News, stories and photos from our ministry in Russia, and our life in general.
Matt 16:25 "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. [NASB] Luke 18:29-30 So He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life."
[NKJV]
Always good to read about your activities in Russia.
I've always wondered about the attitude of the Russian Orthodox church to missionary activites by 'non-indigenous' churches. They have always appeared to me to be quite nationalistic in their outlook, especially with their resurgence after the collapse of the communist state.
Do you find them easy to work alongside? Feel free to ignore this question!
Chris - we have not had any personal problems with the ROC. We have residency status in Russia and are know legally as missionaries.
Officially there is separation of church and state in Russia, but in practice it is different. Protestants are typically viewed as sects and there are sometimes physical attacks upon protestant churches. We know of a Russian Baptist church which was recently burnt down.
On the other end, the Russian church that we work with was just given possession of a building that they can remodel into a church building which will seat at least 300 people. The city government gave the building to them. This church does a lot of social work with the homeless, drug addicts and prisoners, so this probably helped how the government views them.
It is difficult to work with a group which considers you a heretic at worst and at best, a member of a sect. The ROC basically demands that you submit to their authority if you want to work "cooperatively".
Glad to hear it's working well for you and the churches you work with.
I was looking recently at some photos of the Russian airborne Forces Day and the ROC priests and deacons were leading the soldiers, with some soldiers carrying icons. Such a contrast to communist times!
3 comments:
Always good to read about your activities in Russia.
I've always wondered about the attitude of the Russian Orthodox church to missionary activites by 'non-indigenous' churches. They have always appeared to me to be quite nationalistic in their outlook, especially with their resurgence after the collapse of the communist state.
Do you find them easy to work alongside? Feel free to ignore this question!
Chris - we have not had any personal problems with the ROC. We have residency status in Russia and are know legally as missionaries.
Officially there is separation of church and state in Russia, but in practice it is different. Protestants are typically viewed as sects and there are sometimes physical attacks upon protestant churches. We know of a Russian Baptist church which was recently burnt down.
On the other end, the Russian church that we work with was just given possession of a building that they can remodel into a church building which will seat at least 300 people. The city government gave the building to them. This church does a lot of social work with the homeless, drug addicts and prisoners, so this probably helped how the government views them.
It is difficult to work with a group which considers you a heretic at worst and at best, a member of a sect. The ROC basically demands that you submit to their authority if you want to work "cooperatively".
Glad to hear it's working well for you and the churches you work with.
I was looking recently at some photos of the Russian airborne Forces Day and the ROC priests and deacons were leading the soldiers, with some soldiers carrying icons. Such a contrast to communist times!
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