M o s c o w – Russian Baptists are planning what is apparently the longest missionary bike tour ever. Within a period of 17 weeks, 14 athletes from Russia and Ukraine intend to pedal from the Atlantic in France to the Pacific in the Russian Far East. The tour will start on 10 May in France. The goal is Vladivostok on the Pacific, where the riders hope to arrive on 2 September. The total distance amounts to 15.000 kilometres. They will be driving between 100 and 300 kilometres per day and will be accompanied by six helpers in a small bus. Evening missionary events primarily for youth are scheduled along the route. The Ukrainian youth music group “Zhivaya Kaplya” (Living Drop) is to perform on numerous occasions.

Long-distance bike tours are nothing new for Russian Baptists. In 2005 24 groups toured through 24 regions of Russia. A year later, a group of athletes spanned the distance from Bryansk near the border with Belarus to Omsk in Siberia. These tours occur as part of the missions programme “The Gospel to the Peoples of the World”, which was introduced by the Russian Union several years ago.

Leonid Kartavenko (Moscow), Director of the church’s home missions programme, is responsible for the current tour. Katya Kolesinskaya (Moscow), a home missions staffer, gave a reason for the tour: Young people who are not believers are to be shown “what a fulfilled life without drugs can be like”. Small and forgotten Russian congregations along the way are to be encouraged. A press release states that guests are invited to drive along for a day or two.

Contact persons are: Katya Kolesinskaya: kolesinskay@gmail.com (Russian) and William Yoder: kant50@gmx.de (German and English).