Russian Christmas Church Service

Today at Cornerstone church we had a Christmas celebration service. Russian Christmas is celebrated on January 7 according to the old Orthodox calendar. There wasn't a large production or a tree or even Christmas carols. Christmas in Russia, even in churches is not that big a deal. Many protestant churches do celebrate the day though and Cornerstone did so in a traditional Russian way.

First we had a poem and songs by four mothers. these mothers are a part of the mothers cell groups. Each one is a cell group leader and each has seen their son or daughter come to Christ and be set free from drug addiction over the last two years. They are grateful to Christ and to the church.

Mothers of Former Addicts - each is a house group leader

After the moms did their thing it was time for the little kids. Cornerstone church does not yeat have a lot of children. Most of those who attend are either older couples with children in the late teens to early thirties or young couple who have not yet had children. We usually have 6-8 kids on a Sunday.

The kids sang a song and then each one had memorized a part of a story which they told one by one. It was amazing to see these innocent young kids talk about Christ. In every case at least one of their parents was a drug addict last year at Christmas time. This year they were able to celebrate Christmas with a spiritually healthy family which has been made whole by the power of Christ.

The Children of Cornerstone Church

After the children finished their part of the service, Pastor Dmirty gave a very brief sermon about the meaning of Christmas. When he finished he asked for people to come to Christ and publicly receive Him. Two people came forward for prayer, a common occurrence at this church.

To finish the morning the entire congregation shared communion. Attendance was about 140 people, probably the largest Sunday attendance of this two year old church.