From the September-December 2010 Issue
AT LAST - IN OUR NEW BUILDING!
Mihail and Albina Nikitov
On 25 December 2009 we held the first service in our new church building. This was a very big event for us and a great blessing. We immediately felt a significant difference between what we had before (our services took place in an apartment) and the freedom and new opportunities that have opened up with the move into the church building. The first thing we did was to start the meetings in the morning at 10.00. Some people had to adapt to such a change in the schedule, because for many years the services began at 17.00 due to the fact that they were in an apartment.
Youth work
Despite the fact that the interior work on the building is not finished yet, we try to use it to the maximum. Several times in the winter we had a youth camp. Young Christians from Vitebsk and Ruba held a 3-day meeting, combining Bible lessons with sports activities and relaxation. In July we are planning a children’s camp. In the past year we have already had experience of such a camp, but we held it in the yard of a Christian family. The results exceeded our expectations. We hope that this year will be even better because we are going to have this camp beside the church building.
The location of the church building is very convenient for carrying out such activities. Nearby is a forest, good fields and a lake. But there is a little difficulty in the fact that we cannot put up an advertisement to formally invite the children, because in fact we have no right to use the church premises, as the building is not yet recognized in use by a building inspection. To obtain this permission very little has still to be done: put on internal doors, landscape the yard and put up the fence. The rest of the interior decoration – painting the walls and ceilings – can be done gradually on its own. Of course, we ourselves would like quickly to finish all the work.
Hospital ministry
Near the church is a small hospital with about thirty beds. We began to visit the lonely elderly people there, to take small gifts, talk to them about God and pray. People from the Orthodox Church didn’t like this and the chief doctor in the hospital asked us to get official permission to visit the patients. We hope to be able to obtain such permission and to continue this ministry.
Informal evangelism
Over the past years I have gained good experience in the building process, but a new stage has come, and I have to learn how to organize house management and administrative matters for the maintenance of the church building. To save money towards the heating, the church members decided on the idea of coming to care for the building ourselves, to perform work and cleaning according to different abilities (someone always is in the building). Many people have very actively responded to this proposal. Through this work, they feel themselves to be more involved in the church and have joy in such practical service to God. Also, Christians have the opportunity to invite their friends during this time. People can simply come to the church (not during a service), see inside, drink tea, talk and ask their questions. We hope that the next step for them to come to a meeting will be easier, but we know that God alone calls and saves.
Not without problems
I am very pleased that some brothers from the church have begun to preach and are more involved in the spiritual life of the congregation. It inspires other believers as well. But along with the blessings come tests of our faith and spiritual maturity. Personal disagreements began between some of the believers, and this had a very negative effect on my emotional state. I do not always know how to deal with such matters, but of course I had to pray more and seek help and wisdom from God. I thank God that the church board is completely in unity, trust and understanding and, at the same time, we can frankly make comments on the situation, freely expressing our opinions.
The wider scene
The political and economic situation remains difficult and uncertain. Many state enterprises are on the verge of bankruptcy. The prices of goods and food are constantly increasing. From July a law was to come into force on a common economic agreement with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, but at the last moment there were serious disagreements with Russia, which resulted in the gas conflict.
Meanwhile, for ‘non-traditional churches’ it is very problematic to obtain permission to register the church and for existing churches almost impossible to get permission to erect a building. When our church was faced with the problem in 2002, we thought it was one incident, but it turned out to be the pattern. In Novopolotsk (120km from Ruba) a congregation of more than 100 people has been trying for ten years to get permission to build a church. Thrice allocated plots of land, they did all the preparatory work, drawings and documentation, and at the end the government did not grant building permits, but took the land, explaining that the construction plan of the city had changed. No one returned the money spent. Analyzing this situation, we as a church in Ruba are thankful to God for his mercy in allowing us to have our church building and for all those who participated in it and supported us spiritually and financially.