Russian Federation – 2
Oct 12th, 2007 by pfadmin
In case you didn’t get to pick up a Mission Paper from the service this past weekend, sections from it will be posted here.
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Over the month of October, please dedicate some of your prayer times to focus on this month’s mission emphasis (Russia). (Information excerpted from Operation World, calendar targets).
Targets for Prayer (cont.):
The Church in Russia has suffered the most severe and sustained persecution of any nation in recent history. All deaths in the gulags (prison camps) between 1920 and 1990 are reckoned at 20 million; a further 16 million perished en route to them — many were Christian. It is reckoned 200,000 Christian leaders were martyred and a further 500,000 imprisoned. There were 100,000 church-owned buildings in 1920 (mainly Orthodox); by 1940 only 1,000 were in use by Christians, the rest being seized or destroyed. Structures and ministries were emasculated or manipulated, leadership cowed into compliance and compromise, Christians discriminated against, their children harassed and denied educational opportunities, and millions consigned to years of imprisonment, exile or psychiatric ‘treatment’. Give thanks to God for His protection and for enabling His Church to survive, grow and triumph in the end. Praise God also for many agencies in the West who did so much to maintain links between the persecuted Church and Christians in the free world, and to provide Bibles, literature and practical help.