Carelinks | Russia

It was at a Moscow Bible School in 2002 that we baptized a married couple, Andrej and Tatyana, from a small town near Rostov in southern Russia. They placed adverts in their local newspaper, resulting in the baptism of Sergej in 2006. They raised their daughter Veronika in the knowledge of the Lord and we baptized her at another Bible School in Ukraine a few years ago. Now she is a university student, holding to the faith. Sergej raised his daughter Karina in the Lord, and now at 19 it was our pleasure to meet together for a delightful time of Bible study and fellowship, and baptize her. The daily reading of the Bible according to the Bible Companion was a big factor in the conversion of these young people and for all of them in maintaining their faith.

We rented a sauna with a convenient plunge pool and had a very intense time of Christcentred fellowship. Andrej brought tears to our eyes by bringing out some Sunday School pictures of Moses which the girls had drawn when they were very small and they had done Bible lessons together.

The production of literature and making it available in digital form has also been highly significant in the spiritual growth of this lovely group. Many folks these days don’t have a computer; they just have a phone or tablet. This is in practice how many are reading the Bible and our literature. Russia is changing, in some ways moving back to the spirit of the old Soviet days. Pictured right is a splendidly preserved statue of Lenin in central Rostov.

The Lord’s hand was again evident in that we had initially planned to arrive in Rostov on the very day of the plane crash there, which claimed the lives of 62 people. In fact we were one of the first flights allowed to land after the debris had been cleared from the runway. Our original plans wouldn’t have worked out as the airport was closed for 2 days afterwards. So we can only give thanks, that the word we preach doesn’t return in vain; and that all the huge effort and expense in producing and distributing literature, press adverts and running Bible Schools over the years has brought forth fruit that remains. Please continue to support this work- it definitely has God’s blessing behind it.

Bro Andy addressing the group in a hotel conference room

The new legislation signed in to power in Russia is very serious. No religious literature may be produced without prior registration [which the Government is only granting to the Orthodox churches]; and an American who entered Russia on a tourist visa to visit Christians has been arrested, imprisoned and is now being deported*. This means that Russia has returned to a more aggressive stance against Protestant Christians than even in the 1980s. All meetings however small and attempts to evangelize by Russian citizens, even via email or the internet, are now forbidden. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Russia facing this terrible situation.

*More information: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2197