REACHING THE RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SPEAKING IN NORTH AMERICA

According to US Census 2000, there were a total of 2,652,483 people in the United States that were identified as being of Russian Ancestry. Among those, in the age category of 18 years and over, 588,744 identified themselves as speaking Russian at home. In the age category of 5 to 17 years of age, there were 117,523 people. Canada also has 337,960 people that identified themselves as Russian in the 2001 Canadian Census. Ukrainian speaking. According to the 2000 US census, there are 862,762 Americans of full or partial Ukrainian descent. The States with the largest Ukrainian-American populations are New York (148,700), Pennsylvania (122,291), California (83,125), New Jersey (73,809) and Illinois (47,623). Three significantly large Ukrainian-American communities are Chicago, Illinois, Hallandale Beach, Florida, north of Miami, and Sacramento, California. In 2001 there were an estimated 1,071,060 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's eighth largest ethnic group, and giving Canada the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind Ukraine itself and Russia. Self-identified Ukrainians are the plurality in several rural areas of Western Canada. Since many people do not respond on the Census question relating to their background, a conservative estimate of Russian/Ukrainian and other Russian speaking people in North America will be around 5 million people.
Pray that the existing churches will provide for a Comprehensive Evangelism and Church Planting strategy to reach the Russian/Ukrainian and other Russian speaking people in North America.