About Volgograd
City Profile of Volgograd, Russia (Foremerly, Stalingrad)
Population: close to 1 million (plus almost another million in the surrounding oblast)
Location: about 500 miles south of Moscow, in between Ukraine and Kazakhstan where Russia “bottle-necks” in the southwest. The city of Volgograd, one of the longest, thinnest cities in Europe, is situated along the west bank of the historic Volga river, which has been an important transportation and economic “life-line” in Russia for hundreds of years.
Vision: “to see the people of Volgograd following Jesus, in the context of Bible-believing, healthy, New-Testament churches.”
You may be more familiar with the former name of Volgograd … Stalingrad. This city once carried the name of one of the cruelest dictators in history, and during World War II another cruel dictator wanted to have it. From July 1942 until February 1943, the world held its breath to know the outcome of the fierce Battle of Stalingrad as Hitler’s Nazi army battled fiercely to capture this city on the Volga. During the 200 days and nights of this battle, urban warfare was taken to a level previously unknown, the entire city was decimated, and around one million Soviet citizens lost their lives. The Russians in Volgograd refused to surrender and finally achieved victory over the Germans. Many agree that this defining point of World War II marked the beginning of the end for Hitler’s fascism.
In 1956, after the death of Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev formally denounced Stalin and exposed the cruelty of this dictator to the world. Following this event, the name of the city was officially changed to its current form, Volgograd- celebrating the city’s long history as a Volga river port, economic, industrial, and transportation hub, and the gateway to southern Russia.
An entire generation has passed since the Russian peoples of this “Hero City” held the Germans at Russia’s southern gate, but the situation today is no less urgent. Years of a Godless, communist regime have left the million people of Volgograd hopeless. Their economic situation has been turbulent, they have seen the demise of their culture, and about 99% of them have yet to be introduced to the liberating power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as the years following WWII saw the rebuilding of the city of Volgograd’s physical infrastructure, the call goes out today to introduce these sons and daughters of Russia to King of Kings who can lift them up from the rubble of their broken lives, and give them hope.
See “Volgograd at a Glance” for more information about the city