01 May Beyond Boston: Eternal Issues in Dagestan and Chechnya

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, we have been hearing about brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev and their connection to Dagestan and Chechnya. Apart from being places we have heard little about, what we are learning is that they are centers of Islam with radicalized pockets under pressure to conform to the dictates of Russia.

What we don’t hear in the news is that praying groups have “taken into their hearts” (persistently and long-term) 31 of the 34 unreached peoples of Dagestan and the 11 unreached peoples between Chechnya and Adygheya. Among them are groups of evangelicals from Russia who have mobilized their people to live in the Caucuses and share with them the Jesus of the Bible–not the Western Jesus, not the Russian Jesus, but the Jesus who came to set Chechens free.

According to Mission Frontiers, 13 of 45 language groups are legitimately engaged with various phases of intentional, cross-cultural efforts toward disciple-making movements. Fruit comes from “work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

Still, 32 unreached peoples in Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia remain painfully isolated from God’s blessings of messengers, the message, and [Christ-focused] communities.

While the CIA and other international intelligence agencies go about their work of trying to make the world a safer place, God is at work transforming nations and peoples in ways no human effort could ever imagine.

As you listen to the news, don’t forget to pray.