Current Opportunity in Karatayka
Karatayka is so remote that it is practically cut off from even its own government. Medical services are hundreds of miles away and many people in the town suffer the physical and emotional effects of such isolation. In 2008 BPEA's team brought the Gospel to Karatayka for the first time and many of the people responded. BPEA committed to returning with medical aid for the community, as well as further support for the new believers. You can touch the lives of these forgotten people! Contact Us or Donate to help meet the needs of people in Arctic Russia. Russian Arctic - Reaching out to forgotten people at the ends of the earth
Planning is already underway for the next mission to Arctic Russia - God has called us to be the hands and feet of Jesus and we must press on until everyone has heard the Good News! As you support the Bill Prankard Evangelistic Association you are changing lives and giving hope to forgotten people at the ends of the earth.
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After many years of missionary-evangelism to the Inuit of Canada's Arctic, Bill and Gwen Prankard learned of many groups of Inuit living in isolated regions throughout Arctic Russia, most of whom had never before heard of Jesus. Subsequent missions to Eastern Siberia brought humanitarian aid and the Good News to many communities and a strong Christian witness was established.
In 1997 Bill Prankard began taking ministry teams to the Yamal Peninsula, an even more isolated area of Arctic Russia where nomadic Nenet people live scattered across thousands of miles of frigid tundra. Many Nenets still travel in family units as they follow the migrating reindeer - totally dependent on the reindeer as their source of food, clothing, and transportation. The government has settled others in remote villages, where they are often neglected and forgotten.
The challenge of reaching these Nenet people was overwhelming at first, but the results have made the enormous cost and effort completely worthwhile. Often, as the team visits in the tents of a Nenet family, the entire group will receive Christ after hearing about Jesus for the first time! The growth in these new believers is staggering and as they travel the tundra following the reindeer, they spread the Gospel farther than our workers ever could on their own.
Our teams have ministered in Ust Kara, Laboravaya, Beloyarsk, Vorkuta, and many other areas of Arctic Russia. The Gospel’s impact is evident and there is now a strong Christian presence in many of these communities. Local believers host “DVD churches”, reaching out to their neighbours by using Biblical teaching DVD’s that are translated into Russian and delivered by our workers.
A recent trip to the remote village of Karatayka has been a catalyst for many exciting ministry opportunities. Arkady, our translator on the trip, has now moved back to Karatayka to work in the schools - our first resident pastor! We believe there will be amazing spiritual growth there as a result of his consistent ministry in the community, year-round.
We continue to partner with Pastor Valentin, who was with our team on the December 2008 trip. Valentin leads a growing church in Vorkuta and sends teams to evangelize on the tundra and in the villages, encouraging the believers and ministering to the unsaved. BPEA also supports the work of Ilya and Janet Bantseev, who are building an orphanage in Novokuznetsk while ministering to troubled youth and young adults. 
