Russian is the 5th most spoken language in the world by a number of native speakers. 277 million people speak Russian as their first or second language, of which 2.5 million reside in the U.S. and Canada. There are 143.5 million people in Russia and 45.4 million people in Ukraine. KCM has been impacting this part of the world with the Word of God for over 20 years through the TV broadcast, magazine, website, books and other outreaches.
A KCM office was opened in Minsk, Belarus, in 1994. Later it was moved in 1997 to LVIV, Ukraine, where it currently resides. The early years from 1994 to 2004 were focused on humanitarian aid and the distribution of over 15 million faith-teaching books translated into Russian. Thirty-two KCM books have been translated into Russian, including Brother Copeland’s latest, The Blessing of the Lord. The first Russian BVOV TV broadcast aired in 1993, and the first Ukrainian broadcast in 1995. Today, the TV broadcast is seen throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East to a potential viewing audience of approximately 200 million people. The BVOV magazine was first printed in Russian in early 2000. Today, over 24,400 magazines are mailed each month: 62% to Ukraine and 28% to Russia. KCM’s Russian website launched in 2004. Last year the website had 1,184,076 visits from 144,581 unique users. About 43% came from Ukraine and 30% from Russia. After the homepage, the TV broadcast was the most visited area on the website. KCM’s Russian Facebook page started in 2011, growing to over 10,300 Likes, with posts reaching up to 310,000 people. Partners, you are part of this powerful, ongoing outreach.
The recent conflict in Ukraine has presented challenges with the delivery of Partner letters and magazines to our Partners, with large amounts of returned mail. It’s estimated that more than a million are displaced from the eastern part of Ukraine alone, and the infrastructure that has been destroyed makes postal service to many other areas in the conflict zone impossible. Twenty-five percent of KCM’s Russian speaking Partners live in the eastern part of Ukraine. Pressure on financial and economic systems have resulted in the devaluation of currency and increased taxes, while scarcity and rationing have caused food prices and other consumables imported to be more than double what they were a few months ago. 10,423 KCM Partners live predominately in Russia and Ukraine.
This is a call to pray. Partners, join Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and all the KCM Partners around the world. Together, let’s stand in faith and pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for them every day, that they’d be full of faith and strong in the Lord—empowered by The BLESSING. KCM’s Russian language outreach will continue to spread the gospel and reach millions of people throughout eastern Europe. We are maintaining a presence of God’s Word to be a voice of victory—declaring that Jesus Is Lord!
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