On 24th May we started from Middle Finland to our destination - Tadzikistan. Well, many have been there, but we were going by car.

The story has begun earlier, but in the beginning of 2018 our mission did not have clear direction. During one of our meetings on May 2018 God started to speak about activating russian christians for God´s mission. Quite soon - 4 months after that - we had a plan to go to Tadzikistan by car. The aim was not changed, but it felt right to go there ourselves before sending others.

So, four Finns were traveling to Tadzikistan by a retired microbus. We prayed that God would send someone from Russia to join us. The answer was found in Ryazan, where pastor Dmitry joined us. On the way we visited many churches and made some notes.

About Russia and churches there

Almost everywhere in Russia we met progressive churches. New church buildings were being built, new churches were being planted and evangelisation was active. The churches were mature: spiritually and financially there were ready to grow.

Russian society is changing. Affections of Soviet Union are diminishing. People are waiting for new direction: Political ideas and politics are not trusted, orthodox church does not have much to offer. Now is the time for the church to show direction.

Amount of muslims is growing rapidly. And these muslims are working hard and they are having more children than "standard orthodox russians". So their political influence is growing. Now the police is not so worried about evangelical christians as is worried about muslims.

Muslims everywhere - challenge for the church

Practically in every city in Russia can be found some muslims. Depending on region they are in different position, but generally the "standard orthodox russians" treat them as second class people. That is why the muslims have big social needs (except some muslim-majority regions).

In Russia the evangelical church have not yet understood the positive challenge of growing muslim population. Many times you see the opposite - church tries to avoid contacting muslims. Still it would be a huge step for the global church if russian christians understand the importance of reaching muslims.

Our aim for 2020: Activate russian churches to reach out Muslims

In Tadzikistan we heard that big part of men of Tadzikistan work in Russia. Mostly they are nominal muslims when they leave their home but they return as devout ones. So, it is extremely important to reach them while they in Russia, since Tadzikistan is a muslim country and there it is illegal to convert people to christianity.

Our mission - International Camp Partnership - has knowhow and possibility to organise camps for russian participants. So next August 2020 we are planning to invite 200 church representants to Finland. We are planning to co-operate with simplymobilizing.com to achieve our goals - activate the russian christians to mission among the muslims. Welcome to join us!