Meetings with God in Chechnya, Ossetia and Dagestan

It feels special to travel around and visit different churches in southern Russia. We are on a meeting tour in Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan – lovely little services with nationally influenced music. People are surrendering themselves to Jesus at several gatherings, despite many having grown up in a Muslim environment and belonging to ethnic minorities.

According to Simon Montefiore’s biography of Joseph Stalin, his father originated from Ossetia. Over 1000 years ago, the Scythians lived in this area. Today, it is the homeland of the Persian people, the Ossetians. Most are Orthodox Christians and nominal Muslims. The people take pride in their history and their language, which is closely related to Farsi and Tajik. The Ossetians are considered an unreached people group, despite a church in Vladikavkaz having a significant revival in the 1990s.

In the Russian Caucasus, there are about 20 ethnic groups that lack national selfsupporting congregations. Ingushetia, Dagestan, and Chechnya are some of the least reached countries for the gospel in Europe. As we are now traveling from Chechnya to Dagestan, we think about the fear that some Christians had after the war. We still noticed the anxiety in several at the meeting in Grozny. Some have even experienced persecution. Many fled to Kabardino-Balkaria during the wars of the 1990s. Today, about 40 Chechens regularly gather in house groups in southern Russia.

Russia has contributed a lot of financial support to rebuild Grozny, which today is a modern city. Our prayer is that our visit will not only lead to encounters with God as we have already experienced on the journey. We believe that those who believe in Jesus can be part of building a new Kingdom of God, where people praise the Lord even in Chechen language.

Erich Sojka and Jesus4Eurasia

(AI – translation from Swedish language)