Key Takeaways from Russia, pt.1
Russia was a life changing experience for me. Travelling is always a positive occurrence because you can compare and contrast cultures. Each time I leave the United States I return loving my country even more, but always being changed by a new land. Travelling on a mission trip is special because you get to experience what God is doing in another land. God is doing great things in Russia.
Russia is a special country with a proud and great history. The Church in Russia has a unique power that was solidified in a special way under the persecution of the Soviet Union. I tear up recalling the stories of teachers mocking their Baptist pupils, and government officials taking away Christian children from their parents, and pastors being torn from their families and churches and tossed into jail for years. This suffering created a dependence upon God and an understanding of the power of the gospel that few in the West understand.
Upon the fall of the Soviet Union a revival took place in Russia. Most of the believers we met were converted in the years between 1990 and 1993. The Church before the fall was about preservation, now Russia’s Church is about expansion. After the fall, a large portion of the Russian Baptists immigrated to countries like Germany and the United States. As a result, many leaders in the Baptist Union feel they are in a rebuilding process.
I am thankful for the historical study I have done the past couple of years on the British Baptists of the 17th Century. I keep comparing these Russian brothers to that period of church history as a movement began, expanded, and solidified. In the Leningrad region we are seeing churches planted and physical needs being meet. I only wish there was an avenue for the West to hear the stories of this movement and be influenced by these courageous and thoughtful leaders. I also wish theological education was more readily available as it is in the United States. Finally, I pray for another revival in Russia, like the one they experienced in the early 1990’s.
