----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 5:09 AM
Subject: FEBRUARY REPORT
VORONEZH
Dear Brothers
and sisters,
In the last 3
weeks our God has brought so many great changes in the Voronezh Church that it
is impossible to keep this report short.
We decided to split the church into 5 small groups that
have an average of a dozen people or so. We did so to better reach out to
non-Christians and especially to better meet the needs of our members. The
groups are the following: one on the left bank, one in the south-west, one in
the center, one small group made only of students and the other one for only the
deaf and mute. ( we have about 15 of them). It was decided that every one of
these small groups will have more or less the autonomy to meet whenever they
wanted, and teach according to their needs. Each group has one leader whose
responsibility is to take care of all the members within his group and develop
new leaders as the group grows numerically. The present group leaders are:
Valodia, Vladik, Skritski, Sergei and Yves. Valodia is working with the
deaf and mute. Practically, that means that we have stopped all the
meetings that were going on during the week. From now on all the activities,
prayer requests and needs of
each individual will be met in those small groups. The reaction to the change
has been surprisingly positive: There are twice as many people coming to the
small groups than before when we had only one study open to the whole church at
midweek. The reason is primarly geographical. Most members now have a
group meeting very close to their home helping them save the cost of lengthy and
expensive (for them) transportation. We are very confident that such the
change will help the whole church to grow in quality and quantity.
The greatest change
of all, however, is that our God has answered all our prayers and He has brought
a deep spiritual renewal. The leaders and many in the church have been feeling a
lack of zeal and vision for the past few months. God has helped us to realize
that there is absolutely nothing we can do by ourselves and that He can do
amazing things through us if we are willing to believe Him. That has led us to a
complete change in our prayer life. What has been the most incredible is not so
much that all of us leaders spend at least one hour a day in the presence of
God, but that we have found joy in it. That truly is the essence of
prayer.
Because of this
change, during the last 3 weeks God has gone ahead of us and turned many
problems to His Glory :
For instance, for the last three
or more months, Volodia Karlinski had been suffering from a severe and special
form of laringitis. He had taken all the medicine and care that was prescribed
but his voice was not improving. In fact, he had reached a point where he could
not even whisper without pain. The doctors told him that he would need an
operation followed by a several months of shots and "silence". That was not only
bad news because he is a preacher and song leader, but because the doctors gave
no guaranty that his voice would ever recover. At that time, we leaders had been
meditating on the connection between Mark 11:22-24 and James 4:2, and so he
decided to ask God to heal him. As he whispered his prayer with faith ( he could
not talk outloud), he started to feel God's healing power, and within a few
minutes his voice was completely restored. As this happened, he went on to sing
praises to our God for the following 2 hours ! He later went to the doctor who
was surprised that the problem had disappeared and surgery was no longer
necessary.
There were two
couples in the Church who had very serious problems in their marriages. In one
couple, the wife was feeling so bad that she was just about to leave, and in the
other couple, the husband had already left his wife and sent her the papers of
divorce ! We prayed earnestly, talked to them and God answered our prayers !
Today both couples are reunited and doing wonderful. I can still hear this
brother saying to me: " This is just incredible how God has turned our marriage
around. Last Thursday as we celebrated her birthday, she said to me it was the
best one she has had in the last 10 years ! "
That spiritual
renewal has led us recently to preach a new message of HOPE. Russia is heavily
influenced in the culture by a very pessimistic view which says we cannot be
sure that God forgives all sins; that it is our destiny to suffer; that it is
impossible to prosper and to be Christian at the same time. The basic view of
the Russian Orthodox Church is that we are slaves of God and that we must suffer
in this life in order to be purified and please God. With such a pessimistic
view it is no wonder why so many Russians are so hopeless ! It is no wonder why
40% of the Russian population is plagued with alcoholism !
We have found as well that too many of our Russian Christians are also
influenced by this pessimistic attitude. They will say " Yes, I know that God
has forgiven me, but that is all I can be sure of in this life. Heaven is not
here and now, but only when I die ! " With such an attitude in life, they have
little hope for themselves and none to offer to the lost ! So we decided
to counteract that attitude and preach a message of HOPE. We now preach both to
Christians and non-Christian a message emphasizing 5 points:
1. God forgives
you all your sins
2. God delivers you from all your
bad habits
3. God can heal you from your
sicknesses
4. God can make you prosper in all
your ways
5. God gives you true
friends
We are not preaching the
"prosperity Gospel", but a message of hope. Russia is in such need of hope ! We
preach that God forgives all sins because many are plagued with guilt,
especially those who are alcoholic ( it is a well known fact that most
alcoholics drink because they feel guilty ). We preach deliverance with the Holy
Spirit because many are in the bondage of alcohol (40%) and/or terrible marriage
habits ( over 60% of the Russians marry twice in life) We preach that God can
heal in answer to prayer because many sick have no hope because they have no
money ( and for those who have more money, they have little hope anyway because
Russian hospitals have no money ! ). We preach that God wants to bless us
materially, because many who live in poverty have not only no hope for tomorow,
but they think that God wants them to remain miserable for the rest of their
lives. We preach that God wants to give us true friends because many are lonely
and long to have real friends they can trust.
Sometimes I hear Christians say:
"repent or you will go to hell ! " The truth is that many Russians are already
experiencing hell in this world, and they really don't care what will happen
after. What they need is not judgement, but a piece of heaven on this earth.
They need to hear a strong message of hope. This message is our Savior JESUS who
came to give us LIFE to the FULL.
We have already started to see the
faith building results of that teaching.
Finally, let me have
Volodia Karlinski tell you as well some of what he has experienced
recently:
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
I'd like to tell you
about the great things God has done in our Church lately.
In my last report, I
wrote you about that old couple who started to come to our Church. I also told
you about their 2 alcoholic sons who were often beating them. Well, three weeks
ago this old couple brought their older son, Alexander, to Church. Tired of his
life, he came to our Sunday service with the hope that God would help him give
up that life long habit. When we asked if anyone needed prayers, he got up in
front of all and we prayed intensely for God to deliver him from this evil force
in his life. Right after this, he started to study the Bible and two weeks
later, on March 5th, he was baptized. Praise the Lord ! He says that since
the first time he came and we prayed for him, he has not had the slightest
desire to drink any more. (before this, he drank every day and was in a state of
drunkeness most of the time ). God's power is so obvious ! Alexander has shown
us the seriousness of his decision, both by his words and actions. He has not
missed a single worship service nor a small group study, and even has become a
student in the Saturday Bible course. In fact, he has already invited all his
alcoholic friends saying to them:" Come to that church, they will love you, pray
for you and God will deliver you ! " We believe that his whole family will soon
be saved.
Personally, other
exciting and surprising news is the Sunset Bible course which I am teaching for
our potential elders and those who wish to have a deep Bible knowledge. The
theme is "the Distinctive Nature of the Church". Every Saturday over a dozen
people come to study the Word of God ! I have been encouraged to see that so
many people wanting to study the Bible seriously, not fearing the tests and
exams ! It's a blessing to have Christians with a spiritual hunger like
that.
I would like to add
one final thought: when I see how God has so quickly and so deeply changed the
life of Alexander, it is very convicting of what God can do. Often we don't
allow God to do the things He wants to do, because we don't believe He can do
them, and so we don't even ask. We are becoming more and more convinced here in
Voronezh that God will do even greater things than what we have just seen. Only
our lack of faith can prevent Him of doing great things. "Ask, and it will be
given to you ", says our Lord.
Thank you very much
for your prayers and support. We really feel blessed.
In His
service,
Volodia
Karlinski