God's Word in Audio - Testimonies
Associates gather information and testimonies about what God is doing in and through Audio Bible listening programs in heart languages around the world.
Ossetic Proclaimer
The Ossetic Audio Bible recording is complete and Faith Comes By Hearing listening programs using the Proclaimer are now in place.
A Colporteur's Report
A colporteur for the Tatar language group told the program coordinator that he visited the listening groups every week. The coordinator explained that he does not have to visit all listening groups every week, but he does it for himself - for his spiritual growth and professional experience answering many questions that the listeners have. He will visit listening groups according to schedule as more and more groups are set up.
The Faith Comes By Hearing colporteur continues to receive different letters from people who thank him for Audio Bibles and tell how much they appreciate the Tatar Audio Bible. The colporteur says that he receives many oral reports by phone also. Many call and ask if he has received more Tatar Audio Bibles. He tells them that while they do not have more sets yet, different portions of the Inzhil have been recorded and it's played for sick and blind people. Our colporteur sent me one of these reports that he received from the Church New Life:
Thank you very much for your work, and may the Lord bless you in your important service."
The Tatar of Russia
Request for Faith Comes By Hearing Audio Bible Recording
In 2006, all Christian Tatars celebrated the first translation and publication in history of all the New Testament books in our native language. And the offer to do a recording of these books was greeted also with great joy, because thanks to this there will be one more valuable opportunity, one more unique way of disseminating the Holy Word among our people.
The Tatar people number about seven million and are the second largest people group in Russia. The majority of Tatars live in the Tatarstan republic (on the European side of Russia), but a significant number live in small groups and in other areas of the Russian Federation. It's probably impossible to find a place in the country WITHOUT a Tatar living there. The large Tatar diaspora reaches into such countries as Finland, Turkey, Australia, and the CIS countries. Tatars can also be found living in China, Poland, and the United States. A distinctive characteristic of the diaspora is that they try to preserve their national traditions, culture, and language.
The capital of Tatarstan is Kazan, located on the banks of the Volga river. In 2005, Kazan celebrated its 1000-year anniversary.
The history of the Tatar people began a very long time ago; but unfortunately, our people have kept themselves far from the Good News, for the most part. The Tatar nation is considered a Muslim nation (Sunni), although in actuality, many people simply call themselves Muslims just because they are Tatar. But at the same time it doesn't really seem that way. They are Muslims in the sense that they fulfill their religious obligations only on the big holidays. At a government level here in the republic a peaceful co-existence is propogandized among the different religions. (This is especially evident, for example, between the Muslims and the Orthodox church.) But in daily life -- at work, at home -- problems often arise for Tatar-Christians because of their beliefs.This became especially evident in the early 90s, after "Perestroika," when more and more Tatars started coming to Christ. Nowadays, literally in every Protestant church in the republic there are Tatar believers. Moreover, many Tatar groups and churches were the first to appear. They all help our translation group with our work on the translation of the Holy Scriptures.
We believe that now is the most beneficial time for sowing seeds among our Tatar brothers and sisters. On the one hand, we grieve for our people as they are still walking in darkness to this day. On the other hand, we're glad that the Lord has given us the opportunity to reach them and we hope that within a short time there will be an awakening. And we are very happy and grateful to God that you are helping us in this endeavor. May the Lord reward you for that 100 times over and more.
With hopes for our future fruitful partnership and wishes for every possible blessing,
Sergey.*
Name changed for security purposes
