Former Soviet Union

State Missionaries Population    Population per Missionary
Armenia 10 3,290,000   329,000
Azerbaijan N/A* 7,130,000    
Belarus 6 10,260,000   1,710,000
Estonia 45 1,600,000   35,556
Georgia 8 5,460,000   682,500
Kazakhstan N/A 16,690,000    
Kyrgyzstan N/A 4,370,000    
Latvia 29 2,610,000   90,000
Lithuania 4 3,720,000   930,000
Moldova 0 4,360,000    
Russia 505 148,040,000   293,149
Tajikistan N/A 5,360,000    
Turkmenistan N/A 3,620,000    
Ukraine 48 51,940,000   1,082,083
Uzbekistan N/A 20,320,000    
Missionaries "working in Eurasia or in sensitive countries" 458      
Subtotal 1,113 288,770,000   259,452

    East Central Europe

State Missionaries Population Population per Missionary
Albania 1,113 288,770,000 259,452
Bulgaria 77 8,470,000 110,000
Czech Republic 87 10,310,000 118,506
Hungary 213 10,340,000 48,545
Poland 77 38,000,000 493,506
Romania 165 23,210,000 140,667
Slovakia 10 5,300,000 530,000
Former Yugoslavia** 53 23,600,000 445,283
Subtotal 864 122,530,000 141,817
Total 1,977 411,300,000 208,042
 
    • *Information not available

 

    **53 missionaries reported in Serbia-Montenegro, 2 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 2 in Croatia

Editors' Observations

  1. Despite a dramatic increase in evangelical activity in the former Soviet Union and voluminous positive and negative publicity, more non-indigenous Protestant missionaries per capita actually work in East Central Europe.
  2. Among former Soviet republics, for which missionary data are available, Moldova is said to have no Protestant missionary presence, Belarus has the next lowest Protestant missionary-to-population ratio (1 per 1,710,000) and Estonia has the highest Protestant missionary-to-population ratio (1 per 35,556).
  3. In East Central Europe, Slovakia has the fewest Protestant missionaries per capita (1 per 530,000) and Albania has the highest (1 per 18,132).
  4. Sixty-five percent of non-indigenous Protestant missionaries in East Central Europe work in Hungary, Albania, and Romania, while in the former Soviet Union 45 percent work in the Russian Republic.

Compiled by Bob Schindler, Yvonne Bedford-Adamski, and Mark Elliott.

Sources:  Patrick Johnstone, Operation World (Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan, 1993); Brian Hunter, ed., Statesman's Yearbook (New York:  St. Martin's, 1993).

 Bob Schindler, Yvonne Bedford-Adamski, and Mark Elliott, compilers, "Non-Indigenous Protestant Missionaries in Former Communist States of Eurasia," East-West Church & Ministry Report, 2 (Winter 1994), 5.

Written permission is required for reprinting or electronic distribution of any portion of the East-West Church & Ministry Report.

© 1994 Institute for East-West Christian Studies
ISSN 1069-5664

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