Sunday afternoon two other men from our church and I will be leaving to explore opportunities to contact a people group in a remote area of Russia. We believe this to be an UPG, though we are getting conflicting information about whether there are any believers or whether there is a church that is actually reflective of their culture.
We will fly from Atlanta to Dusseldorff, then to Moscow. From Moscow to Novosibirsk, Siberia and from their we’ll take Borat Air to our destination. Our goal is two fold: (1) to attempt to make contact with any Christians in the point of entry and (2) attempt to meet with any government officials to find areas of need that our church might eventually fill.
If God brings us to your mind, I’d especially appreciate prayer during the Borat phase of our travels, as we currently know little about that segment. Our Russian legs are on Aeroflot which, I understand, is more reliable than it was during the Cold War. We can hope, right?
Anyway, I’m very excited about this trip and the possibilities that God is opening. One desire is to assist in a translation project that will get the gospel into the language of this UPG. The culture has an oral tradition of storytelling and is more than 50% illiterate as a result. The goal is to “story” the gospel, similar to what New Tribes Mission and others have done with tremendous results. (See especially EE-TAOW!.)
Chances are better than good that I’ll be out of both phone and internet range for much of the trip, though those Wi-Fi cafes seem to show up on the wildest of places…
I’ll be praying for you. Have a safe trip.
Comment by Kevin Bussey — August 9, 2007 @ 8:36 am
Marty , Awesome. I hope that someday we have many more pastors who are willing to go and to lead their churches to engage the UPG’s and least reached places of our planet.
Comment by Ken — August 9, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
Ken, it shall happen. It already is.
Comment by Marty Duren — August 9, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
Marty,
I pray for the success of you and your entourage. Speaking of New Tribes Mission, I met a missionary this week who serves with them in Tailand. She was lost in our town on furlough and knocked on the door of my church looking for directions. She happened to be 60 years old and a member of a Southern Baptist Church. She told me that she had trusted Christ late in life and was too old to be accepted by the IMB. I’m sure that there are so many other people like her in our churches who want to serve in missions somehow but can’t with the IMB because of standard requirements (which I’m not questioning here). I think what you and many others are doing is the wave of the future as the world becomes “flatter”(Thomas Friedman). These opportunities are before us and should be explored.
TBH
Comment by Travis Hilton — August 10, 2007 @ 10:24 am