Russia Overview
Considered
a superpower at one time, and certainly a country of significant influence,
Russia is an important center for influence in Europe and Asia, even around the
world. With the downfall of communism, and its replacement by a more docile
form of socialism, Russia has opened its doors to the influence of the Gospel
for a while. How long this will last remains to be seen.
However, tensions are great for a multitude of reasons in this giant land.
Adding to its problems are the vast number of Christian “missionaries” of all
varieties, most promoting Arminian theologies with an emphasis on decisions.
While God is clearly working in the midst of this chaos; nevertheless, the
Russian Orthodox
Church has used the ensuing shallowness to seek restrictions on
“outsiders,” resulting in a new law in 1997, which has seriously restricted
certain religious activities. They have been emboldened to ask for this due to
the return of many from the “evangelical” ranks, back to
Russian Orthodoxy, and
the many
complaints about the tactics of itinerant foreign missionaries.
One
of the primary efforts at ministry in Russia at present is RCM's setting up a
Russian language website, which is slotted for public debut sometime early
2009. In addition to this, RCM's director has a seat on the board of the
Slavic Gospel Society which operates a Reformed Seminary in St. Petersburg.
Below is information on RCM's colleagues in Russia who we pray for and seek to
assist with various projects, especially those educational in nature.
Union of Evangelical
Reformed Churches of Russia
Tver Congregation
Pastor
Eugene Kashirsky and members of the Reformed Evangelical Church in
Tver, Russia. This congregation, along with the Moscow
congregation were the
first Reformed Churches in recent Russian history and began in 1991.

St. Petersburg Congregation
Pastor
Mikhail Poluboyarinov
is the pastor of the St. Petersburg Congregation of
the Union of Evangelical Reformed Churches. This congregation is a merger
between a traditional
Russian church and a church that was started by Korean
missionaries amongst Korean people living in Russia.

Kazan Congregation
No pictures are currently available from this congregation.
Present Projects
-
Provide training materials, videos, audio tapes and courses
for training their church leaders. * English language books for use in their
Reformed study center.
-
Website development in Russian-English language providing a
great deal of training material in the Russian language along with on-line
Bible courses.
-
Various translation projects:
-
Good News Bible Study now translated into Russian.
-
Westminster Confession of Faith now translated.
-
Assist in providing Confession of Faith for Shaw's
Commentary on the Westminster Confession.
-
Cooperation in literature distribution, in Russia and
elsewhere.
-
Provide Russian language materials in North America.
Mission Objectives of our Colleagues in Russia
-
Assist in promoting reformation in Russia.
-
Establish a solid intellectual defense for Christianity in
Russia.
-
Challenge both Orthodox and evangelical Christians to embrace
the Bible and its Reformational theology.
-
Promote evangelism, discipleship and literature distribution.
-
Develop economically viable businesses to support Christian
ministry.
Needs
-
A reliable income to provide a regular literature
distribution network.
-
English theological books for Russian lending library.
-
Funds to implement the Good News Bible Study
in Russia. $4,000 for printing and distribution.
-
One or two missionaries to assist in theological training in
Russia can either reside or go back and forth (the latter is easier).
-
Visiting seminary professors to St. Petersburg seminary and
various congregations.
Resources
The following publications are available in the Russian language through RCM:
-
Westminster Confession of Faith
-
John Calvin: God & the Bible
-
John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion
-
Geneva Psalter
-
Heidelberg Catechism
-
Kashirsky: Of Christian Doctrine
-
Makarov: Why Sunday?
-
Meeter: Basic Ideas of Calvinism
-
Smirnov: Who Can Be Saved?
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Smorodin: Search the Scriptures
-
Svoikin: Calvinism
-
Other booklets are
also available.
Please see the RCM Foreign Language publications for
"Russian Language" section for details and prices.
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