November, 19  2004

1)      Team Ufa asks you to please pray for Grace Church, a church plant in the Television Center District of Ufa. Like so many churches in Russia, Grace Church is struggling. At best, the small body has 9 members. But it only averages 4 to 5 members per gathering. Please pray that through evangelism and outreach events, God might add to Grace church’s numbers. Pray that Grace’s current fellowship might be more committed to gathering together for mutual encouragement and to joining God in His work. Grace is currently teaming with the Ufa Bible Church and Team Ufa in sponsoring an evangelical English class that centers on the Jesus film. Pray that when the end of the course approaches in early January, that a number of the students will not only have improved their English, but will have come to Christ in repentance having accepted the forgiveness of sins and salvation that can only be found in Him.

2) Team Ufa asks you to pray for the Sipailovo (sea-PIE-lava) district of Ufa. The bedroom district of Sipailovo is home to some 100,000 souls, many of them new Russians, and yet has no Christian church or witness. Sipailovo has proved to be a very difficult nut to crack. We have been unable to find anyone willing to either rent us space or allow us to use their apartment for Bible studies. Nonetheless, God is making a way. A believer in the U.S. has agreed to fund the renting of an apartment which will serve as a beachhead for evangelism. His church will serve as a virtual strategy coordinator, taking some measure of responsibility for reaching the district with for Christ. Pray that God might open the hearts and minds of Sipailovo’s 100,000 to hear, receive, and respond to the Gospel beginning in January.

3) Team Ufa asks you to pray daily for a volunteer group from New Life Baptist Church in Oklahoma that will be in Ufa from December 5^th through the 14^th. The Okies will work alongside Team Ufa in prayer walking, Bible distribution, humanitarian work in an orphanage, and meeting students in local universities. They are preparing to sing several hymns and Christmas songs in Russian during their sojourn in Ufa. Pray that God might work through these brothers and sisters in Christ from the Sooner Nation to change the eternal destiny of some of Ufa’s million plus residents.

4) Team Ufa asks you to pray for the weekly Bible study held in the home of the only Chrisitian family in the Nizhegorodka (KNEE-zhe-gah-road-ka) district of Ufa. Nizhegorodka, the Lower Town, built on the sandy banks of the White River, is home to an estimated 35,000 souls, most of which are either Tartar or Bashkir Muslims. Curious unbelievers have dropped into the study a few times, but have never stayed for more than a couple of studies. We are in the process of rethinking our strategy there and are preparing to once again distribute invitations to study the Bible. Pray that the sole family that names Christ as its Lord in Nizhegorodka might become 20 families who do so. Pray that in the crime ridden, alcohol soaked streets of the Lower Town, that the low among men might find refuge in the shawdow of the Almighty.

Your IMB workers in Ufa, Russia