- http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/february/sign-of-ice-dancing-cross-missionaries-sochi-olympics-pew.html: Russian adults identifying as Orthodox Christians shot up from 31 percent to 72 percent since the collapse of Communism in 1991, according to a new Pew Research Center study. What's more, the number of adults claiming a belief in God rose from 38 percent to 56 percent during the same time period.
The growing Russian openness to religion is good news for Russian evangelicals, who are active in Sochi, but also for Americans evangelizing during the Olympics, Baptist Press reports.
"Sochi today, since the Olympics started, is 180 degrees different than Sochi in January 2010," Marc Hooks, co-director of Engage Sochi, told Baptist Press. "Never have I seen Russians so open."
And American evangelicals are taking advantage of it. Engage Sochi, an International Mission Board church planting and mass evangelism effort, aims to spread the gospel during and after the games. About 20 International Sports Chaplains are walking through the crowds, sharing pins that represent the story of Jesus (and drawing NPR's attention). And the Singing Men of Oklahoma are gathering crowds with gospel tunes and then mingling with them to share that gospel.
Russian Ministries president Sergey Rakhuba told CT that the Pew report was "fascinating" but missing some important trends, including the increasing political influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is contributing to religious oppression.
And the NPR story is amazingly neutral, if not the comments.
Also,
SOAR has been invited by the local evangelical churches in Sochi, Russia to assist them in a major outreach and evangelism effort primarily targeting the local Russian community during the 2014 Winter Olympics! We need up to 90 people who want to serve the local Russian church as they seek to reach out to their city during the Olympic games.
McCarthy Baptist Church"Where the Sea Meets the Snow"
Sochi, Russia
February 4-14, 2014
