A new church planting book has recently been translated into Russian and will soon be going to press. Church Planting from the Ground Up is a compilation of stories and strategies of church planters from across the U.S. dealing with a variety of church planting contexts. While church planting is very much an art and no one method works everywhere, this book will be a useful tool for church planters in Russia as they seek to learn and develop their own strategies and approaches to planting churches in modern Russia.

We are excited to have Konstantine and Irina Nazarov visit the U.S. during the summer. They live in a city southeast of Moscow and have a desire to see a new church planted in their community. With evangelical Christian churches representing just a small percentage of Christians in Russia, this is a big step, but we trust God will reward their faith.

Committed to seeing more new churches planted in Russia, Russian Outreach Network has become a catalyst for renewed interest in church planting among Russian leaders. In August 2009 we sponsored a seminar focused on Church Planting for Russian leaders from various churches. This was the second such seminar and revealed that interest is growing. Russian leaders recognize the need and desire help to figure out new strategies for planting new churches. They also want to strengthen existing churches, so that they can take a more active role in planting more churches. A new wave of God's Spirit is at work!

Many of our brotherhood missions working in Russia over the past 18 years gathered near St. Louis, MO, in late September to discuss what God has been doing in Russia, and seek ways we can partner to see more churches planted. We believe that we can accomplish more when we work together and so it is exciting to see a growing network of partners. Our prayer is that God will move in a distinct way to foster expansion of His Kingdom in Russia.

An enormous need still exists in Russia for churches. Of the 142 million people living in Russia, less than 2% are evangelical Christians. That's less than 2 out of every 100 people you would meet on the street!

According to Russia Now, "Most Russians are an urban breed – three-quarters of them live in cities. The two major ones are the capital Moscow with more than 10 million people, and St. Petersburg with more than four million. Roughly 80 percent of the population is ethnic Russian. The rest is a mix of other ethnic groups, with the Tatars and Ukrainians making the largest minorities."

This is one reason why we are partnering to plant churches in Moscow, like the Peace to Our Home Church. But our vision is for other Russian-speaking peoples as well. This is why we have helped send a Russian to be a missionary to her native culture in Kyrgyzstan. But we can't stop there.

We serve an amazing God who is able to do this and infinitely more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Yet when you read that verse, you realize He wants to do it through us, His Church. We are his chosen instruments to accomplish His divine will on this earth. That's humbling and motivating all at the same time.

So, let's not hold back. Instead, let's boldly ask and join with Him in what He wants to do among all people including the Russian-speaking people of our world.