Yakutia – Church on Fire

Dear brothers and sisters, peace be upon you!

On April 6, a fire broke out in the building of our church in the village in Yakutia Republic. The village is located 140 kilometers away from the city of Yakutsk, the population is about 1300 people. Only ethnic Yakuts live in this village. Some of them are very aggressive towards Christians. They especially blame Yakut Christians, calling them traitors and saying that they have betrayed their pagan shamanism faith.

According to the preliminary version, it was a deliberate arson. Apparently, this crime was committed by a local resident, who is registered in a psychiatric clinic. Igor is the brother of the head of the district. As villagers say, the head of the district and his brother treat Christians badly, even Orthodox Christians. They are adherents of Yakut pagan shamanism beliefs. The head of the district, recently took leave without pay and volunteered for the war in Ukraine…

The investigation is just beginning, the police and fire investigators are already working. There are no documents or decisions of the authorities yet. But locals say they want to declare the arsonist as insane and absolve him of responsibility. Thank God, no one was hurt. The arson was committed at about 6 a.m., when no one was in the church building yet. No one lives in the church building, the building was simply locked.

The history of this village Church

Lyuba was the first to believe in the village in 1994. She first heard about God when she was in the hospital. At the same time, two believers Lyuda and Stas were being treated in the hospital. They told Lyuba the Gospel, God touched her heart, and on May 25, 1994, Lyuba repented.

As soon as Lyuba was discharged from the hospital, she began inviting preachers Valery and Stas from the neighbouring village to her home. Lyuba invited non-believing neighbours and friends to meetings with preachers, and they all began to listen to the Gospel.

Some refused to listen, they were clearly resisting God’s Word, and they left. But some believed, and in 1998 the first baptism took place, four people were baptized. This is how the Christian community began. From the very beginning, Lyuba served the Lord with her house, all church meetings were held in her house. In the 90s and 2000s, many people came to the meetings, they asked questions and listened to the Word of God.

Today, the church has approximately 20 members. A lot of children come to Sunday School classes. Especially many children with their parents come for Easter and Christmas services.

Unfortunately, there has never been a pastor in this community, and brother pastors from nearby villages have always come to teach the community. The same situation remains to this day.

Church building

The brothers and sisters of the village Church began construction work of the church building in 2017 and completed it in 2023. They participated in the construction work on their own, also some brothers from other churches came to help. The finances were donated by members of the church, other churches of Yakutia and some international missions. The church building is registered to a private individual, church member Sergey.

Further actions

Temporarily, the church will hold its services and kids ministry at Lyuba’s house. The immediate plans are that after the investigation is over, the remains of the burnt–out building must be dismantled and removed. Unfortunately, it burned down completely and cannot be restored. Most likely, this work will be carried out in the summer of 2025. The construction of a new building is planned for next summer, 2026.

Prayer needs

1. We ask you to pray for the church of this village. The brothers and sisters are still in a state of shock. Pray that the Lord would encourage and comfort the church, help them draw the right conclusions from what happened, not be discouraged and continue to serve God, strengthen communion with Him and carry the Gospel to non-believers.
2. We ask you to pray for the upcoming investigative actions and trial, for all the participants in this process, for justice to be done and for the damage to be compensated to the church. Also, please pray for the salvation of the arsonist’s soul, for the salvation of all those villagers who slander and hate the Church of Christ in Yakutia.
3. We ask you to pray that God provides all the necessary financial support to the church this village, so that they can make a new church building in year 2026.

Thank God for all of you, for your participation and help in the needs of the saints. God bless you!