Psalm 82 : 3 - 4 Defend the poor and the Fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked. Russia's Current Conditions Russia is a country that is in the process of many changes politically, economically and spiritually. Politically, Russia appears to be in a trend towards regulation of some religious activities, though mostly on the regional level. There have been churches closed and clergy and mission workers have been expelled or denied access into the country under new regulations. There have been attempts by some officials, particularly within the regional governments, to restrict the activities of church groups and mission organizations despite Russian laws to the contrary. The degree of religious freedom can vary not only from region to region, but also from village to village. Many people involved in mission activities in Russia are concerned of a growing trend against many Protestant evangelical churches operating in Russia. ( See articles by Stefan J. Bos at Assist News Service [www.assistnews .net] 12 September, '02; 7 October, '02; 10 December, '02 and 13 March, 03 ). Economically, wages in Russia are very low, particularly outside of Moscow. Most goods are available in Russia for purchase, yet many still do not have the resources financially or local access to purchase these goods. The economy continues to struggle to rebuild and has been making good progress. The economy's Gross National Product has been growing at rates exceeding 6 percent for several years. Currently, 80 percent of the wealth of Russia is in Moscow and 15 percent is in Saint Petersburg, leaving only 5 percent of the wealth to be spread out over 11 time zones of the country. Despite the progress being made, millions of people in Russia still suffer in economic terms, though the legacy of the Soviet years has helped compensate for the changes after the dissolution of the USSR. This compensation has come in the form of free apartments and subsidized utilities, plus, the schools and cultural centers that remained from the Soviet-era legacy, which had helped hold Russian society together during those years of change. Since the year 2000, a more stable government has been formed with the benefit that Russia has been running more from the "rule of law" then by force. The laws in Russia have been strengthened with the result that the incidents of bribery that became famous and stifling during the 1990's has dropped, though it has not been eliminated. Business licenses are easier to obtain and more shops and restaurants are operating legally and selling more goods and services to a growing middle class. Customer service in these new businesses has improved immensely, as well. ( For more detail, see "Inside Putin's Russia" by Andrew Jack. The reading of pages 297 to 351 give a fair and balanced view of Russia today ). Boris Yeltsin's economic changes in the 1990's created agonies for the people of Russia that were likely inevitable, long lasting and painful if the Russian economy were to be changed at all. Health statistics show that 60,000 people committed suicide in 2002, many of them children. Average life spans for males are at fifty-nine for men and seventy-two for females, which is the highest spread in the world today. Tuberculosis has re-emerged as a serious infectious illness. HIV rates are on the rise. Some Russian officials are concerned about the affects of this deadly disease on a growing portion of the Russian population that is most susceptible to the effects of HIV/AIDS, the street children and orphans. This disease may also add to the street child/orphanage numbers as adults die from it, as well. Ten percent of military members are malnourished and forty percent of pregnant females are anaemic. Tens of thousands of professionals, such as doctors, engineers, scientists, social workers and others on the state payroll often abandon their professions for taxi driving, market trading and other functions that provide more money because their families are going hungry. ( portions paraphrased from the book "Inside Putin's Russia", pages 34 & 40, by Andrew Jack ). Until many of these conditions improve across Russia, treatment of children will continue to get worse. People continue to abandon or abuse children both mentally and physically, driving many to live in the streets to escape the abuse. Some estimates put the number of abandoned children at 4 million. Russian authorities remove children from abusive situations where they can and the children are placed in an orphanage whenever possible. Many of the orphanages are overflowing and they cannot accept more children without more funding. The need for funding of orphanages is great throughout Russia and one that the government is not necessarily able to meet given its current revenues. One of the orphanages that I visited near the city of Obninsk told our group that the Government had promised an allocation of about 5.5 million Roubles( $171,875.00 USD ) and they had received just 1.5 million ( $46,875.00 USD ) to date. Spiritually and financially, the Orthodox Church has a strong and growing presence in Russia. The church has tended to pursue privileges over other religious organizations rather than legal restrictions of the rights of those organizations. In certain cases, though, the church has been running into resistance from the Kremlin. The Orthodox Church attempted to introduce a course called "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" into the state schools, but was denied by President Putin. Instead, a general religious studies curriculum was introduced in these schools. The Orthodox Church operates many of the orphanages within Russia and has strong influence in many others. Christian Churches, on the other hand, hold services with no building for their congregations to meet in. They meet outside in the summer and in people's houses in the winter. In some cases, they are allowed into orphanages to meet with the children, but in many, the local Orthodox Church has been able to block access to the orphans for Pastors trying to work with the kids. The Kremlin also appears to be taking a more favorable stance towards the Catholic Church since President Vladimir Putin's visit to the Vatican late in 2003. Some foreign Catholic clergy members have reported improvements in the handling of their VISA's, after this visit. On the other hand, several regions have recently passed local laws restricting missionary activity. Some missionaries in these regions said that they have been relatively unaffected by these restrictions, though. The wave of expulsions of foreign religious workers that occurred between 1998 and 2002 appears to have subsided. ( * Some material taken from a Forum18 News Service article dated 14 February, 2005, "Russia: Religious Freedom Survey, February 2005" ). After a thousand years of Orthodox religion and 70 years of official atheism under Communism, Russia is in need of prayer because evil has had free reign here for centuries. Several Russian Pastors and other missionary personnel that have been working in Russia for many years spoke of the overwhelming need for prayer for Russia and its citizens due to the heavy spiritual warfare that is takes place here everyday. Older generations of Russians reportedly have little hope of a future for their country and themselves. The following is an excerpt from a pamphlet that I read called "An Introduction to the Russian Soul" [Author unknown]. How do Russians view their future? No individual or culture can move forward successfully without hope. Hope is essential to life. The Russian does not look to the same sources of hope that most human beings do. Neither the family, the workplace, nor the government provides any reason for encouragement. The average Russian is deeply in touch with his feelings of powerlessness. Most Russians, especially those over 30, do not see themselves as able to change the course of their lives. What does this mean to the Christian who comes into the Russian culture with the hope of representing Christ well ? Only a strength of humility that continually points to the Messiah - Jesus Christ - holds out to Russians the promise of a hope that does not fail. In addition to seeing hope as coming from outside their culture, there is one avenue of hope clearly found within the Russian experience. The primary symbol of hope to the Russian soul and culture is children. Children represent the future, a future that might be other than, and better than, the past. Children are the only link of substance between Russian men and women. In a child's face, a Russian adult sees his own lost innocence. When presented with the opportunity to hear more about Christianity, many Russian adults will say something like "it's too late for me, but I want my children to know the truth". The symbol of children as the door to hope is one that needs to be explored further in reaching Russians. It may be that the Christ Child as the Fathers great gift and our true hope sounds a particularly sensitive note to Russian hearts. This article speaks to the hopelessness that abounds in Russia. It also attests to the Gospel of Christ being the only promise of hope to the Russian people. There are few Russian Christian workers in this country willing and able to stay and work to reach those people who need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is less than one Christian per hundred people in Russia. Many of the older Christians have left the country due to past persecution and fears of future persecution. Since "the Freedom", as many Russians call it, took place in the early 1990's, the population of Russia has dropped by millions of people. Every year for the last 5 years, Russia has lost 1 million of its own citizens and many of those citizens are the Christians it can least afford to lose. This leaves the existing churches short of Russian prayer warriors and Christian workers, volunteers and supporters. After seeing the work that the Russian Christian Community is doing in many facets of Russian Society, I believe that He has given Christians around the world an opportunity to participate in a special work that He is doing in this great country. Please pray everyday, for the binding and frustration of the works of evil in Russia that Christian workers may have an easier time getting the Gospel out to unsaved orphans and the 140 people groups within Russia, many of whom have never heard the Gospel, in any language. There are many Russians doing the work of Christ. They are very dedicated and hard-working people with a love of Christ and for their people that is exemplary. These Pastors and missionaries are amazing in what they can do with what little they have to work with in resources, finances and personnel. The dollar amounts they require are relatively small, the money they have to work with is even smaller, yet they continue to make a great impact on the children of Russia. Russia is beset with high cancer rates, particularly among females and very high levels of alcohol addiction and fatalities, mainly among men. Most orphans have been affected by at least one of these two killers. Many orphans I met lost at least one parent to one of these diseases. During the Soviet years, little attention was paid to the environment in Russia and many areas of Russia are a disaster ecologically and the new Russian Government does not have the funds necessary to clean up these areas and make them safe for humans. As a result, many of the older generation have died from the cancer causing effects of the environment. Plus many of the children may be affected, especially those living in the streets. Please review the "Project Hope - Russia" and the "Russia Inland Ministries" pages to see the efforts of these ministries in Saint Peterburg and in Moscow involving orphans and street children. Pray about what you can do to support these ministries. A little money that is given from Christians in the USA is a large amount of money to Project Hope - Russia and to Russia Inland Ministries. These organizations are striving to make a huge difference in the lives of the children they are ministering to. Go to Top of the Page