Sorry for this rather extended silence.
- No, I have not fallen of the face of the earth.
- No, the ministry was not shut down.
- No, the church was not closed by the government.
- No, I was not arrested.
Some of you may be wondering about that last part. The pressure on denominational leaders was rather real in the early stages of war to come out in support of the war. My close friend who was the head of a large protestant union in Russia had to flee the country because of it and more than likely will not return any time soon. But that pressure did not trickle down to local pastors. We, as protestants, may still feel the effects of it in the ensuing years but for now everything is fine. As much as it can be fine with the nearby country drowning in blood and destruction.
This was just an unfortunate effect of a woke company (Intuit, parent company of Mailchimp) deciding that it will shut down all Russian accounts because of the war in Ukraine without any warning whatsoever.
As a result, I lost the database of contacts. Given the whirlwind of events it took me a while to gather up necessary information and move it to our church’s platform for communication. So, I wanted to drop a quick note and let you know briefly what I am going to share in the next few weeks in our newsletters:
- Miracle of Mariupol: the story of two sons who were rescued and spared by God in the carnage of war. This story also shows just how complicated this conflict is from the personal standpoint for Russians and Ukrainians.
- Praying for a New Home: we are looking to purchase our own place for the first time since we were married about 10 years ago. My grandmother recently passed away leaving us with an apartment that we can sell. But we are still looking to raise some extra funds.
- State of the Church: a lot of you were asking me how is the church doing? How did Moscow Bible survive the waves of pandemic? How is the congregation doing during war? Well, I am finally ready to give some answers.
- Putin and Nebuchadnezzar: this is my personal take on how to pray for the government even when you deeply disagree with its course of action.
- Mission Kazan: our youth ministry just returned from Kazan and I wanted to share briefly about this exciting trip.
- Our work with the Refugees: this may come a little bit as a surprise to you but there are close to 1 million people that have closed the border with Russia from Ukraine in the last 6 months. Some of them have moved on to Europe since. But many are still in the country.
Perhaps you have unsubscribed from our mailing list a while back and are wondering why I am contacting you. Please forgive me. As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to recreate a mailing list from scratch. Just hit the “unsubscribe” button below if that is the case or just hit reply and let me know that you do not want to be on this list.
Otherwise stayed tuned for some exciting news from Moscow. After all we could all use a bit of good news coming from Russia these days.
From Russia with Christ's love,
Constantin on behalf of me and and Alexandra Lysakov
PS By the way folks in our church are partners at this amazing Norwegian company so if you have any needs in regard to building a website, dealing with the content management system or database. So if you, your company or your church are looking for someone in this area please do check out Kommunion and if need be I will personally introduce you to these guys.
Please join us in praying for God:
- To bring peace to Ukraine and Russia.
- To bring these two young men and their girlfriends to saving knowledge of Jesus.
- To bless our youth and kids camps that are starting in a couple of weeks.
GIVING THROUGH ICC-E (INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES OF EURASIA):
You can donate to the Lysakovs’ ministry via ICC-E by check or autopay from your bank (see address below), or with your credit card via the ICC-E web site http://icceurasia.com/
Website: http://icceurasia.com
Email: icc.eurasia@gmail.com:
Mailing Address:
ICC-Eurasia
P.O. Box 34035
Bethesda, MD 20827-0035
Phone +1 (301) 514-7433
