Regheta News

                         











    The content of this work is mostly derived from two separate interviews, but other sources were consulted as well.  One interview was taken with Leonid Regheta, a missionary who is currently working in St. Petersburg, Russia and is commissioned to work there as the only fulltime representative of the Evangelical Covenant Church.  The second interview was taken with Pastor Andrew Berdishev, a bishop over the Pentecostal churches of the Sverdlovsk region in Ural, Russia.  Pastor Andrew is also overseeing all missionary activity in the entire region of Ural.  This work will attempt to give a proper view on the current situation in missionary ministry of Protestant churches in Russia.  The purpose of this work is not an exhaustive overview of all that is happening with the Protestant churches in Russia, but rather to give a “snapshot” of some of the issues and realities that are commonly faced by the Protestant churches as they attempt to fulfill the task of the Great Commission. 
    Throughout this work the Protestant denomination churches, such as Baptist, Pentecostal, and Charismatic will be referred to as a “church” or “a Protestant church”.  Some background information on Protestant Churches will be overviewed as well as past experiences in missionary work, present evangelism attempts, current issues and struggles and some suggestions will be offered. 

    One of the famous Russian poets remarked once about the impossibility of understanding Russia with the mind.  “You can only believe in Russia,” he asserted.  There are many paradoxes within Russian people that defy logical explanation and can only be grasped with faith.  The Russian Evangelical community has been in existence for about 140 years.  At the end of 19th century, first converts to baptism began meeting in private homes and lounges among St. Petersburg’s elite intelligentsia class.  In the 1920s, the Asuza Street phenomenon reached Ukraine and Russia as well and quickly began spreading throughout lower classes of the society.  As the Russian Evangelical community grew and matured, it began to distance itself from the initial western influences and instead, found itself influenced by the significant and uniquely Russian cultural and ethnological factors. High prominence of authoritarian rule, culturally embedded Orthodox piety with its emphasis on mysticism, and continuous persecutions, spanning from Czarist to the Communist regimes, significantly influenced the Russian Evangelical Christian community of today.  “The most potent driving force in Russian history has been neither the sentimental xenophobia of bearded Slavophils nor the pursuit of American-style happiness, but a deep-seated conviction that the Russian state is destined for greatness, power and respect.  That has been true whether Russia aspired to being an empire, a utopia or a presidential republic” (Author Unknown).

    Russian churches were in great isolation from the secular culture for a period of 70 years due to the harsh persecution that was afflicted by the Communists.  Church services were held, but some churches had to sit around a table with biscuits, sandwiches, and cups of tea.  But this big table was nothing but decoration for the secret police.  If they would break in, it's a party.  The main purpose was to study the Bible and pray.  That was the church culture during the Communist rule. 
No overt outreach was ever allowed during the Soviet days as all types of religious activities were fiercely persecuted.  However, that didn't stop many Christians from sharing their faith.  Birthday parties, funeral processions, labor projects were among some of the creative ways used by evangelical churches to reach out to their neighbors, friends and coworkers.  For instance, a funeral procession from a home to the cemetery, accompanied by loud orchestra, flower wreaths with photos, texts and signs was/is a big part of the cultural tradition.  Christians would use this procession to sing Christian hymns, play their music and outright preach the gospel (especially at the cemetery).  No KGB officers dared to stop such a procession.  In fact, most funerals had more outreach sermons than eulogizing the dead!
Same goes for weddings.  Many of weddings had big tents constructed specifically for this big day.  KGB officers couldn't prohibit people from getting married, so this was a great opportunity for Christians to invite their friends and neighbors into a Christian fellowship where, once again, many of the sermons (it was not unusual to have 3 sermons as part of the wedding celebration BEFORE the couple was married) were very evangelistic in their emphasis.
    After the big changes of perestroika and glasnost, many of the evangelical churches jumped at the opportunity to go out into the local parks, streets, squares and other public areas to preach the good news of God.  Leonid Regheta recalls that every Sunday evening, a group of youth would gather at the busiest park in town and with guitars in their hands, they would sing several Christian tunes and then someone would preach a short sermon about God, His grace and love, and invite people to come to the church.  Leonid also remembers police showing up, trying to disband such “illegal” gatherings.  Still, many churches persevered and used newly found freedom to do what their parents and grandparents could only dream of doing: proclaim the message of Good News to all people around them.
    According to Pastor Andrew, official and correct statistics on church growth in Russia do not really exist.  But he suggests that during Communism regime churches were growing usually at the rate of .5% per year.  This growth is mainly credited to the birth of children in Christian families.  In the 90’s church experienced booming growth.  The rate of church growth during that time was in the range of 50% – 200% per year.  This was due to the fact that Communist rule was broken and churches were granted freedom to preach the Gospel in public areas.  Today we see that the rate of church growth noticeably slowed down.  Andrew’s estimate of today’s church growth is at 1% - 2% per year.



    Big events, Billy Graham-type evangelistic outreach programs no longer work as efficiently today in Russia.  Stadiums, conference halls or huge "Houses of Culture" are no longer utilized as much by the evangelical Christians since people no longer express great interest to come to these massive events.  But to make them more effective today some of the mass evangelism services are done by means of using various assisting methods.  Near-Christian themes are used, but during such gatherings people are being informed about church, God and repentance.  Especially successful are actions against drugs, abortions, immoral lifestyles and other similar contemporary social issues.
    Mass evangelism is one of the less efficient methods of missionary work in Russia today. The costs that are associated with rental of buildings, halls, stadiums, and other places where a large crowd of people could be gathered have significantly increased.  In the past many places where available for free use, or for a very small fee.  This was because the real estate value was not realized and many buildings were not occupied or used at all.  During Communist rule these places were under the government’s control, care and use.  After communism fell, many of these places became vacant and management was happy to have anybody use them.  New Russian businessmen realizing potential in real estate and other profitable ventures are investing large amounts of money into remodeling and reconstruction of such buildings making them more suitable for their business purposes.  This fact is driving the rental costs up “through the roof” which makes mass evangelism much more expensive than before.

    Many Russians are tired of the talk.  They want to see the deeds.  They have heard enough of different church groups, denominations, sects and even occults coming in and proclaiming their “truths”.  Even Russian-born and bred religious movements are not trusted until they prove themselves with actions and life's commitment. 
    However, instead of scaring evangelical Christians, they feel this actually gives an opportunity for authentic ministry and outreach.  Consequently, many churches and mission groups have been reaching out to orphans and street kids.  Statistics suggest orphaned children in Russia are facing incredible odds.  They suffer from high rates of alcohol, drug and sexual abuse. Many get involved in crime, organized gangs and prostitution. Others end up dead.  Christians minister to this much marginalized and often forgotten group of people.
    Most Christian leaders of Russia observe that an untapped opportunity for Russian evangelicals lies in pairing social ministry and gospel outreach.  “We can really change the country through social work," Rev. Igor Nikitin (President of the Association of Christian Churches of Russia (ACCR)) says, citing missionary work in overcrowded prisons as an example.  Russia's largest prison, known as the "Crosses," was built for 1,000 but now houses 10,000 inmates. Prisoners sleep in shifts.  Some have asphyxiated in their cells because of extremely poor air quality.  ACCR and Dan Johnson of the New Life Satellite Radio have teamed up to provide 1,000 speakerphones in the Crosses Prison, allowing daily communication with inmates.  The city’s mayor was so impressed with these efforts that he offered an agreement with one evangelical church for its input into all community activities. "We feel like the social work of the church," Nikitin says, "is bringing a new wave of understanding to the Russian people that the church is the answer."  St Petersburg-based TBN-Russia and New Life Radio in Russia are close to reaching their goal of providing satellite receivers to every prison in Russia, Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia so that inmates can listen and watch Christian programming.  Prison authorities have taken note of the positive effect it has on prisoners, seeing the many who were saved.
    Church-run drug rehabilitation centers and ministry to the families of drug addicts and alcoholics have brought more people to Christ and into the evangelical churches in the last seven years than any other outreach ministry.  Churches are successful in reaching out and helping drug addicts because they are in the position to deal with physical, social and spiritual addiction, unlike hospitals or few federal drug rehab programs. 
    With Russia recently securing its bid to host 2014 Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi, coupled with strong supports for all sports coming from the Russian President, sport is once again viewed as a very important part of life in Russia.  Many evangelical churches use these sentiments to reach out to their neighborhoods by organizing soccer matches, table tennis tournaments, basketball games, tennis camps, etc. 
    According to Leonid Regheta, music is also perceived as an opportunity to connect with teens and youth.  Youth for Christ, for instance, based in St Petersburg, Russia, has been organizing various music concerts as part of its Campus Club ministry.  This approach has been very successful in bringing a whole group of young people to the local evangelical churches.

    Russian people view spiritual things as belonging to very personal, deep and intimate spheres of life.  Many refuse to even discuss spiritual views under the pretense of those not being part of the cognitive and rational comprehension.  All of this means that heart-to-heart outreach methods are more effective and even efficient than anything else.  Even when something like a Christian music concert is organized and announced, the probability of non-Christians attending would be much higher if they are invited by their Christian friends.  This may sound banal and obvious, but it stands in stark contrast to the early 1990's when a simple announcement or two of the upcoming Christian event would bring thousands if not tens of thousands of curious people to the rented facility.  So, the bottom line is simple: Russian people will respond to your Christian testimony much better if you drink tea with them until 3:00 am or spend a few quality evenings together at a local sauna, while beating each other with birch tree branches.
    Personal evangelism is more successful for some of the following reasons.  Personal evangelism is being done by using personal relationships with non-believers.  Every person has acquaintances, co-workers, classmates who do not know God personally.  Use of such natural and friendly ties really helps in evangelizing. 
    Luke 6:5 – 7:  And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
    “A son of peace” – is a person who is open for contact with Christians.  In Pastor Andrew’s experience of almost 15 years, in any township where he happened to be part of missionary work, there were people who would invite their team into their homes, where in casual settings they were able to share their faith.  The Bible calls these kinds of people “sons of peace”.  In his practice, Pastor Andrew was more attentive to men who would express an interest in the faith.  This was because there is great possibility that these men would most likely become the very first members of that local church.  At first he would have to give them a lot of attention and time, but later these very people, if they are trained and taught right, will be spreading the Good News through their town or village.  We see an example of it recorded in the New Testament that is illustrated well in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.  Jesus paid great attention to the problems of her personal life, and then as a result she went and started to tell others about what happened.  She shared with others about the Person who met her where she was and was able to give her “living water” (John 4).  It was neither Jesus nor the disciples that went and preached, but it was the Samaritan woman who was preaching to people that she was in contact with in that town. 
    Most likely it is people who are in some sort of need and struggle that will be in this category of the initial contact person.  Usually it is the people who are going through troubles of life that are more friendly and receptive to the Good News of the Gospel.  Typically “sons of peace” can be found among the poorer population, elderly, immigrants, and people of different nationality, single mothers, single people, and teenagers. 
    Another reason why personal evangelism is more effective is because it requires much less finances than other types of evangelism.  In personal evangelism every Christian is using their natural and daily circle of life to preach and share the Gospel.  There is no need to raise funds in order to create some special opportunities to share the faith.  There is no need to rent a facility, to pay for advertisement, to buy sound equipment and other necessities that would normally be required for mass evangelism or other types of missionary outreach.
    There is a much greater percentage of people who actually stay in a church as result of personal evangelism.  There are strong personal ties between a preacher and a new believer.  These relational binds can be used for further discipleship and spiritual mentorship.  As a result, a new believer much more effectively enters the church family and forms new friendships.
    Personal evangelism gives a great opportunity for every member of the church to be actively involved in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  Such benefits make personal evangelism completely different from other types of evangelism.  The role of the preacher is not placed solely on the more gifted Christians leaving all others standing on the sidelines.
    Practice of personal evangelism lets the light of the Gospel shine and reach all layers of the community.  In all circles where there are Christians, there will be sharing of the Good News and people will be exposed to the Word of God.  In the practice of mass evangelism the only people that are being exposed and touched are the ones that have been reached by the advertisement. 
    As a result of personal evangelism the churches are growing much faster and the people are much steadier in their faith and attendance.  In mass evangelism, many people are easily “lost” between the initial outreach meeting and the next Sunday service.
    Above we have covered some of the major benefits why personal evangelism is more effective in missionary work in Russia and other countries of former Soviet Union today.  This list only includes main reasons and is not complete.



    After 70 years of oppression Russia breathed freely.  The suffering was over for Christians in Russia.  It was hoped that difficult times were history.  Today public opinion is being carefully manipulated against the non-Orthodox community.  Churches have been denied access  to major state television and radio media.  A massive slander campaign has been mounted in the mainstream press against Protestant Christians.  Believers are not allowed to comment or refute these accusations.  Churches are often being denied access to public buildings and government facilities for worship.  It has become harder for Protestants to participate in social life, including administration of humanitarian aid.  Churches can no longer freely minister in schools, hospitals or the military.
    Evangelical Christians in Russia face a very different set of issues than the ones they confronted after the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991.  Political, economic, social and cultural landscape is very different today from what it had been ten years ago.  Since the fall of Communism, Russia seems to have embraced Western capitalism.  But at the same time, many in the new Russia have embraced Eastern Orthodoxy, returning to their traditional church. 
    There are certainly more church buildings to go to.  Among Moscow's many new buildings, none is grander than the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The city recently spent half a billion dollars to rebuild the structure as it existed before Stalin, who demolished it in the early 1930s.  This is one very symbolic sign of Russia going back to its traditional mentality during its post-communist period.  This traditional mentality provides a very special place for the Russian Orthodox Church within historical framework.  There always was, historically, the idea that to be a Russian Orthodox Christian was to be Russian, and vice versa.  If you were really Russian, you were a Russian Orthodox Christian. 
    One example of the challenge that Russian evangelical churches face is a class of people sometimes called "the New Russians."  They represent a new mentality, an entrepreneurial and consumerist class.  They madly accumulate wealth, but the moral values are more the product of Hollywood.  With their new freedom, they seek opportunities without a moral core within their hearts.  Many of them are good people who don't really understand what is going on.  These “New Russians” value their time, they treasure their powers, and they will not go to churches that will not give them what they expect.  This is a great challenge for the church – to be ready for the actual needs of today's people.

    Methods of evangelism that were used in the past left various and very diverse impact on the missionary methods that are being used today.  On one side, past experiences are very important for contemporary Christian movement, on the other side, old methods do not let us see and realize most current opportunities for the spreading of the Gospel.  
    Today’s Protestant churches must realize the difference between function and form.  Function answers the question “What?”.  Form answers the question “How?”.  Understanding how these two concepts work together and how this understanding can be applied to the church’s ministry is very important.  Such realization will help contemporary churches see the mistakes of the past and hopefully learn from them in order to be more efficient and successful in their task of fulfilling the Great Commission. 
    Function remains a constant, while forms can change and adapt to accomplish the goal of the function in the most appropriate way.  When form becomes function in the business world it will result in bankruptcy.  Because the main function of business is to generate income and when clinging to the old ways becomes more important than its primary function such business will be doomed.  This concept can be applied to the Protestant churches in Russia today.  If the churches will clinch to the old ways of doing evangelism and missionary work instead of keeping their focus on the church’s primary function of spreading the Gospel, they will experience spiritual bankruptcy and eventually will die out due to the lack of growth. 
    Many Russian churches today fail to realize that results are what determine the correctness of the form that achieves goals of the function.  Tons of Christian literature can be given away without any thought to the level of effectiveness of this task and what is the cost of such effect.  According to Pastor Andrew, lately, there has been a tendency in some churches to hold to “the theology of sowing”.  They would argue that we should not look at anything, but only “sow the seed” by continuously preaching the Gospel even if there is no evident results or effect. Pastor Andrew suggests that “there is some truth to such a position, but usually the churches that hold it are the ones that fail to realize and admit that their methods of missionary work are old and in need of revision”. 
    In Russia today, there are different denominations that are experiencing very different growth in members.  Such differences can be explained by the fact that some churches are still practicing “aged” ways of evangelism, while others have switched to more productive and applicable methods that are relevant to the contemporary situation in the country.  Instead of revising the methods of evangelism the “aging” churches are busy with apologetics of their conservatism, while blaming those who are creating new ways, in losing of the faith and embracing heretical tendencies.  Such attitudes in some churches result in thinking that times have changed and all that we can do is simply remember the church growth of the “crazy” 90’s, when thousands of people would come to stadiums and receive salvation. 

    A lot of work has been done during the last years, but according to Rev. Igor Nikitin, President of the Association of Christian Churches of Russia (ACCR), evangelical churches in Russia can be described as being in adolescence: “adult in appearance but lacking in experience.”  Many Christian leaders in Russia thought they needed only a few years of early 1990’s to convert the whole country to Christ.  Despite very intensive evangelization campaigns, thousands of new churches, dozens of new Bible colleges and missionary training schools, hundreds of major social outreach programs, millions of distributed Bibles, most of the people in the society still do not know what evangelical Christianity is all about.
    Contemporary Protestant Russian churches need to convert the aging church culture and build up the new generation of church leaders.  Churches must decide today if they are going to serve “old-style” believers already in the churches, or they are going to be the kind of churches that also reach out to those who are not in the church?  Forms must be found that will not be radically different from our Russian traditions, but at the same time will be attractive culturally, intellectually, spiritually, theologically, and emotionally to those who are still outside the faith.
    It is important to realize that the mission (functions) of a Church is derived from the Bible and should always be subject to the Word of God.  But this function is also faced with the test or “prism” of history and culture.  It is vital to understand that methods that a church is selecting to use to accomplish its functions are influenced by Russia’s recent history and its new evolving culture. 
    Churches cannot use the same ways of missionary work that are effective today in the USA, Columbia, Korea, countries of Europe and other regions of the world.  Even if the best teachers and ministers are brought from these countries, their methods will not be as effective in Russia.  Churches must understand what they are doing (function), and then in prayer seek their own how to accomplish it (form).  This approach is much harder than simply to “clone” other’s methods.  It is time for the Russian Protestant Church to define and express its individuality in its approach to worship services, church structures and missionary work.  Even the methods (forms) that worked in Russia in the last 10 – 15 years are somewhat useless now.  The Russian culture drastically changed, that is why the forms must be changed. 
    Churches should not be saddened by the fact that people do not repent in “stadium” quantities anymore.  That was the form for that time.  Today’s form must be found and realized.  There is still plenty of harvest.  Function of the church to spread the Gospel should not and cannot be changed, Jesus is still commanding us “to go and teach all of the nations”.  Each church must find its own ways, methods and forms of reaching others for Christ in their community. 
Contemporary Evangelical Church in Russia should re-evaluate its values and priorities.  If there will be changes and deviations from past methods of evangelism, then possibly the local churches will start to fill in greater numbers again with new believers.


Bibliography
Berdishev, Andrew.  E-mail Interview.  2 – 8 December 2007.
Hill, Kent R.  The puzzle of the Soviet church: An inside look at Christianity and glasnost.  Portland, OR: Multhomah Press, 1989.
McNeill, John (Jack).  Western Saints in Holy Russia.  Pasadena, CA: Mandate Press, 2002.
Nassif, Bradley.  From Kiev to the Kremlin.  Moody Monthly 88 (10), 1988.
Regheta, Leonid.  Personal Interview.  10 December 2007.
Sawatsky, Walter.  After the glasnost revolution; Soviet evangelicals and Western missions.  International Bulletin of Missiological Research 16 (2), 1992.
Sawatsky Walter W. and Peter F. Penner.  Mission in the Former Soviet Union. (occasional publications published in cooperation with International Baptist Theological Seminary of the European Baptist Federation)  Schwarzenfeld, Germany: Neufeld Verlag, 2005.
Yancey, Phillip.  Praying with the KGB: A Startling report from a shattered empire.  Portland, OR: Multhomah Press, 1992.