Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)
Oct 14: Russia, Volga Federal District
Russia
Europe
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Geography
Area: 17,075,400 sq kmThe world’s largest country, extending across 9 time zones between the Baltic and the Pacific. The Russian Federation is composed of 83 administrative districts, including 46 oblasts (provinces), 21 republics, 9 territories, 4 autonomous okrugs, 1 autonomous oblast and 2 federal cities.
Population: 140,366,561 Annual Growth: -0.39%
Capital: Moscow
Urbanites: 72.8%
HDI Rank: 71 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 162 (47% unreached) All peoplesUnreached Peoples Prayer Card
Official language: Russian; local languages in autonomous republics Languages: 135 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 93,905,229 | 66.90 | 0.0 |
| Evangelicals | 1,636,627 | 1.2 | 2.3 |
Challenge for Prayer
Pray for a vision for outreach. Many churches, especially newer groups, have ambitious goals for evangelism and church planting – locally, regionally and nationally. Pray that this new spirit of faith and expectancy will result in great fruit from the effective proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. Pray for:a) Church planting. Thousands more churches need to be planted; 90% of Russians still have no meaningful link to any kind of church – Orthodox, Protestant or otherwise. There is one Protestant church for every 18,000 people in Russia, and 42 of Russia’s 125 largest cities had no evangelical church as of 2009. The NT Church of Perm – which meets in what was once Lenin’s Palace of Culture – planted 300 daughter churches from 1991 to 2009 and aimed to plant 100 more in 2009 alone. The goal of Russian Baptists, together with SGA, is to see a Bible-preaching church accessible to each of Russia’s 100,000 communities.
b) A vision for social transformation and activism. Newer churches and younger people in particular are engaging with many needs of society – ministry to the poor, to widows and orphans, to those in prison, to those with HIV/AIDS and to drug addicts. Such ministry is also winning evangelicals a better name with the government and opening doors for collaboration with the Orthodox Church. Pray for the passion, the funding and the people to be sufficient in order to see a powerful gospel impact in this way.
c) An indigenous, trans-denominational network to emerge. Most of the larger groups have an admirable desire to plant new congregations; getting them to work together would be a true answer to prayer. There needs to be initiative and funding for research and publicity as well as envisioning for Russian believers.
d) Missions mobilization. For years, Russian culture and language dominated while those of ethnic minorities were suppressed. Nearly 20% of the population are non-Russian and speak 100 languages. Pray for a mission vision in the Russian Church, and for the ability to bridge the cultural and social barriers Russian missionaries face; the legacy of imperialistic Tsars, Russian Orthodoxy and Communists puts them at a disadvantage. Ukrainians are more active than Russians in cross-cultural outreach in Russia. Pray for the launching of many more Russian mission agencies.
For an additional 11 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
More Information
The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Russia.Volga Federal District
Russia
See Prayer Information
Challenge for Prayer
Bashkortostan is home of the Bashkort (Bashkir), a Turkic people related to the Tatar. They are 30% of this republic and number another 600,000 in neighbouring regions and countries.a) The Bashkirs became Muslim in the 13th Century, but the old paganism/folk religion remains strongly entrenched. Pray for binding of the powers that hold them.
b) There were nearly 50 congregations of evangelicals by 2010 – up from only one in 1991. But Bashkir-speaking congregations number only a handful. Registration of churches is very difficult, and the authorities are obstructive. There is response among university students. Pray for planting and growth of mature Bashkir churches; Baptists in particular have a vision for a church planting movement among Bashkirs.
c) The Bashkir OT is underway, with the NT recently completed. UBS assist nationals in this project, made difficult by lack of adequate theological vocabulary in Bashkir.
For an additional 5 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
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