Baby Vova Came Home Yesterday!

Yesterday, Monday, July 7, baby Vova was brought for the first time to his parents home. Although we have not seen him, we hear that he is doing well. We are so grateful to have been able to share this prayer request with all of you and to know that many did pray. Thank you. Please continue to pray for this family. The father recently requested prayer for himself. He struggles with some issues and needs encouragement.

The work on the church is moving along. Since the brickwork was completed we have had fewer helpers, but we have an American work team coming on July 19th. Bob is keeping busy with the couple of men he has to work with.

The remainder of this entry is a copy of the letter I recently sent to everyone on our maillist. If we haven't heard from you in a while, we would love to. Thanks for your prayers. They are keeping us "afloat"!


“Because of Christ a sweet fragrance we are to God, in those being saved…” 2 Corinthians 2:15 (YLT)

The 4 days of tent meetings ended this past Sunday with morning worship. As we stood there worshipping, I noticed an incense burner had been lit to repel the insects. Making its way up and out of the opening at the top of the tent, the smoke’s pleasant fragrance permeated the air.
Standing there listening to the praise of the Russian believers all around me, I had the thought, that as our praise was rising it was a spiritual fragrance, a sweet smelling offering to our God.

I began thinking about what I know about the individuals who lead the praise and worship. For me, they are no longer just the three people who lead the singing. They each are trophies of God’s grace! I see the young man, who by the grace of God has escaped the grip of sin and drug addiction to attend a year of Bible college and now leads his church in praise. I see the married lady whose husband wants nothing to do with church or God, but allows her to come to participate because she loves to sing. And I see the young woman who struggles to pay her rent, because her husband has been in prison for 7 years leaving her to work and raise their son on her own. These three lead the Reconciliation Church in praise. And their praise smells pleasantly sweet to our God! He inhabits praise!

We all know that a church is not a building, it is the people. As Christians we are sinful people who have been reconciled to God by the sacrifice of His precious son Jesus’ death on the cross. Living in an acute awareness of their innate sinfulness and God’s great love, the people of Reconciliation Church are a thankful people. And they are people with a mission. This mission determines much of what they do.

A majority of the members, having been saved from drug abuse and alcoholism, desire to share the hope and love of Jesus with their community. The church has started and currently operates 2 rehabilitation centers. God has used the success of this ministry in their community to make this church “valid” in the eyes of officials, some from as far away as Moscow. The church is also sending out people to help start new rehabilitation centers in other parts of Russia.
They have started sister churches by sending “home missionaries” to at least three other cities. In recent opportunities to teach and preach, Bob has challenged individuals, and the church as a whole, to consider reaching out to the unreached peoples of Russia. Having taken the “Perspectives” course this past year, we have learned that there are 77 different ethnic groups within Russia who have never heard the gospel! Who could best reach them, but the Russian believers themselves?

If you were to visit a Reconciliation Church service (as Richard’s team will in another week!), you will find some similarities to your own church. The service will begin with singing, then prayer and preaching. There will be opportunity to give an offering. At the front is a box designated for tithes. There will be a time for greetings and announcements. The children will meet for Sunday school. Sometimes the believers will break up into small groups and pray together. Often there will be an invitation at the end. There will be lots of fellowshipping at the beginning and again at the end. Russians love visitors.

You will also find some differences. First of all, everyone will be speaking Russian!
Many of the women will greet each other with a kiss. Brothers will hug. Someone may give you a small sheet of paper with lines and Russian words on it. This is for your prayer requests. You may deposit them in another designated box which is also at the front. If it is summertime, the Sunday school is on vacation, so the children will wander in and out during the service to find mommy or daddy for something. All of the church equipment related to music, computer, projector, offering box, etc., will be brought and set up weekly because there is no safe place to store it.

Most of the songs will be very different from anything you are familiar with and the words are, of course, Russian! With every prayer and every song, you will be asked to stand. Often the greeting is a short sermon in itself. After more singing, special music and perhaps a testimony, someone will preach. This is not always Pastor Roma. Sometimes it is a visiting preacher or another local pastor. Next there will be a testimony, or a poem, a solo, and then more singing! After another prayer, the second preacher will come. This may be Pastor Roma. The announcements will come at the end. They will appear on the screen and will be read to you. Smaller groups of the believers will be getting together for something almost every night of the week.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that as a member of Reconciliation Church, you will go home from the meeting not knowing where or how your church will meet next week. After the renovation of the theater, will the officials grant permission for the church to rent the hall again? Will some part of the new building be finished before winter so that the church can meet there? You will trust that God will make a way.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but in actions and in truth.” I John 3:16-18

If you would like to join in showing God’s love to the people of Siberia, you may do so by contacting:

SEND International, PO Box 513, Farmington, MI 48332 /Phone: 248-477-4210 /www.send.org