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A New Door Opened
Advancing the Gospel in Armenia
The name Mount Ararat immediately recalls ancient Bible history – the landing place of Noah’s ark and the dawn of a new chapter in human history. Ararat, the highest mountain bordering Armenia, stands in a nation that today is one of Asia’s most spiritually needy. Bordered by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey, Armenia has endured centuries of conflict, oppression, and massacre, leaving deep mistrust toward its neighbours. From 1915–1917, the Turks killed up to 1.5 million Armenians in a merciless genocide. Later wars with Azerbaijan (1988–1994 and 2020– 2023) ended in the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Armenians again suffered atrocities amounting to genocide.
The Weight of Tradition
Religious life in Armenia is dominated by the Armenian Apostolic Church, a branch of Oriental Orthodoxy. It is the state church, to which an estimated 95% of the population claim allegiance. One of the world’s oldest Christian churches, with its roots in the early 4th century A.D., its leader is the ‘Catholicos of All Armenians’, currently ‘His Holiness Karekin II’. Not unexpectedly, the church plays a very significant role in national life and identity. There are comparatively small numbers of other groups such as Jews, Catholics, and followers of ancient Armenian native beliefs known as Hetanism, described by some as Armenian Neopaganism. Evangelical believers are very much in the minority, but are active and endeavouring to reach out with help from available mission resources.
A Door Opens in the Mountains
In partnership with others, SGA has committed to support the advance of Gospel work in this needy land in a number of ways, which are designed to secure opportunities to preach and present the Good News. These avenues have already proved effective and been blessed in the spiritually barren or resistant regions of Central Asia, and it is the firm belief of SGA and our partners that they will do so also in Armenia. This is a new region for us, and we are convinced that God has opened this door of opportunity to advance hand in hand with our friends in the Gospel. We want to grasp the exciting prospect of seeing the church of Christ taking root and growing to the glory of God. The need for earnest prayer and generous practical support is urgent, for the expansion has already commenced.
Hope Rising in Araksavan and Avshar
Two Hope Centres are being constructed in the villages of Araksavan and Avshar. Although construction is not yet complete, God has been at work in both places, where a remarkable breakthrough in several lives has brought blessing to individuals and to their communities.
Samuel Akobyan, once deeply opposed to the faith, was converted through the faithful witness of his wife and children, and their home in Araksavan is presently the meeting place for as many as fifty people. The little church was constituted in 2004 and eagerly looks forward to the completion of the Hope Centre, with its own place of worship.
A spiritual revival among the Yashidi/Yazidi people group in Armenia led to the formation of some small evangelical churches and real advance in Gospel work. To serve these growing numbers, the Avshar church has purchased a plot of ground and begun construction of a House of Prayer. Help is needed to complete this project, hopefully within the next year, so that the believers can more effectively reach out to their unsaved neighbours.
Ministries of Mercy and Hope
Other ministries crying out for support include children’s camps, with an estimated reach of 5,000+ children hearing the Gospel, and the Joy of Christmas outreach with its immense potential to reach not just boys and girls but whole families. Ministry to widows and orphans is always essential, and the conflicts in Armenia have left many women and children without their ‘breadwinner’. The need is great.
Armenian church leaders are forward thinking and eager to promote a Next Generation Leader (NGL) training course, so that essential leadership will be available to nurture the believers and lead them out in evangelism and church planting to reach villages and communities where
as yet there is no settled Gospel witness.
The need for earnest prayer and generous practical support is urgent.
The Word That Cannot Be Silenced
Not unexpectedly, the production and distribution of the Word of God in the language of the people is a high priority in the thoughts of Armenian evangelicals. Initial plans include the printing of 10,000 bilingual New Testaments in Russian/Armenian, the printing of 10,000 portions of the Bible (NT, Psalms, Proverbs and Genesis), and the production of 15,000 editions of the Family Bible for use by parents and children.
A Call to Praise and Prayer
Join us as we praise God for these new, challenging opportunities given to us and continue in faithful, persistent prayer that Armenia will know the powerful moving of the Holy Spirit as the Gospel is brought to many in word and in loving deed.