Friday, January 30, 2009

Why Udmurtia? Why Now?

The ongoing adventures of Team Engage Russia continue this weekend with a visit to Izhevsk, the capital of the Republic of Udmurtia.  

Some of you might remember that almost two years ago the Udmurt people were featured by the IMB as part of an International Day of Prayer.  The Udmurt people were first engaged by Southern Baptists by our "Senior Missionary", Tim.  And today, there is a thriving partnership between Stateside churches and the Russian Baptist churches here in Udmurtia.  In fact, the efforts to engage the Udmurts have resulted not only in partnerships between churches, but this spring two new IMB missionary couples will arrive to begin their work among the Udmurt people.

So, why are we in Udmurtia?  And, why now?  For the next three weekends we will be traveling to different cities to profile different people who have become partners with our field missionaries and with local believers to engage the unreached of Russia.  And, while you would expect that these people would have a lot in common, the one thing we have found is there are very few things they have in common... except the desire to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, the Engage Russia team thought it would be a good idea to profile a couple of these partners, not to highlight their similarities but to call attention to their differences.

When trying to answer the question, "What kind of person does it take to become a missions partner in Russia?" the answer is simple. It takes all kinds.  It takes retired school teachers, businessmen, housewives, and pastors.  And, it is not just individuals that can be the partners.  It can be Sunday School classes, churches, associations.

The bottom line is this.  Russia is a huge country.  It spans nearly half the world -- 11 time zones, and has a population of 140 million people.  Today, we have around 80 missionary units in the country, which means that if the work were left solely to field missionaries, each would be responsible for reaching almost 2 million people.  

Partnerships are essential to engaging the unreached people of Russia.  Won't you begin to pray, even now, about how God wants you to respond to His call?  Won't you begin to think about how you can help Engage Russia?

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