Happy St.Patrick's day! Sadly this day came to be associated with everything roudy and green but it is probably better remembered as a day of a tremendous cultural transformation brought by the Holy Spirit through Patrick. And the same Holy Spirit is alive and active today. Do you remember the story of your baptism? I remember mine as if it was yesterday though it was 31 years ago. One of the first things that our church did when we moved to St.Peter and Paul Lutheran Cathedral was purchase a baptistry. Baptisms were very rare at our church at that point and to a certain extent this was an act of faith – we were eagerly awaiting for the Lord to move and for us to hold baptisms on the regular basis. Twelve years later I can see how God has honored that step. We are still far from our goal of baptising every month but we do baptise new believers once a quarter now on the regular basis.
Just before the Lent started we had a chance to baptise five new believers and what was special about them is that they came to know the Lord in our youth ministry. Each had a unique path. Some were raised by Christian parents in our church. Some came to our church and found their faith here. One story was rather unique. It is a story of a young man named Emil. He is tatar which a muslim group in Russia. Half his family is Christian and attends our church. Half is Muslim and was vehemently opposed to him being baptised. They were ready to allow him to come to church as long as he does not get baptised. So it was very special to see his decision to put his trust in the Lord and to share about this decision by being baptised couple weeks ago. Here is a link to all the pictures from our recent baptiism.
If the Lord allows us we will have another baptism before Easter. I was approached recently after the church service by a young lady. Her name is Victoria. She started coming to our church about 4 months ago and on that Sunday she wanted to pray with me because she desired to put her faith in Jesus. But she did not have a chance to be baptised just yet so I hope we will baptise her before Easter.
Thank you so much for your prayerful support of our ministry! These baptisms would be impossible without you!
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
PS Thank you for your prayers for a new place for us. I wish I could give you a definete answer right now but at this point I can only ask you to pray and to pray specifically this coming Wednesday for a very important meeting between the Lutheran Archbishop who oversees the Lutheran church in Russia and his bishop who is actually in charge of central Russia and who oversees St.Peter and Paul Cathedral. The Archbishop would love to keep us at this location. He really likes our church, he has heard a lot of great things about us and actually sees a value in having a modern liturgy at St.Peter and Paul. The bishop though does not want to keep us and would like for us to leave. Please pray that the Lord would soften bishop's heart and that we would be permitted to stay and continue our ministry at St.Peter and Paul.
As I mentioned before this is not the only direction we are taking. I have met with the pastor of St.Andrew's Anglican Church in Moscow before he left on a month long vacation. He will return in early April. I am looking forward to speaking with him more on the possibility of us renting St.Andrew's. Also we are looking at various lofts and conference centers in Moscow. So your prayers at this time for a location for our worship services are greatly appreciated.
THREE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please join us in praying for God:
- To grant us favor with the Lutherans and/or Anglicans in Moscow so that we could either retain our home at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral and/or move to St. Andrews Cathedral in Moscow. These two locations offer great opportunities for outreach and we would love to be in a position to take advantage of that. That is why I mentioned specifically these two churches.
- 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 Lent season. This coming Saturday our youth ministry will have a very special St.Patrick's Outreach. And that is just one of many activities that we have planned for this special Lent season. We have done our part in preparation and we now patiently wait for the Lord to send His Spirit and touch many hearts through our services and events during Lent season.
