For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father. Colossians 1:9-11

Prayer Points

Please support the work of Eurasian Ministries UK and US through prayer. To receive a regular prayer letter with detailed prayer points please contact Tim McMahon.

The following general needs always require intercession:

• for successful church-planting by graduates of the Eurasian Missionary College (EMC) in Tatarstan and Central Asia
• for spiritual protection of the staff and the students of EMC
• for financial provision for the Eurasian Missionary College for the current academic year
• Please pray for the trustees of EMUK and EMUS that they will wisely administer support for the work of church-planting in Russia and Central Asia.
• Please pray that Graham Herbert will gain access to Christians and churches in the UK with a heart for evangelism and a willingness to become partners in the work of the Eurasian Missionary College.
• Pray also that Graham will be effective in communicating the vision of the EMC and it's proven track record in training missionaries and planting churches.
• Please pray for the EMUS team as they seek partners in the US for this important ministry.

Our STRATEGY for multiplying Church-planters in Russia & Central Asia

The Eurasian Missionary College is an integral part of an overall strategy to plant churches all over Russia and Central Asia. This column explains the College's training objectives, and where it fits into an overall strategy to raise up, train, and support church-planters in Russia and Central Asia.

Training Church-planters

The Eurasian Missionary College training has multiple objectives:

• to equip students to present the gospel effectively in the various religious environments of Russia and Central Asia,


• to teach church-planters to handle God's Word correctly so that they can spiritually feed the people God entrusts to their care,


• to equip students with practical wisdom in the areas of team and church leadership; dealing with civil, government and religious authorities; and establishing support ministries to financially assist church-planting ventures,


• to help each student grow spiritually in a mentoring relationship with one of the College staff, which in turn provides a model for their discipling of new converts, and


• to give students practical experience in planting a church as part of their year of full-time training.

A mentor with her students

To this end the course is structured as five teaching blocks in College of 6 weeks duration each, interspersed with four 3 week "practicals" - viz. missions off-site. On these practicals the students go in teams to places in Tatartstan or Central Asia where they assist previous College graduates in their church-planting work. It is not uncommon for the students to participate in planting a church from scratch over the course of the year. This is a great education for them.

On-going training and support

Obviously a one-year full-time course cannot fulfil all the objectives to equip a church-planter for a lifetime of ministry. So after the full-time year at College, graduates join other church-planters in the field, assisting in their churches before seeking to establish their own. They continue formal training over the next five years by attending annual intensive courses - either at the College or at regional training centres. They are regularly visited by Edik Hamidullan - one of the longest serving evangelical pastors in Tatarstan - who encourages them and provides sage advice. He is the President of the Association of Christian Evangelical Churches of Tatarstan. Graduates also meet at an annual conference for mutual exhortation and encouragement.

Church-planters from all over Tatarstan meet to encourage one another at their annual conference

Raising future Church-planters

Recruiting potential church-planters is essential if there is to be a steady flow of missionaries entering the field. Annual "Mission Motivation Seminars" are therefore run in regional centres across Tatarstan, and all churches are encouraged to come to them. A special programme is run for older teenagers and young adults, giving them the opportunity to go on a few days of "Summer Mission" with College staff and graduates. On these missions the young people engage in the work of church-planting, working alongside church-planters in the field just as the College students do. This few days of hands-on missionary experience is often used by God to plant a desire to become a church-planter in the heart of a teenage Christian. A number of the current intake of students training at the College had their desire to church-plant kindled by these seminars and missions.

Edik commissioning youth from his church for Summer Missions service