The Gospel is warming the hearts of the people in the remote Russian city of Yakutsk, considered as the coldest city on Earth.
Leading the arduous missionary work in this part of the world is the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) led by Eric Mock, Mission Network News reports.
"Yakutsk is a city that is known as the coldest city on the planet. Temperatures, I have heard: as low as 70 below zero. But very often 40-50 degrees below zero in the winter," Mock said.
Missionary work in this area is a huge challenge for SGA not only because of the extreme temperature but also because of its rugged and remote location. Mock said the only way to get into the area is by passing over snowy roads and frozen rivers at the height of the winter season.
Travelling in the spring or summer is even much harder because of the muddy ground where vehicles often get stuck, he said.
But despite the difficulties, the Christian missionaries have succeeded in planting churches in communities that had not heard about Jesus Christ.
The first church in the area was planted in 1994, according to SGA. Although the churches have grown since then, there is one big problem—no one is effectively leading these churches.
New Russian pastors in the area are now receiving Bible training from SGA, Mock said. "They appealed to us to begin Bible training up there. And a few weeks ago, by God's grace, we were able to begin this training," he said.
Classes taught include homiletics (the art of preaching and writing sermons) and hermeneutics (the manner by which the Bible is interpreted). "When the men leading the local churches came for class, their faces lit up at the chance to learn how to 'unpack the Word of God,'" Mock said.
The SGA is also reaching out to areas outside of Yakutsk where thousands of villages are just waiting to hear Jesus' name proclaimed. Just like Yakutsk, these villages are also difficult to reach because of weather and location. However, this is no hindrance to the dedicated missionaries working for the SGA ministry.
"SGA has been working with another organisation who is involved in training pilots. In the days ahead, you're going to hear us talking about how we're going to partner together in training pilots, and missionaries, and Bible teachers to fly to these remote villages and plant churches where there has not been one single Christian present," Mock said.
"Just imagine the beauty when a plane lands for the first time and the Gospel is proclaimed to a group of people who've never heard about God, Jesus, or the beautiful gift of the cross," MNN writes.
