From the poverty of inner-city Moldova to the war-torn towns of Chechnya, life is very hard for many children in the former Soviet Union. An estimated two to four million live on the streets, either abandoned by their families or running away from abuse and neglect. These boys, girls, and young adults are their nations’ Next Generation leaders, so the character they form today can determine the future of the whole region.

You can make that future brighter with a gift to send needy, at-risk children and youth to an evangelistic Russian Ministries summer camp! In 2011, friends like you helped 8,554 children attend 98 different summer camps.

Most of the children who attend come from non-Christian homes, but at camp an estimated 20% make the decision to trust Jesus. All are given Bibles or other Christian literature to take home, and camp leaders—our School Without Walls (SWW) students—follow up with discipleship. We know from experience that many of these boys and girls will come to church for Sunday School and other programs, and soon, they’ll be bringing their families along. In this way, the simple seed planted at summer camp can reach whole communities!

Every $50 you give will send another boy or girl to a life-transforming—and fun—summer camp experience. How many young lives will you change today?

GIVE NOW!

In the USSR, the Communist regime promoted values they claimed were better than Christianity because they were not based on “faulty religious assumptions.” All across the former Soviet Union, today’s young people are reaping the consequences. Russia has recently been ranked third in the world in teen suicide, while addiction, human trafficking, prostitution, and other evils are claiming millions across Eurasia.

These young people are searching desperately for direction. With your gift to Russian Ministries today, you can help them find a firm foundation for the future in God’s Word!

Every $25 you give is enough to place 10 copies of a book like the easy-to-read Discovery New Testament into the hands of young men and women seeking truth. Or, your gift of $25 may send 250 copies of a booklet like the dynamic, illustrated Story of Jesus Christ to at-risk children across the former Soviet Union.

You’ll foster the spiritual growth of young Next Generation leaders with Scripture and Scripture stories. And you’ll support creative evangelism to tens of thousands of children and youth with unique biblical witnessing tools. How many lives can you change with the Word of God today?

GIVE NOW!

Bibles and Christian literature your gift can provide include:

• The Discovery New Testament: a contemporary Russian-language translation also featuring testimonies from well-known Christian athletes and others
• The New Testament in Russian and Ukrainian (Contemporary Design): a new edition with a guide to salvation and a list of verses for crisis situations
• Message of Glory: a contemporary Russian New Testament with additional materials geared specifically for Muslims
• The Story of Jesus Christ: a colorfully-illustrated booklet containing the heart of the Gospel for children, printed in any of three languages
• The Azeri Picture New Testament: an illustrated children’s New Testament in Azeri, the language of Azerbaijan, where Christians make up only 0.05% of the population
• The Children’s Picture New Testament: a dynamically illustrated New Testament for children in simple Russian

Three years ago, Azerbaijan passed a law requiring the re-registration of all religious organizations. All organizations which fail to obtain a new permit must be liquidated and their members could be subject to criminal investigation if they continue to practice their faith.

Now, on April 25, after a 15-minute final hearing in the Church’s absence, a court ruled to liquidate the Greater Grace Church in the capital city of Baku — one of the Azerbaijani churches where Russian Ministries is active through School Without Walls and other outreaches.

Greater Grace Church has been legally registered as a church since 1993 by the Ministry of Justice and has served the community for 19 years. But as the Forum 18 News Service — a watchdog for religious freedom at www.forum18.org — reports, Judge Tahira Asadova upheld the suit lodged by the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations. The church has until May 25, one month after the decision, to appeal.

Wade Kusak, Russian Ministries’ Project Manager for Religious Freedom Issues in Eurasia, says, “They were denied for very unclear reasons. The judge didn’t explain what the requirements were, or why Greater Grace Church didn’t meet them. This is a very scary situation, because the government is testing the reaction from the West and from churches to this action. If there is no reaction, they will go further.”

Nor does the persecution end with the church’s liquidation. Wade explains, “If the members of this liquidated church continue to meet together, even two or three at a time, it will be illegal religious activity, and they can be arrested and jailed for up to four years.”

This is the first known open attack on a Christian church in Azerbaijan, and if the decision stands, sets a very dangerous precedent — not only in Azerbaijan, but in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and other nearby nations closely watching the situation.

Much of the persecution in Azerbaijan already follows the example set by Uzbekistan. Since a massacre in 2005, Uzbekistan has conducted a war against their religious minority. Christian literature, including Bibles, is often confiscated and destroyed for “illegal religious activity.” Believers are beaten up during raids on their homes, and courts impose excessive penalties.

The government is also intent on vilifying Christians to the public. Government-controlled mass media accuses believers of occult practices, hypnosis, and extremism, while newspaper articles encourage discrimination and physical abuse of Christians and other minorities.

Convert Tokhar Haydarov is one of around 1,000 believers sentenced to prison or various penalties for their faith. Tokhar is serving 10 years in a labor camp on a false charge of drug production. Fellow believers report that he was tortured and forced to sign the accusation against himself. It’s as if we are back in the old Soviet Union.

Life in many parts of the former Soviet Union has become increasingly difficult for everyone, as the four terrorist bombs that took eight lives in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine on April 27 show. But much of the current persecution against Christians violates their Constitutional rights, demonstrating how serious governments are about ending this “threat.”

Here are some steps you can take right now to support Greater Grace Church and persecuted Christians across the former Soviet Union:

1. Pray for God’s protection for all believers in the FSU, for His intervention in the governments of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and other persecuting nations, and for freedom of religion and revival in the region.

2. Give to Russian Ministries to help support national leaders in their fight for religious freedom by continuing to provide Christian literature, training, and support to Christians, and especially pastors, in persecuted regions.

3. Contact the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the U.S. to protest the closure of Greater Grace Church and all other attempts to eradicate Christianity from their country, before the church’s month of appeal runs out:

By email: azerbaijan@azembassy.us or consul@azembassy.us
By phone: 1 202 337 35 00
By fax: 1 202 337 59 11
By mail: 2741 34th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

4. Learn more ways you can help persecuted believers in the former Soviet Union by contacting Wade Kusak, Russian Ministries’ Project Manager for Religious Freedom Issues in Eurasia, at: wade@russian-ministries.org. For an interview Wade recently gave on Mission Network News, visit this link: http://mnnonline.org/interviews/date/2012/04.