Who was the person that helped you put your trust in Jesus? One would think that with an atheistic background the question of faith would boil down to transitioning from unbelief to trusting Christ. But that is not the case. Those days in Russia are far gone now, and it is hard to find someone who really does not believe in God today. You are much more likely to hear from Russians nowadays that they believe in the existence of some sort of God than to meet someone who flat out denies His existence.
This gives you an important background to the story of this year’s youth retreat built around the theme “The Return of the King,” which helped teenagers and college students not only to see Christian themes in Tolkien’s famous series but also to cast their eyes on the future return of Christ. The retreat this year drew close to record numbers of participants, especially among unbelievers, meaning that these students very well may believe in the existence of God but have never put their personal trust in Jesus.
Such was the case with Eugene, whom I met when I came out for a day to our retreat this year. Eugene’s parents are friends with our church members, which is what drew him to our retreat in the first place. He loved every minute of his time at the retreat and shared with me during dinner all that he has learnt about God during his time with us. However, he was quick to add that he himself had not put his trust in Jesus yet. The retreat helped him to see the difference between a personal profession of faith and a somewhat generic acknowledgement of God’s existence. Now I wish I could tell you that during our retreat Eugene prayed and received Christ into his heart, but that was not the case. When he was given the opportunity, he said that he was not ready just yet. But this retreat became an important first step towards Christ not only for Eugene but also for dozens of others who were part of this unforgettable week.
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
P.S. We are getting ready to baptize 8 more people in September. Half of those are high school and college students that are part of our youth ministry. But that is not the only exciting news that we have in ministry. We are also getting ready to finally start our Sunday School for adults and begining in September we will be launching our capital campaign. I will share more about it in the upcoming newsletters and no, I did not forget my promise to share about another accidental chuch plant of Moscow Bible. That story is coming up!
THREE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please join us in praying for God:
- To bless us to see the kids, teenagers, and college students that went to our kids' and youth camps but who do not come to church get plugged in this year and start attending Sunday School and Youth Ministry. That God would use these camps as the first step to a truly meaningful lifelong relationship with Him.
- To richly bless our Sunday School for adults that we are launching in September. These last couple of years we have been working on materials for this Sunday School. We wanted to launch this program back in February, but then we found out that we had to move and thus the entire program was put on pause. We are finally getting back to it and launching it on September 21.
- To bring peace to Russia and Ukraine. Moreover, ask God to use this conflict by bringing reconciliation and revival to these countries.
