Update from Azerbaijan
On September 15, 2017, in the capital city of the Muslim nation of Azerbaijan, the church in Baku celebrated the very first wedding between two members in its twenty-year history!
For the past seven years, Kyamal Ibragimov has been the only single brother in this small church of fourteen disciples. About a year ago, Kyamal invited a former work colleague to church: a young lady named Zara. She became a Christian, and over the course of the last year, they developed a relationship and were married. The newlyweds have a dream to serve God, to reach out to young people, and have been a tremendous encouragement to Alek and Seville Musayev, who currently volunteer their time to lead the church.
The church held a marriage retreat in June of 2018. Every non-Christian spouse of the church members attended -- the husband of one of our sisters, and two Muslim wives of two of our faithful brothers. After the retreat, they all said that they were very impressed with the openness of the disciples, as they all discussed together the challenges of being married, during the retreat.
In August, a brother called Misha was restored to the fellowship. He had been baptized in the church in St. Petersburg, Russia, twenty years ago, and had left the church fifteen years ago. During that time, he had endured many hardships, including divorce, and challenges with his health. Eventually, he returned to his home town of Baku. He saw his need for God and we are thrilled that he has returned to the church!
The country of Azerbaijan is about the size of the state of South Carolina in the USA. At the moment, the fourteen disciples in Baku are engaged in studying the Bible with nine people who are coming out to church and are learning what the Bible says about how to become a Christian.
Please pray for these needs of the church in Baku:
They need financial help to be able to send their teens to teen camp in the summer in Moscow.
They need financial help to pay for a regular meeting place for the church. All summer they have met outdoors in a park. It is already too cold for them to do this and will be impossible in the winter.
They need a full-time ministry couple to lead the church in Baku and help spread the gospel to the nation of Azerbaijan.
Thank you so much for your prayers! The disciples in Azerbaijan send their love and gratitude!
Below is a map of Europe and part of the Middle East with the nation of Azerbaijan highlighted in orange.
