FAITH IN ACTION TRAINING COURSE (Formerly FAITH IN ACTION BIBLE SCHOOL) Vladivostok, Russia Supported by Faith Ministries & Faith Bible College in New Zealand, Faith Ministries Japan, and World Outreach. | Home | Back to Newsletter index |
RUSSIA REPORT March 2004

After Perestroika the situation for churches and believers in Russia suddenly changed. Changes were mostly for good, the main negative being the vast range of doctrines that came in to a relatively pure and unsophisticated church. There is no doubt that there has been a phenominal growth in both the size and the number of churches. My friend Pastor Alexei once had a small house church but now has a group of over 40 churches and probably more than 2000 believers. In recent years we are seeing signs of religious control or even persecution creeping back in. This is particularly prevalent in the Republics (previously part of the defunct USSR) but affecting the church in many parts of present-day Russia. Often this depends on individual officials in the particular city or region - if they are your friends you can function relatively freely, if they are "unfriendly" it can make your ministry very difficult. The situation with "Faith in Action" in Vladivostok is that the authorities think they have won by closing down our "Bible School". But our faith is not an institution. It is living. No force on earth can stop us "making disciples" and depositing the Word of God into young hearts and minds in Russia.

Noel preaches in "The Church of the Living God"

Sveta, Pastor Alexei's wife, has taken responsibility for overseeing the Training Course. She has shown excellent organising skills and a lot of wisdom in the way she handles the difficult situations that arise.

The classes started on the March 1, we have 12 new students. Two more will arrive on Monday. There are 6 seniors. This term we have not accepted many students because the living conditions don't allow us. If government would come to check we would have problems if we took more students. The students are very good, they are all on fire for God and want to study.

One of the students, Victor used to be a Mormon, then he was at Roman's rehab center. Now he is a student and he is very happy. Another student Mikhail for 10 years was in Baptist church then he was baptized in Holy Spirit. On Monday arrives a person who is a doctor and he is from one of the minority nationalities. We took two students from the rehab center, one of them Sasha had problems before with smoking etc. but two days ago he said: "Only now I understand what pit the devil tried to push me in. Now I don't want to smoke or drink. I want to serve God." We are happy that we have all these students.

The seniors came back from practical assignments. Oleg P was the best. He was in Lesozavodsk at the Rehab Center. He is growing on the Lord.

On Saturdays students together with Gideon Mission will distribute Bibles, New testaments in hospitals, Old people's Homes etc. Also on Saturdays and Sundays we plan to send them to the new churches to help. Now the students take part in the church choir getting ready for the Easter. We are lucky, this time there are a lot of musicians among them.

Four of the students wake up at 5 am every morning to pray for the needs of the school. Among the students we have a team who will take part in fun club, which is a competition to be held between all churches.

This year we have the very good leader among the students. They all respect him, and he is very responsible. He is like the "soul" of the students and a good peacemaker. The students are praying for the sports equipment to play soccer, volleyball etc. The brothers are particularly praying for the gear for power lifting. Every day students pray for the summer construction of the dormitory. Our staff take turns to sleep in the school and watch the students during the night.

The only problem we have now is money; there is enough till Monday. After Monday if we will have not enough they will have to fast. Now they have a so-called "honey moon" but soon we expect a time of conflicts.

I had a hard but enjoyable 2 weeks in Russia. Most of the time I was teaching during the mornings and evenings, with a week-end break going up to Khabarovsk on the overnight train to visit another missionary. Snow has only fallen occasionally & lightly in Vladivostok, and didn't remain on the ground. Temperatures were from about -2 to -11 while I was there. In Khabarovsk however there was about 10 cm snow, and a village I went to had even more.

The "Bible Training Course" seems to be running smoothly. The only present limitation is from pressure from health and safety authorities who will only let us sleep 15 in our building. So we currently have 17 students which includes a couple who live out and attend daily.

The first week I taught a course on Healing The Sick. Healing is a great means of evangelism in Russia. The authorities hate it because they can't understand or "control" it. But people have some serious needs and many of the problems are spiritual in origin.

At the Sunday service the pastor invited the locals to bring their sick friends along to our Monday night open meeting. We had over 50 people crammed into our lecture room (including 15 of our students). There were quite a few healings. One man couldn't raise or move his left arm freely, was healed and had feeling come back into his hand. Another lady was set free from an Epilepsy demon. There were a lot of back and leg pains healed, and everyone went home rejoicing.

Set free from epilepsy

The last two days I taught on Kingdom Living, which is a lot of basic teaching from Matt 5 & 6, but really necessary as many of the students are not so old in the Lord.

I have a tape of brief testimonies of the students and I'm still transcribing it. Some have amazing stories eg 2 of being saved before they could commit suicide, and several were saved in prison. We have a student from one of the republics and another who is a gypsy.

As well I spent many hours getting some of the computers upgraded and working on the internet. Fortunately the phone lines and exchange where we are have been renewed and work better than most other parts of town.

"I can move my arm!"

Valerii  My name is Valerii. I was born in 1962 in Vladivostok City. I knew about the Lord from 5 years old because my grandmother was a believer. I grew up in Balshoi Kammen City. From 1990 I lived in Pogranichni village, and about a year ago I came to Pastor Oleg's church and I received Jesus Christ in 2002. Pastor Oleg sent me to the Bible School, and I believe that my heart will be opened to the Lord more and more, so I will be able to serve Him.
Igor Hello, my name is Igor, and I'm 36. I was born in Kharkov City in Ukraine. In 1985 I was sent to the Afganistan war, and later in 1991 I came to Primorski region. I began making good money selling drugs, but in 1994 the police put me in prison for a year. When I came out, I started selling things on the street. By December 2002 I had had enough of that kind of life, so I went to a church in Nahodka to see if someone could help me. I didn't know that at the time there was a Womens Aglow meeting in the church, and Ira Volosatova led me to the Lord. Little by little I began to change, and after being in the rehab centre, I came to the Bible School in March 2003. Praise God.
Paulina My name is Paulina, I'm from Magocha City in the Ichtinskev Region. I'm 22 years old. In my life before Christ I always told people that I would always test everything. So with a confession like that I got pregnant, but the guy who did that with me ran away and joined the military. I thought about suicide, but praise God through one Adventist lady I came to Jesus. Right now I have a child and I have Jesus. I'm in Bible School and I think I will be able to serve Him more.
Nina Hello, my name is Nina. I am 41 years old, and I live in Boyko village in Primorsky Region. From my childhood I was a problem for everybody. I had a lot of sicknesses and diseases, and a lot of rejection. From age 27, I was an invalid. In the middle of my life I lost my husband, son and friends, but all my life I felt that Jesus and God were real. So one day two years ago I received Jesus Christ, and through the church, I came to the Bible School where I am right now.

• Alexei, Sveta and family, the staff and 18 students at Faith in Action.
• finances needed to run the school. Approximately US$2,000 per month (NZ$5,000, 250,000 Japanese yen.)
• the finances needed for the new dormitory.

Gifts for our support and continuing ministry to Russia can be sent:

In NZ: C/o P.O. Box 12357 Hamilton

In Japan: Postal Furikae 01150-8-74597 Faith Ministries

In USA: C/o Christian Fellowship, 2199 N. Water Street, Decatur, Illinois 62526 (Make checks out to Christian Fellowship, but memo for Faith Ministries)

From other countries: Bank: A/c name: Faith Ministries, A/c No. 060603 0000421 00 National Bank of NZ, Chartwell Branch, Routing No. NBNZ22

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