REFUGEES
I have plans to go to Romania in June to help the Ukrainian refugees in Europe. I need to raise funds in order to do this. Your gifts will enable me to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people in dire straits. Thank you in advance for enabling me to serve Christ in this manner.
“SO, THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE”
CHURCH PLANTING IN RUSSIA
(“It always seems impossible, until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela)
God allowed us to plant and register a church in the Russian Federation. Indulge me as I share the story.
2017
Tammy and I moved from Russia to Texas in 2017. After our return we were contacted by a few missions organizations. Some of them wanted to know if we could help them in their endeavors.
1000 CHURCHES IN TEN YEARS
One man representing an organization contacted me. He said he spent ten years in Moscow, Russia and planted 1000 churches. (That’s planting two churches per week, one hundred churches per year ten years running. In my experience, it just doesn’t work like that.)
I told him we were in St Petersburg, Russia for 21 years and planted and registered one church. He told me that was impossible. He knew this because he spent ten years in Russia. He told me again, “It cannot be done.”
I assured him there was a legally registered church with full documentation to prove it. After going back and forth, the veteran missionary finally said, “Then tell me how you did it.”
This is what I shared. . .
PLANTED AND REGISTERED
One evening in 1998 I went to a meeting of Russian pastors with two men, co-laborers, who were working with me to start a church in St Petersburg. At the meeting I was asked to share what I intended to do in Russia. Through an interpreter I told them my intent was to plant and register a church.
There was a fellowship after the meeting, and I sensed their skepticism. At the time I did not know why, but they knew I didn’t know the first thing about planting and registering churches in Russia. My statements were bold and extremely presumptuous.
During the fellowship a man came out of the crowd and spoke to me in English. He said that if I was going to register a church in Russia I would need help. Then he said, “I will help you.” I will refer to him as “my helper.”
My helper contacted my co-laborers and told them what needed to be done. So, they began gathering data from the few members we had. It was important information. When I realized what they had collected I was concerned for the welfare of the church members and told them this might not be such a good idea. They said the people were fully aware and wanted to do this.
REGISTERING THE INFORMATION
There were other documents that had to be prepared and more data collected. After this was done my helper called and said to meet him at a certain location with the data. From there we walked to a government building, went through passport control, and proceeded to an office in the building. Alone I could not have found the multi-story building, let alone the small office hidden within.
Then my helper said we needed to do some paperwork. I nodded in consent. That’s when he handed me a blank sheet of paper and said I had to write my request to register a church in Russia. It had to be done in the Russian language with no mistakes or I would have to do it over. I was stunned by the expectation and just looked at him. That’s when I became fully aware that I truly did not know what I was doing.
The information that went on the top of the page was copied from an example. The rest of the information he dictated to me in Russian. I had only been in Russia two years and my Russian language lessons had not prepared me to write legal documents. So he dictated not only word for word what had to be written, but often letter by letter. Honestly, I had no idea what I wrote on the paper. At the bottom I signed my name and dated it.
From time to time my helper would call and say we had to do more paperwork. We would meet in some remote area of the city. Together we would go to a government building, go through passport control, and go to the required office in the building. Sometimes it wasn’t an office, but just a small window in a long hall with lots of doors. Below the window would be a shelf for the purpose of writing out the required information on a blank piece of paper.
Each time my helper would dictate word for word and letter by letter the necessary information to be submitted for consideration.
This seemed to happen every two to three months for more than a year. One day, we followed the same procedure and found the necessary building and office. That day they handed me legal documents stating our church was now registered!
Veteran Missionary Response
I explained all this to the veteran missionary who said it was impossible and concluded, “That’s how our church was registered.” He responded, “So, that’s how it’s done.”
PARTNERSHIP MAKES IT POSSIBLE!
Please consider partnering with us in our ministries both prayerfully and financially. Checks should be mailed to our sponsor:
First Baptist Church, P. O. Box 336, Ranson, WV 25438
Digital donations through PayPal – kevin.fbcranson@gmail.com or 936.234.3180
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