Eurasia: Easter, excitement, investment
Russia (MNN/Mission Eurasia) — How far can you stretch $25?
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia/CC)
You can buy some socks, and some toiletries. You can buy some food. You can help sponsor an orphan for a month in some places…but can you buy impact? No, but you can certainly put some gas in the engine.
Mission Eurasia believes the Word of God contains the power to transform lives, and they’re committed to training and equipping Next Generation Christian leaders to share that message. One way they do it is through the delivery of special Scripture packets, their Word of Life Easter outreach.
Mission Eurasia President Sergey Rakhuba explains that this time of year, everyone is already thinking about who Jesus Christ is, anyway. “There’s a huge celebration. It’s a big holiday, not just in Russia; it’s the entire former Soviet Union countries: Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and others there.” This year, the plan is deliver the Scripture bundles to families throughout Eurasia. “Twenty-five dollars will enable us to provide one package for one family, up to five people — and 10,000 families — that’s roughly 40,000 to 50,000 people, who will be impacted with the Gospel.”
(Photo courtesy of Mission Eurasia)
Each packet contains “the printed Word of God, specially designed literature for children, for youth: Scripture, New Testaments, and Bibles.” Plus, Rakhuba adds, “We are already preparing to print 100,000 copies of a specially designed magazine called ‘The Light’ and it communicates the transforming power of the Gospel to people of all ages.”
Consider the life-saving impact of a New Testament as shared in the following story from Mission Eurasia:
“I am always looking for new ways to share the Gospel,” shares Olga, one of our ministry partners from Barnual, Russia. “One way I do this is by visiting the local train station once a week to leave a few copies of God’s Word around the station.
“One week when I was in the process of setting out a few of the New Testaments that I had received from Mission Eurasia, I heard a voice behind me ask, ‘Are you the one who brings Scriptures here?’ I turned around to see a severe-looking elderly woman, dressed all in black. ‘Yes, I am,’ I replied. To my shock, she bowed to me. She told me that she had been visiting the train station every day for a month, hoping to meet me and share her remarkable story with me. She told me that normally she always carries a copy of the New Testament with her, but recently discovered that she had lost it while on her way to town for a doctor’s appointment. So she stopped by the train station to pick up another copy, intending to return it later.
“When she got to the hospital, she sat down to wait for her appointment, and noticed a sad-looking young woman sitting next to her. They were separated by a small table, and the grandmother took out her copy of the New Testament and set it on the table right by the girl, facing her. She herself didn’t know why she had done that, she just felt compelled to.
“At first, the girl looked stunned, but then she burst into tears. The grandmother asked her what was wrong, and the girl shared that she was pregnant. As soon as she had found out, she had decided to get an abortion, even though her boyfriend wanted to keep the baby and marry her. His parents also told her that they would take the baby if she didn’t want it, but she didn’t want to have to deal with the pregnancy, and felt that it was her right to make her own decision.
“As they continued talking, the grandmother found out that the young woman had come to the hospital to have the abortion, which she had already paid for. But at the last minute, she decided to give God a chance. She decided that if God gave her a clear sign during the next 10 minutes as she waited for her appointment, then she wouldn’t go through with the abortion. She had only been waiting for a few minutes when the elderly woman arrived and gave her the New Testament!”
(Photo courtesy of Mission Eurasia)
However, Rakhuba says there is a critical funding gap that needs to be bridged if they are to meet the goal of reaching 10,000 families with the Word of Life this Easter season. Now is the time to act: “Someone who learned about this opportunity provided a very substantial gift. So, if some others match dollar-to-dollar, up to $25,000, that will enable us to make 1,000 extra family packages.” For each $1 given, the impact is doubled for the Word of Life ministry. Just $25 today will supply two Word of Life Scripture packets for two unreached families, providing their first introduction to the Gospel.
How far can you stretch $25? You can stretch it up to 50,000 potentially life-changing ways — offering a new beginning to someone this Easter. Click here to get started!