In the Caucasus, a project is underway to reach three least-reached people groups with the good news of Christ in their heart languages.
Members of the OM team in the Caucasus are translating a series of Bible stories into the minority languages of three people groups who live in small villages in Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The project includes creating audio recordings of Bible stories in the Lezgian, Xinaliq (Khinalug) and Tat languages to share in house churches and discipleship groups. Recording is underway, and the team plans to finish by summer 2025.
Each Bible story was specifically selected to help share God's redemption plan. Due to the small number of Lezgian, Xinaliq (Khinalug) and Tat speakers, many people have never heard the good news of Christ.
Lezgian is spoken by about one million people, while Tat, which has two distinct varieties — Muslim and Jewish — has about 100,000 speakers and is classified as 'severely endangered*'. The translation team is working with the Muslim variety of the language. Xinaliq is spoken by just 1,000 people and is classified as a 'definitely endangered*' language. In recent years, the road leading to the villages where it is spoken has fallen into disrepair, leaving the area mostly isolated.
Pray for the translation team, that they would be accurate in conveying not only the words but the true meaning of the stories.
Pray for all technical aspects of the project to go smoothly and work well, from initial recordings to reproductions and the equipment that the people groups will finally play the recordings on.
Pray that God will open the hearts of the Lezgi, Xinaliq and Tat people through these stories so that the door will be open for further discussions about the gospel message.
*Language statistics from the UNESCO World Atlas of Languages 2025