LOTTIE MOON EMPHASIS
PRAYER FOR INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS
MUSLIMS OF RUSSIA
When most people think of Russia, they may conjure up images of Romanov royalty, a parade of dictators like Stalin and Lenin or Brezhnev, or maybe cultural icons such as Mikhail Baryshnikov or Dostoyevsky. They don’t think of Muslims.
But Islam is part of the fabric of old Russia—it made it there 66 years before Christianity did. As a result, Muslim groups are indigenous to the North Caucasus region, an area between the Black and Caspian Seas situated on northern slopes of the mountain range that generally separates Europe from Asia. These people groups include 45 to 50 subsets of people and even more languages, making them very difficult to reach.
However many of them are moving into Moscow, Russia’s capital, which now has more Muslims than any other European city. Its newly reopened Grand Mosque can hold 10,000 worshippers.
“God says, ‘If you can’t go to them, I’ll bring them you,’” said Elizabeth (name changed), a Christian worker among Muslims in Moscow. “There’s no better time to be in the former Soviet Union. God is moving Muslims right under our noses.”
PRAY for God to continue to draw Muslims in Russia to faith in Christ.
PRAY for Christians to develop friendships with Muslims so that they can have the opportunity to share the gospel with them.
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