EURASIA COMMUNITY BLOG

READ THE LATEST BLOG

The Gospel Has No Borders

We have an urgent request for Faces of Eurasia as the frightening situation in Ukraine and Russia unfolds. Circumstances are rapidly changing. We are praying for peace, but we also look to provide tangible resources for these coming dark days…

For years, my family and I served in former Soviet Union countries. In conversations with Eurasia workers about past crisis situations in these areas, many would admit: “Though we couldn’t predict what would happen, I wish we had been better ready to respond.”

Ukraine and Russia are again living in uncertain times. Now is the moment to respond with the hope of Jesus Christ.

Historically, as nations turned to military might to bring change, God has used the transformational truth of the gospel to see the hearts of people changed. During these unpredictable days, the plan of God will not be thwarted. The gospel will continue to be proclaimed.

Here is what we know is true: the gospel has no borders.

We are ready to equip our evangelical partners, churches and workers throughout Russia and Ukraine with as many Bibles as possible.

This exciting praise report just came in from one missionary couple near the border in Ukraine:

“In the last three weeks, we’ve had incredible opportunities to share Christ with people. We’ve handed out over 400 gospel resources and had around 90 conversations with people about Jesus. We specifically go on trains and buses to hand out the gospel and talk with anyone who is willing.”

But our workers and partner churches do not have enough Bibles or discipleship materials to meet the need.

Millions are waiting to hear the gospel. Many are suffering from anxiety and fear.

In order to share the Good News with as many people as possible, we need help funding more Bibles and resources for distribution. Will you help bring the transformational Word of God to people on both sides of this crisis?

Pastors and missionaries in these countries are waiting.
It takes just $10 to provide one Bible.

Whatever you can do right now will help believers in Ukraine and Russia shine the light of Jesus in the midst of their darkest days. Instead of anxiety, fear and powerlessness, we proclaim God’s strength, peace and love — made possible by His ultimate sacrifice.

Your gift will provide as many Bibles and resources as possible to be used across borders and boundaries. There is no stopping God’s love from reaching those who have ears to hear.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. – Romans 12: 9-10

P.S. In your own life, the transformative power of the gospel has made all of the difference. Could you provide this life-changing experience to those in Russia and Ukraine who are in desperate need today?

GIVE NOW

New Oasis in the City

She needed an escape — an oasis — a place to get away from the horror show of her life and find HOPE —

And you helped make it possible.

Alina was a young girl in a very strict Muslim family. Her older brothers had rebelled — both were addicted to drugs, and one was in prison for drug offenses.

Her father struggled to find work, and the family lived in an impoverished Bangladeshi slum. Alina’s dad was so controlling, he did not even allow his wife to learn to read.

Brutality and ignorance seemed the only path ahead for Alina — and perhaps an early marriage to another controlling Muslim man…

But then you opened a whole new world of possibilities to her: Faces of Eurasia ministers to girls in Bangladesh through a center called Uttam’s Place.

Uttam’s Place offers girls in need the things they most desperately need: clean drinking water, a daily nutritious meal, lessons on health and hygiene, a safe and sanitary place to shower —

And we make sure each one is enrolled in school and able to get help with her homework so she can stay in school — an education is critical to the future of girls in Muslim nations (or any nation).

We also introduce the girls to the Lord Jesus. Many of them choose to follow Christ as Savior…

Alina is one of them!

Three years ago, her family moved away from Dhaka, where Uttam’s Place is — but Alina was well prepared with her faith in God and excellent academic skills. In her new village, she began earning money by tutoring other students…

Now she’s preparing for exams that would allow her to attend college.

This is a remarkable outcome for a Muslim girl from a vulnerable family in Bangladesh…

And it was made possible by Uttam’s Place.

The love of Christ transformed her AND her future!

Today, Uttam’s Place is expanding, and you get to be a part of the brand new center in an area of the city called Moghbazar! I’m inviting you to invest in the lives of girls like Alina… those who have been rescued from hopelessness, prejudice, and darkness and placed on the path to new life and hope in Christ!

Our goal is to raise $23,500 to create an “Oasis in the City” at the new center Uttam’s Place. Right now our program is able to provide a safe haven, but with the rooftop oasis there can be so much more.

Our Oasis in the City will be a rooftop activity center to provide …

A kitchen where girls can learn to cook and prepare meals for large outreach events.

An outdoor activity area for soccer, badminton, and other sports.In Dhaka girls are more or less forbidden from playing outdoors because of strict Islamic rules — they can’t be where the boys are. This outdoor area would be a wonderful blessing for their physical and emotional health.

A garden space to be used as a prayer and relaxation garden.

Your generous contribution today will help make this beautiful oasis possible for girls in need. And you’ll also be part of sharing God’s love with people throughout Eurasia through our other outreaches.

For the sake of children like Alina — for their future — for the sake of the Gospel… Please pray about giving your best possible.

As you read this, North America is still struggling to recover from the coronavirus crisis, and I know times are hard for many. Your Faces of Eurasia ministry team has been praying for you and will continue to do so.

Some people can’t afford to give now…and we understand. This also makes it very important for those who have been blessed to give to do so as generously as they are able to at this moment.

Muslim girls in Bangladeshi slums are disadvantaged in so many ways. They have very little hope for the future unless someone helps them escape their tragic circumstances and discover new life in Christ.

The girls we serve today through Uttam’s Place — and the new Oasis in the City — will grow up to become strong women … the wives, mothers, teachers, leaders, and influencers of the nation of Bangladesh.

What if they could be joyful Christians rather than beholden to radical Islam? They can be, as we share the Savior’s love and practical aid with them.

P.S. You can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up poor, and female, in the Islamic world. But we can change everything for these girls, by extending God’s love to them! Please help today.

GIVE NOW

Saying YES to the BIG DREAM


At Eurasia Community, we love when we have the opportunity to talk to those who have said YES and stepped into the BIG DREAM for Eurasia!

Evan is someone who decided to say YES and serve alongside our workers in Eurasia Northwest for a short-term trip last summer. Evan grew in New Jersey as a pastor’s kid. He did not see missions as a part of his story until around his junior year of high school.

After graduating high school he decided to move half way across the country to Missouri to participate in a construction apprenticeship. Shortly after that, he ended up at a leadership college in Kansas City which had a very strong ministry focus. After a year at the leadership college, he made another move to Springfield, Missouri to attend Evangel University.

Through the friendships he made post high school and the available opportunities at Evangel, he was able to attend various mission trips to see what was going on around the world and serve the unreached.

Now Evan is 23 and in his final semester pursuing a degree in business with two ministry minors. He is so thankful for the many opportunities God has provided him with to travel to different countries around the world with the main focus being missions.

This past summer, Evan joined in on the work happening in Eurasia Northwest. He and his cousin were sponsored to participate in this specific missions trip to work with Focus Church. The individual who wanted to support two college-age missionaries decided to send Evan and his cousin. After the two were given the green light to go, they began collaborating with the sponsor to determine what the entire experience would look like.

There were some setbacks when getting onto the field. It was obvious the enemy did not want them there, but they continued moving forward on this mission God had directed the toward. They left the states in May and returned in early July.

While they were serving in Eurasia Northwest, they witnessed new cultures as well as partook in spiritual ministries. Each day was a blend of the two: understanding the depth of the new culture around them while also living out the Great Commission when meeting with the locals.

Evan and his cousin got to witness how the locals live while also partnering with other American missionaries who were all working toward the goal of reaching the unreached. They would go to church in the morning and work on projects the team needed to be done in the afternoon. At night, Evan spent most of his time building relationships with the local young adult community.

It may be easy to believe you are unqualified to be on the mission field because you don’t understand that country’s culture or know their native tongue. Evan expressed that everyone under the age of 40 where he was spoke English fairly well. It was not difficult in this area of Eurasia Northwest to communicate with the locals. For this short-term trip, it was not a hinderance to not know the local language.

Instead, Evan shared that he quickly felt like family and connected to their culture. He and his cousin stayed in 6 different parts of the city during their time there and received huge insight to the area as a whole.

Evan has realized that through being part of the Assemblies of God community, going to Evangel University, and having the opportunity this past summer that there are a variety of choices for his future. He has countless options and there are a variety of ways the Lord desires to use him in his unique strengths and talents to serve those around him.

The same is true for you too! God has so many ways He can use you in your unique strengths and talents for the KINGDOM! We would like to encourage you to pray and consider joining our current workers in our STEP INTO Eurasia 1,000 campaign. Our hope and goal is to have 1,000 workers on the field in Eurasia by 2023. You can also learn about ways you can fit into what God is doing throughout Eurasia by checking out our pipeline opportunities.

We pray you are encouraged by Evan’s story; someone who has decided to step out in faith and take the opportunities that have been presented to him to serve the Kingdom of God with the mission to reach the unreached. We ask you to join us in praying for the workers on the field as well as the ways God is wanting you to partner with our BIG DREAM!


Sugar Cookies for the Kingdom

God can truly use ANYTHING to extend the Kingdom in the name of Jesus; including sugar cookies!

Over the Christmas season a few of our workers in India were able to exemplify that truth to the people in their local community. Our team had the opportunity to go to a local business and host a workshop on how to decorate Christmas cookies. One of the workers on this team expressed how they are not an expert at decorating sugar cookies, but they have some skill.

God is not looking for our perfection, He is looking for our obedience.

The backstory of how this workshop came to be is a group of workers prepared some ‘goodbye’ cookies for a girl who was moving on from working there. After some members from the local community saw the cookies they had made, they asked if our team would teach a local group on how to decorate cookies too.

Our team of course said YES! What an amazing opportunity to be invited into the community of the local people to teach them a new skill. The workers then prepared 100 large sugar cookies and 45 bags of different icing colors.

Over 40 people showed up and spent the next hour and a half decorating cookies with our team. They had the opportunity to meet new people and reconnect with those they have met before during the self defense class they had taught the year prior. They did not get to share the Gospel outright during this event, but many of the demonstration cookies had the nativity scene on it, the word noel, or angels. It is a great starting point to begin the conversation with the locals about Jesus once a rapport has been built.

It was so exciting to these workers when the locals asked if they could come again and teach them more classes for the holidays. What a gift to be invited back in to the community of the locals in this way!

This is just a prime example of how our talents and abilities can be used to extend the Kingdom. It may be hard to believe God would want to use cookie decorating, self defense, or maybe the talent you have, but He does! He shares with us through Scripture that He desires to use the gifts and talents He has blessed us with in order to share the truth of Jesus and extend the Kingdom.

We are so thankful for the on the field examples like these we get to receive to remind us of this!

Prayer Requests

  • The political unrest in India with the passing of a new law called AB. It allows people to become documented citizens for those who have never had the right paperwork. Everyone except those of the Muslim religion. India has over 170 million Muslims. We believe this is the beginning of the government trying to expel those from the Muslim faith from their country like they have been saying they are trying to do.
  • For our new workers who have just landed and will be serving for the next two years. Some of these workers have kids, are newly married, or have given up relationships to join us in this work.
  • The gym as the new concrete floor has been laid and set. The walls have now been repainted and it is scheduled to re-open next week! Pray for the members to all come back and for tons of new members to join in!

Our team in India wanted us to let you know that as you are praying for them and the work they are doing, they are also praying over you. They are specifically praying for you to be able to dive into His work even longer each day this year and for you to continue to reach out to your neighbors and build relationships right where you are.

We are so thankful each time you pray over our Live-Dead India team; Prayer is no small thing to us. It is huge and we are grateful!

Our BIG DREAM for Eurasia

Our BIG DREAM here at the Eurasia Community is to realize a church-planting movement among EVERY PEOPLE GROUP in Eurasia.

Our mission in the pursuit of this BIG DREAM is to equip, connect, and mobilize advocates, missionaries, donors, and intercessors to fulfill Eurasia’s BIG DREAM. All Christ-followers, through their God-given talents and gifts have the ability to be a part of the impact made in Eurasia.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

– 1 Corinthian 12:12-14

It is our hope that every person in the Eurasia Community would see their ability to have an active role in what God is doing to bring the name of Jesus to the unreached. Our workers, senders, prayer partners, and advocates of this mission are all invaluable participants in our BIG DREAM for Eurasia and are all equally needed to accomplish this goal.

As we work collaboratively toward the BIG DREAM we desire to represent authority, authenticity, and apostleship to realize a church-planting movement in every people group in Eurasia.

We ask that you prayerfully consider coming alongside us in our mission to expand the Kingdom of God to all unreached people groups in Eurasia.

Stay up to date with current events taking place on the field by signing up to join our Eurasia Community. Our heart with this community is to link arms as one body, taking the Gospel to every people group in Eurasia.

Click here to continue learning more about the ministry taking place in Eurasia

We are so excited to see what God has in store for the Eurasia Community as we work toward our BIG DREAM!