Live Dead Russia exists to take the church to the 18 million people within 88 unreached people groups who have not had a chance to respond to a clear gospel presentation.
149
RUSSIA’S TOTAL POPULATION
1.5
OF RUSSIA’S POPULATION KNOWS CHRIST
88
WITHOUT ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST
18
PEOPLE HAVE NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL
We are investing ourselves in Russia because nearly 18 million people there have not heard the gospel. Jesus is, and has, everything they need; but they don’t know. They’ve never been told. That’s 88 distinct people groups without life.
We invest in the hard work of leaving our homes, learning a new language, and adjusting to new cultures for one purpose: to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus. We labor until thriving simple churches spread among all the peoples and places where the worship of Jesus does not exist in Russia today.
God is using ordinary people just like you to reach the unreached. The Holy Spirit is going before His people and opening doors. Sure, some people reject the message, and not every day is pleasant. But miracles are happening. Belief is born and living groups of disciples are springing up. You can join this work.
In 1920, a man name Ivan moved from New York to the western part of the Soviet Union with one clear objective: to plant churches. Over the next decade he traveled from city to city proclaiming Jesus among the Slavic peoples, making disciples, and planting churches — a lot of churches. In 1929, Ivan was arrested and sent to the Gulag. In 1937, he was executed. Though Ivan never saw it, those churches outlived communism and grew.
While Ivan proclaimed the gospel among the people he could access, he was unable to reach the minority peoples stretching for thousands of miles east, south, and north. Today, more than 80 years after Ivan’s execution, only 1.5 percent of Russia’s 149 million people have a relationship with Jesus.
Eighty-eight people groups are left unreached: many without a single church; some without the Scripture in their language; and nearly all isolated from any known followers of Jesus.
2012 — Launch of first church planting team solely focused on reaching Russia’s most Islamic region and unreached people groups.
2017 — Second church planting team locates in a major Russian megacity and begins broadly sowing the seed of the gospel.
2018-2019 — First fruits: belief, baptisms, Bible Study groups, and connections with locals.
2020 — Development of close, strong partnerships with Russian believers to reach the unreached.
2022 — On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and the landscape of the country changed drastically. More unreached people started to recognize the need for the hope of the Gospel.
2022-2023 — More discipleship groups begin to study the scriptures and the claims of Jesus, with more baptisms than ever before.
There are many ways you can help introduce people in Russia to Jesus — whether face-to-face or from your own home.
