God’s Word Changes Lives!

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life (John 5:24).

The provision of Russian-language Bibles and Christian literature has been a high priority of SGA since our founding 78 years ago. In those days, Soviet communist rulers did all they could to keep God’s Word out of Russia and her neighboring countries. But SGA partners prayed and gave, helping to provide thousands upon thousands of copies of the Bible for distribution behind the Iron Curtain. And thousands of lives were changed through the power of the Gospel.

In the 21 years since the Soviet collapse, we’ve had a brief window of openness to supply evangelical churches with Bibles, children’s Bibles and Christian literature. But now governments in several nations—especially the Muslim dominated countries of Central Asia—are again beginning to restrict people’s access to Scripture, even to the point of confiscation and imposing severe penalties on the churches. And that makes it all the more imperative to step up our production and provision of Bibles. The hunger for God’s Word is still there, and the testimonies of changed lives are just as powerful.

The power of the Gospel can't be stopped, even behind prison walls.

Igor, a Bible, and the Truth

Igor is a former prisoner who is now a pastor joyfully ministering in Tajikistan. But if he had not encountered a copy of the Bible while in prison, Igor’s life might have taken a far different course.

I had been convicted several times and did time in prison for my crimes. Even so, I continually searched for an answer to the question, “What is truth?” I searched everywhere, both in and out of prison. 

One time I was invited to a prayer room in the prison, where for the first time I started to read the New Testament and saw the words of Jesus Christ . . . I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6). I found the One I was looking for, and a short time later I repented.

After Igor’s release, he began to attend church and serve at a drug rehab center in Dushanbe. SGA partners enabled him to receive Bible training, and today he pastors in a rural Tajik town—the location being withheld for security reasons. But Igor—like so many across the former Soviet Union—is thankful to you for making it possible for him to read and have a Bible of his own.

Behind prison walls, inmates have come to faith in Christ and even started churches to reach other prisoners with the Gospel.

Our Supplies of Bibles Are Running Low

As new churches are planted, and as SGA-sponsored missionary pastors continue to preach the Gospel and win the lost to Christ, they need more Bibles in the Russian-language. Our stocks of Russian Bibles, children’s Bibles, diglots (a parallel English/Russian Bible) and study Bibles need to be replenished on an ongoing basis. Today, it only takes $5 to provide one Russian Bible. What a tremendous opportunity to help our Russian brothers and sisters put a copy of God’s Word into the eager, waiting hands of excited new believers! Please pray with us, asking as always for the Lord’s gracious provision. And know that generations of Russian believers, both today and those who have since gone home to glory, are deeply thankful that someone cared enough to give them the Bible—and the hope of eternal life in Christ.