War in Ukraine. “We never believed this would happen until we woke up at 5:00 AM to the sound of rockets exploding into our 16-story apartment building in Kharkiv on February 24, 2022,” said the director of the Ukrainian Baptist Union’s Foreign Mission Department. Pastors and church leaders told him that missions sending from Ukraine would have to stop immediately; churches could not fund missionaries when all their efforts and finances must focus inward to take care of refugees. But this mission-minded leader insisted the Great Commission was still in force, and missionaries had to stay where God called them. Thank God for his foresight! Twenty-two of 28 national missionaries are still in their places of service more than a year since the war began. Others are still involved in temporary ministry locations. Your generosity for Ukraine has sustained these missionaries until their churches can renew their support.

Leadership Training. Twenty-five national leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Russian-German partners recently gathered in Frankfort for training. These national leaders are responsible for sending and sustaining missionaries from their countries, often to places where U.S. passports are not welcome. In addition, these partners are working closely with our teammates in Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, and the Asian-Pacific Rim to send Christian workers to the most challenging places in partnership with IMB personnel.

Reaching out to Earthquake Survivors. Because of your generosity, 40 students who are Muslim-background believers are being trained and sent out from Moldova each year! A Christian university there equips its students–these 40 and others–to return to their homelands with the gospel. Some of these students have participated recently on mission trips to Turkey to help local Turkish Baptist churches with earthquake relief. Additionally, a Turkish-speaking people group in Moldova is sending leaders and their own students to work alongside these young adults.

Training beyond Eastern Europe. Christian universities from Ukraine and Moldova are sending professors to train young leaders in former Soviet Central Asia. They are working with 50 young leaders to give them pastoral and ministry-specific training.

• Pray Eastern Europeans continue to respond to God’s call to share the gospel globally.
• Please pray Eastern European leaders prepare those God has called and sends them to the nations.
• Please pray for these professors who are willing to go and train national leaders.

Thank you so much for your kindness, generosity, and partnership! Your prayer and gifts are truly making a difference in Ukraine and throughout the world through this project! Please prayerfully consider making another gift to support this ministry in 2023 so we can partner with Eastern Europeans, training and equipping them to go “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8c).

Thank you for your generous support of our project, “From Eastern Europe to the World.” Your support is crucial to the success God is giving us as we train and send global missionaries from Eastern Europe to all corners of the world. We have made good progress during worldwide COVID lockdowns with our national partners from Eastern Europe. Here are some of the things that are happening.

More than 1,000 Russians attended mobilization/training events in 2020-2021!

A main topic of the event was encouraging these brothers and sisters to serve among hard-to-reach peoples (10/40 Window) where Americans have difficulty gaining visas and access to the people groups.

Six students from seminaries and Bible colleges across Ukraine gathered in June 2021 for training in demographic mapping. The goal was to map an area of the country where significant numbers of Muslims are reported to live. First, the students were trained in techniques to verbally gather information and enter the data into an online app. Then, they went out into the towns and villages for eight days and were able to verify that significant numbers of Muslims reside in this part of the country and that new villages have developed, which are not in the government’s data.

Our national partners will use this information to develop a practicum program that offers practical experience in ministry to Muslims before missionary candidates leave Ukraine. This training will enhance local outreach to the Muslims living in the mapped areas and ease transition stress for those who serve the Lord in other places in the world.

In September 2021, more than 80 handpicked pastors and top Baptist Union leaders will come from all over Ukraine to attend a special conference on mobilizing their congregations to call out and support cross-cultural missionaries. They also will be challenged to reach the more than 80,000 international students who study in Ukraine each year. Most of these international students are from 10/40 Window countries or Africa.

Without your generosity, these training events and programs could not exist. Thank you for catching the vision God has given our IMB team to raise up and send global missionaries from Eastern European countries. By God’s grace, these countries that once had few believers have transformed into mission-sending churches and missionaries called to serve our risen Savior among unreached peoples. These brothers and sisters need solid equipping and care to be ready to engage unreached peoples in places with hard or rocky soil. Your partnership and support are preparing them and bolstering them as they go. Thank you!