CHRISTIAN ANALYSIS
We've seen all of it.
rebellion. communism. Persecution. iron Curtain. Chilly battle. The development and demolition of the Berlin Wall. The collapse of the Soviet Union. And now two devastating wars in Israel and Ukraine.
For many years, the Slavic Gospel Affiliation (SGA), the ministry I lead, has quietly operated behind the scenes in Russia, the previous Soviet Union, and Israel. We’re in a singular place proper now to assist tens of 1000’s of individuals whose lives have been torn aside.
2024 marks precisely 90 years of this distinctive ministry serving evangelical church buildings in an enormous territory spanning 11 time zones, reaching to the Arctic Circle.
Covert to Centerstage
We by no means sought consideration. You possibly can say we have been a “covert operation”.
However now we all of a sudden discover ourselves on the heart of the motion – serving essentially the most susceptible and forgotten within the midst of two horrific high-level conflicts.
Simply as Aaron and Hur supported Moses and lifted up his weary fingers because the Israelites fought a vital battle (Exodus 17:11-12, NASB), the SGA seeks to “elevate up the fingers” of the besieged native congregations.
Many individuals are shocked that in Israel there’s a ministry based with the purpose of bringing the gospel to the Slavic world. That’s, till they discover out that roughly a 3rd of all Israelis are both Jewish immigrants from the previous Soviet Union — from nations like Ukraine and Russia — or direct descendants of Russian-speaking immigrants.
Proper now, SGA helps Jewish-Ukrainian missionary pastors and church employees on the Gaza border—women and men who put their lives on the road on daily basis to carry assist, hope, and the gospel to 1000’s of anxious and traumatized Israelis. we “increase our fingers” to a whole bunch of native evangelical church buildings that present shelter, meals and the gospel to these experiencing dying and destruction throughout them.
Evangelistic zeal
It's superb to suppose that God foresaw this greater than a century in the past when 15-year-old Peter Deyneka left his homeland in Belarus to return to America. Enthusiastic to evangelise the “excellent news” of Jesus Christ, Deynek based the SGA in 1934 to “evangelize the Slavic-speaking folks wherever they could be discovered.”
Bibles have been hand-carried to “secret” believers behind the Iron Curtain, and the Scriptures on microfilm have been despatched to church leaders, a lot of whom have been tortured and imprisoned.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, we had the newfound freedom to open Bible colleges and seminaries stretching from the Ukraine via frozen Siberia to mountainous Azerbaijan on the Iranian border.
Right this moment, in partnership with greater than 6,000 native evangelical church buildings, Orphans Reborn's ministries embrace working in state orphanages, Christian summer season camps internet hosting 1000’s of underprivileged kids, and work amongst prisoners and addicts.
However time for the gospel could also be working out.
In some areas, Christian providers are once more beneath sturdy stress and restrictions. Just a few days in the past, we obtained an pressing report that safety forces had invaded an evangelical church service within the former Soviet nation, interrogating the pastor and intimidating members.
We should seize the chance whereas we nonetheless have it to know Jesus within the huge Slavic lands. Our world stands on the precipice. And Russia, Ukraine and Israel are on the heart of world-changing occasions.
Who is aware of how lengthy the doorways will keep open.
The hot button is prayer.
Peter Deyneka mentioned, “A lot prayer, a lot energy; little prayer, little energy; no prayer, no energy.”
Will you be one in all God's “hidden” brokers – and launch his mercy and energy via “many prayers” earlier than it’s too late?
— Michael Johnson is president of the Slavic Gospel Affiliation (SGA), an Illinois-based gospel ministry to the previous Soviet Union and Israel.
