Our Russia team has been given great favor as they forge relationships with Russian churches and ministries and point believers to the unreached. In the past year, they have traveled to speak at conferences, churches, and youth groups throughout their region of Russia, encouraging congregations to be active participants in the Great Commission. They frequently share the Russian Xplore study as a way to cultivate a culture of missions to the unreached within churches.
Earlier this year, the team was asked by a local Kalmyk pastor to teach a support raising seminar. He pastors a Russian church that he hopes to mobilize to go as missionaries to the Kalmyk people. Kalmykia is the only European region where Buddhism is the primary religion, and the Kalmyk people are completely unreached with the gospel. Through the support raising seminar led by our Russia team, this pastor was able to fund mission trips to this people group. This is a key step since our Russia team and others have repeatedly found that short-term mission trips to an unreached people group can be a highly effective mobilization tool in helping believers understand their role in the Great Commission.