Who will you invite to join you for a Christmas church service this year? A week ago I began sharing how this August we started talking about a new monumental challenge for us – evangelism. We, as a church, do not share the Gospel nearly as much as we should. It is not a question of putting together some evangelistic events (we have been doing that), nor is it a question of offering teaching on the subject (we will have a 7-part series on that in January and February right before Lent). It is not even a question of a comprehensive strategy that would encompass all these elements. Our goal is to create a culture of evangelism in our church where sharing the Gospel is an integral part of both everything that the church does and everything that each member in the church is committed to.
Like Elijah, we are “building an altar” right now and we are already seeing how God is answering. We have had more and more visitors who not only come to 1 or 2 services, but who stick around and commit their lives to the Lord. About a month ago, we had a 16-year-old high school student, Nikita, who came for the first time. He spent about an hour talking to our youth pastor before the service. After that he signed up for baptism, and the following Sunday he came back to church with his friend, Andrey. That is but one example of over a dozen stories like that that we have seen over the last 3 months.
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
THREE THINGS TO PRAY FOR:
Please join us in praying for God:
- To bring peace to Ukraine and Russia. Moreover, ask God to use this conflict by bringing reconciliation and revival to both countries.
- To bless our Candlelight service with many newcomers who will commit to the Lord and will join the church as a result of it. Our candlelight service during Christmas Eve is one of the best opportunities to invite our friends, relatives, neighbors, and colleagues to church. Every year it is a huge hit. Just about everyone in our church knows what a great opportunity it is and is striving to take advantage of it. However, I do not take it for granted that this church service will be well attended this year. It would be great to see God use this service not only to bring people to church for the first time, but also to bring these people into a loving and saving relationship with Himself.
- To provide the necessary resources for us to finish up remodeling our new place. We have moved in, but could not purchase a coat closet for the entryway, book shelves, or shelves for the closet.
