Do reindeer herders get into heaven?
During the freezing February weather, one of the most interesting trips I have taken came to mind. It was to Turukhansk in Northern Siberia. The thermometer showed -58 degrees Celsius, and the snow crunched under our felt boots as we walked into the yard of a building renovated into a museum. In the house, the future leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, had spent part of his youth after the tsar had exiled him far from the center of political events.
In the yard of the property, I clearly realized why I had not met a single local person during the journey who believed in Jesus. Missionaries’ feet had simply not reached those extremely cold landscapes.
It was too cold, services were in short supply, and churches or prayer houses had not yet been built. Reindeer herders wandered after their animals. The wealthiest moved on their snowmobiles across the frozen surface of the Yenisei river, others crouched on ice fishing with furs on, but no ”fishers of men” were seen anywhere…
Recently, the media have conveyed information about the strategic importance of the Arctic regions. How do these areas integrate into the goals of our Christian missionary work? Do the Aleuts, Inuit, Khanty, Komi, Mansi and Selkups of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberia stop our thoughts to prayer, or do they remain merely as curiosities for us – just simple people living in their homes and igloos? And what about the Sámi reindeer herders of Scandinavia, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula?
During a couple of my Alaska trips, I have heard how Slavic immigrants in the United States have started missionary work among the unreached people groups of Alaska. They have traveled to the northwestern parts of the state and even across the 80-kilometer-wide Bering Strait to Russia.
International students of the Missionary Bible schools supported by Jesus4Eurasia and Avainmedia recently told how seven Russian Sami were baptized behind our eastern border, 20 Selkup had been baptized in Siberia, and that new groups of Khanty believers had emerged … Some of the last hindrances for the second coming of Christ might slowly have been taken away.
Mobile phones and computers are opening new dimensions for missionary work even in the Arctic region. The era of hand-cranked shortwave and FM radios is giving way to the age of social media there as well.
I will never forget when we held a church service in the cultural center of a village in northern Russia. The thermometer showed 20 degrees Celsius below zero – inside. The pianist had gloves on, with holes in the fingertips to make runs on the key board easier. The speaker moved on the stage constantly like the preachers of charismatic congregations. I myself waited in the cold for the meeting to end and hoped that no one would speak for long.
The experience increased my understanding of why there has not been an influx of missionaries among the Arctic peoples. Had God created such an environment even for the reason that there was no place in heaven for reindeer herders, or is the environment just an obstacle that we must overcome? The answer is clear: I realized that the Nenets, Selkups, Komis, Yakuts, or the Russian Sami would not reach heaven unless we told them about Jesus!
Although the work has progressed, many Arctic peoples are still without national congregations. After all, we have not forgotten that they too must be reached with God’s Word before Jesus comes (Matt. 24:14).
Now we experience that the time of these peoples has come, which is why we are organizing a mission and prayer conference for Arctic and Finno-Ugric peoples at the Savonlinna Pentecostal Church in Finland on May the 16–17th.
The international, ecumenical event brings together Christians to ignite passion, learn, network, and pray specifically for these peoples. The program of the conference will be published during the spring on Avainmedia’s website avainmedia.org. There will be translation to English/Swedish/Norweigan, Estonian and Russian during the conference.
The Arctic regions are also strategically important to God. Let us begin by remembering the peoples living there in our prayers!
Rauli Lehtonen (AI-translation from Finnish language)
The author is the founder and director of the Swedish Jesus4Eurasia organization and an expert member of the board of Avainmedia. The article has earlier been published in Ristin Voitto (Victory of the Cross; the magazine of Finnish Pentecostal Movement) and in the Finnish, Christian monthly magazine Avainmedia).
If you want to support the work among the arctic people, you can do it through
Pingstkyrkan Borås
c/o Jesus4Eurasia
Kungsgatan 58
503 35 Borås Sweden
IBAN: SE20 8000 0803 2500 4002 4234
BIC/SWIFT: SWEDSESS
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