the Gospel, and that the people would honor the true and living God in their lives and families
Chechnya, of course is of major concern when we pray for the Northern Caucasus region. There is such devastation and hopelessness there.
Praise reports:
· Groznyy now has a football (soccer) team and playing in the #2 rated league in Russia on the national level. They are winning games even in the #1 league! That is very good news for Chechnya and a sign of a return to normal life. We should rejoice!
· Also, an orphanage run by Christians, has been such a blessing that the government wants them to take more children... they are hoping to accommodate (pray they can!). These children are all growing up in the care and instruction of the Lord, and they will BE the Church in Chechnya, and hopefully a powerful light in the darkness there. Please rejoice and pray that this seed of hope glow even more brightly.
· Recently you prayed for the Tabasaran. There is good news regarding them and we can relay any requests to our source for the Northern Caucasus Region.
Prayer points:
· May 8, during a Russian holiday event in the new stadium in Groznyy, Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, along with several others, was blown up by a bomb believed to have been planted possibly during the stadium's construction. In the aftermath President Putin of Russia has added over 1100 new troops to Chechnya's 70,000+ existing Russian troops. Please continue to pray for this situation.
· Pray that God brings other signs of hope to light in Chechnya, and that his children, young and old, will not be shy in proclaiming the Gospel to a lost and dying generation!
· Please pray for stability to come to Chechnya, that the war would actually cease and that the people could come to some agreement with Russia that is good for both sides. Pray for repentance for all the blood that has been shed and a new start in Jesus for Chechnya!
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Max post length means the rest must follow below...
Forwarded by Global Harvest Ministries
EASTERN EUROPEAN UPDATE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE NATIONS
Please continue to send prayer requests for events and issues and praise reports to: rwbullard@fastmail.us .. Your contributions of accurate, current information in best targeting the prayer needs of the former USSR/CIS are so important.
Belarus:
Praise report:
· Marketplace ministry is having its impact in Belarus. Gods creativity has been placed into a team of workers that have a project off the ground and running that will bring enterprise and jobs to many and will be a light to others as they see God meeting their felt needs in a special way. And, they are doing this with the nations natural resources. Most importantly, the indigenous citizens are taking hold of this, catching the vision and it will spread and bless many. Non-Christians that are providing some of the resources for this project are watching and asking questions. Discipleship is ongoing as church members get involved. This is all just as it should be --- praise the Lord.
Prayer points:
· Please pray for church outreach into the Shabany District of the city of Minsk. Shabany is considered to be a very dark part of Minsk In fact; it is the site of a former Nazi death camp where nearly 500,000 lost their lives. About 100,000 of them were Jews from Belarus and all over Europe. Shabany is full of alcoholism and demonic activities. Please pray for Shabany and for life-giving churches seeking to bring Gods Kingdom there.
· Pray especially for M.B.C ministry into this district of Minsk. God has already blessed them with a sizable congregation with a large contingent of youth. May Gods fire fall upon this church in an ever increasing measure and prepare an army of youth for His pleasure and harvest.
· Workplace ministry is at the heart of the outreach described in the praise report. The director will be traveling later in the year to spread this good news of what is happening in Belarus and encourage others to become involved in their vision for a country that is very difficult to work in right now. It is a model for what God can do through the marketplace. Please pray for this director to be right in the center of Gods plans and purposes for not only Belarus, but for this kind of ministry.
Kyrgystan:
Maybe this brother recognized that we have not yet included the Stan nations in our prayer coverage and seeks to move us in that direction. It was encouraging to hear from him. He is the pastor and for security reasons we hesitate to say in what city.
Prayer points:
· He says: God is showing to me and to my wife M. to go to North-West China, for work among Kyrgyz and Uigur people in Xinjiang region. Please, pray that God will open the door to Kashgar and will provide all financial needs for the preparation of visa and for staying there.
· Please, pray that the Lord will grant us wisdom on how shall we start the ministry.
Russia:
Hopelessness... For every 100 babies born in Russia today, 173 people die. The population has fallen by 5 million people since the collapse of the Soviet Union 13 years ago, to 145 million, and government forecasts say it will fall to 102 million or, in the worst case, 77 million by 2050 --- without accounting for AIDS. This statement was posted in the center of a page-long newspaper account of the AIDS epidemic sweeping some regions of Russia. It focused on the situation in Siberia, primarily Irkutsk (more below) which sits on the crossroads between Europe and Asia and drugs flood through. Addicts are made, needles are exchanged and young people are infected with AIDS and it becomes an epidemic.
Prayer points:
· The grim story does deal with prevailing hopelessness as being one serious root to the problem. We know Jesus Christ as being the solution to hopelessness. Hope in Him is immeasurable. Pray for workers to come or to spring up from the life-giving churches all across these 11 time zones.
· A team from the U.S. just returned from another of their mission trips to orphanages in Russia. Hopelessness is a plague there as well. They saw orphanages where children ages 16-23 had been placed there and forgotten by all. They saw the scars of rejection and aloneness developing and these young people becoming angry at circumstances. They feel responsible for where they are in life, and they usually hate themselves and others, and become destructive to themselves, others, towards their surroundings, etc. When they shared the Fathers love for them in the context of the gospel the children were totally responsive to us looking forward to our next trip. Please pray for their small teams that minister to the Russian orphan.
Northern Caucasus region:
This month one of the Northern Caucasus people groups in focus is the Lezgin (Lezghi). Population statistics for them vary from 189,000 to 382,000 and their language is Lezgin with 3 main dialects. They live in Southeastern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. They are predominately Sunni Islam in religion with a Shiite minority in Azerbaijan along with a few evangelical Christians. Bible translations for them so far are Mark, Luke, Acts and portions of Matthew. A translation of the entire New Testament is underway. (More detail on their history is available upon request or by visiting the following websites: http://www.travel-images.com/az-lezgin.html; http://www.adoptapeople.com/Profiles/p_code/1939.htm )
Prayer points:
· Please pray that churches who have contact with Lezgins would minister the Gospel to them
· Pray that missionaries would be sent to the Lezgin villages in the mountains to bring the Good News to the people there.
· Pray that more Christians around the world would become aware of the Lezgin, begin praying for them, and get involved in ministering to them.
· Pray that God would prepare the hearts of the Lezgin people to receive the Gospel.
· Pray for the Lezgin believers, that God would strengthen them and make them effective ministers of the Gospel
Another people group in focus is the Lak, having a population of 139,000 and living in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Dagestan. Their language is Lak and religion Islam. The number of evangelical Christians is over 30 and they now have the entire New Testament and a translation of the Old Testament is underway.
Many of the Lak people live in the mountainous central region of Dagestan, where sheepherding has traditionally been their primary occupation. They move their flocks from mountain pastures to the lowlands and back in accordance with the changing seasons. Field crops include barley, peas, wheat, and potatoes. The role of the men has traditionally been to raise and tend the livestock, while the women are responsible for the farming. They Lak are renowned for their craftsmanship in wood and precious metals with rug weaving and ceramics being specialties.
The Lak people are almost 100 percent Muslim. However, some of the rural people still observe some pagan traditions that date back to the time before Islam was brought to them in the eighth century. A few Laks have converted to Christianity in recent years; however, at the present time there is no active church planting work among them.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ksafe.com/profiles/p_code5/980.html; http://www.lakia.net/lak/lakku.htm
Prayer points:
· Pray that new missionaries would be raised up to go to the Lak people.
· Pray that Lak believers in urban areas would take the Gospel to their relatives' villages.
· Pray for the completion of an entire Bible for the Laks.
· Pray that the Laks would turn away from their heritage of Islam and embrace Jesus' ways and teaching.
· Please pray that God would rise up His Church in every town, city, and village where the Lak people live.
· Pray that the God would transform the Lak people and that their lives would reflect His light to those around them
Another focus this month is on the Kumyk people groups which has a population of 282,000, of the Turkic language group and speak Kumhk in 3 dialects. They reside in Northern Dagestan, are of the Sunni Islam religion with only a few evangelical Christians. The books of Mark, Luke and Acts are available for them and work on the entire New Testament is underway.
The Kumyk people, having three divergent ethnic groups, comprise 12% of the population of Dagestan, living primarily in the lowlands of northeastern part of that republic. They became Muslims in the eleventh century but also continue to practice traditional pagan rituals along with Islamic traditions. Among the younger generation there is a clear tendency to move into the cities where they leave behind the traditions of their fathers and break with Islam.
Today, many of the Kumyks are farmers on the plains of northern Dagestan. About one-third of them are industrial workers in Dagestan, with many working in its ports on the Caspian Sea. They are artistic, and often decorate their homes with wood carvings, clay objects and inscriptions. Traditional songs and dances play an important role in their culture.
To learn more about the Kumyk, visit the webpage: http://www.ksafe..com/profiles/p_code3/1998.html
Prayer points:
· Please pray that God would send workers to minister the Gospel to the Kumyk and show God's love to them.
· Pray that God would reveal Himself to the Kumyk and that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
· Pray that evangelistic work would be carried out with great effectiveness among the Kumyk students and intellectuals in the cities.
· Pray that churches will be planted among the Kumyk people in which there would be ministry in the Kumyk language with its different dialects.
· Pray that God would continue to bless the translation efforts, and that the whole Bible will be translated into the Kumyk language
We are also focusing on the183, 000 Karachai people group residing in Karachayevo-Cherkessia Republic and the Stavropol region. The religion is Sunni Islam and there are only a few known evangelical Christians. So far, they only have the Gospel of Mark in Karachai, but there is a New Testament in Kabardian, a very similar language.
The ancestors of the modern-day Karachai people were ancient tribes who had been native to the Caucasus for thousands of years. Until the middle of the nineteenth century the Karachais were primarily sheepherders and farmers with a patriarchal feudal social system. Islam was brought to them by the Kabard people in the middle of the 18th century. At then end of that century the Orthodox Church made an unsuccessful attempt to Christianize them.
In 1828 Karachai officially became a part of the Russian empire. In 1942-3 most if not all of the Karachai people were forcibly deported from their homeland to Kazakhstan and Siberia. The deportation was based on the largely unfounded accusation of collaboration with the German invaders during World War II. One third of the Karachai died during the deportation and resettlement period. They were finally officially rehabilitated to their homeland in 1957.
Since 1936 the Karachai have had their-own written language, Karachai-Balkaric. In contrast to the other smaller people groups of the Caucasus region, the Karachai have been more open to outside influences, which has led to a greater secularization of this Muslim people. There are a now a few Evangelical Karachai Christians, but no truly Karachai churches.
For more information visit: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/7675/chapt1.html
Prayer points:
· Please pray that God would send His workers to minister the Gospel to the Karachai who don't yet know Him.
· Pray the entire Bible would be translated into a language acceptable to the Karachai.
· Pray for the Karachai believers, that God would strengthen them and that churches would be planted in every town and village in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. Please pray for unity among the believers there.
· Please pray that the Karachai society would be transformed by the Gospel, and that the people would honor the true and living God in their lives and families
Chechnya, of course is of major concern when we pray for the Northern Caucasus region. There is such devastation and hopelessness there.
Praise reports:
· Groznyy now has a football (soccer) team and playing in the #2 rated league in Russia on the national level. They are winning games even in the #1 league! That is very good news for Chechnya and a sign of a return to normal life. We should rejoice!
· Also, an orphanage run by Christians, has been such a blessing that the government wants them to take more children... they are hoping to accommodate (pray they can!). These children are all growing up in the care and instruction of the Lord, and they will BE the Church in Chechnya, and hopefully a powerful light in the darkness there. Please rejoice and pray that this seed of hope glow even more brightly.
· Recently you prayed for the Tabasaran. There is good news regarding them and we can relay any requests to our source for the Northern Caucasus Region.
Prayer points:
· May 8, during a Russian holiday event in the new stadium in Groznyy, Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, along with several others, was blown up by a bomb believed to have been planted possibly during the stadium's construction. In the aftermath President Putin of Russia has added over 1100 new troops to Chechnya's 70,000+ existing Russian troops. Please continue to pray for this situation.
· Pray that God brings other signs of hope to light in Chechnya, and that his children, young and old, will not be shy in proclaiming the Gospel to a lost and dying generation!
· Please pray for stability to come to Chechnya, that the war would actually cease and that the people could come to some agreement with Russia that is good for both sides. Pray for repentance for all the blood that has been shed and a new start in Jesus for Chechnya!
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Max post length means the rest must follow below...
