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.

Visit to a Russian School

Russian School Classroom

On December 28 we visited a school in the city of Zavolzha. We were invited there by our friend Natalia, who is an English teacher. She asked us to visit her class to meet and speak with her first year students. Several of her students had been questioning the need for them to study English, so she said she would introduce them to some "real Americans", with whom they could speak.

It took nearly two hours to drive to Zavolzha. Once we arrived we were greeted at the door with a noisy crowd of Jr High students who all wanted to see us and say "Hello, my name is ...." in English.

Once we were actually in the classroom we were surrounded by students who wanted us to either sign their notebooks, or in many cases to actually sign our names on there arms! Young kids are so much fun, like a pack of young happy puppies. We spent our time in class hearing a spelling be, listening to some English language presentations and listening to several songs.

Russian Teachers

After the class we were invited to have tea with several of the advanced students and their teachers. It is impossible to actually evangelize in a Russian school but we believe that these times if relationship building are important. Natalia is not a believer but she knows that we are missionaries. We have had several short discussions with her about faith and we are praying that she will open her heart to receive the love of our Savior.

As you read this story please pray for Natalia, here students and the millions of Russian children who have little opportunity to here a clear presentation of the Gospel in a way that they can understand it.


Table Set for Tea

Our Friend Natalia

We Give You Our Hearts

As missionaries we often ask ourselves if we are really having an impact with the work we do. Traditional ways of measuring effectiveness include people expressing faith in Christ, water baptisms or churches started.

How we touch people’s lives in other ways is often difficult to measure. This month we have had opportunity to see that we are impacting lives here in Russia.

December 30^th was Michael’s birthday. In Russian churches if you have a birthday you are asked to come to the front of the church and everyone prays for you and you might also receive a gift. For Michael’s birthday he was presented this balloon sculpture. The large center balloon is filled with smaller heart balloons.

When the gift was presented he was told, “Michael, we didn’t know what to give you, so we decided to give you our hearts.” We received this gift as evidence of how we have been received here in Russia and how our work has impacted this church.

Another fun gift that Michael received was his own Banya hat and a bunch of oak branches which he will dip into hot water and use to beat himself and someone else with while in the banya.

Freed From a Life of Crime & Hopelessness

Here is another testimony of someone set free by the power of a Risen Savior!

This is Sasha who recently graduated from the first 3 months of rehab.

He said that nothing worried him because he had no principles and no purpose for living. He simply existed. He had been a drug addict and criminal for more than a decade. His life included crime and enslavement to drugs with multiple jail and prison terms. Because the people of the church came to him on the street and introduced him to Christ, today he is drug free and continuing on into the second course of rehabilitation.

Homeless No More!

Alexei was a homeless alcoholic for 17 years. His mother-in-law, however, was a believer and despite the fact that Alexei divorced her daughter she continued to pray for him to yield his life to Christ. This summer he entered the Cornerstone Church social center. Slowly he began to change as daily Bible studies, fellowship, encouragement, help with getting a job and a place to ‘come home to,’ gave him the desire to change his former, hopeless lifestyle.

On the day that he testified in church he was almost jumping up and down with joy for the new life he has found in Christ. Practically the entire church was in tears as his mother-in-law came forward and hugged him and he thanked her for her faith and continual prayers on his behalf.