From the July-September 2008 Issue
Growing by His Grace
Yuriy Vyshnevs'kyy
When I see people coming to believe in the Lord Jesus I am always filled with wonder and joy, because it is a miracle. When the life of a person is changed by the gospel it is not simply by will-power, but is supernatural. It is a privilege for me not only to witness their conversion, but also to preach and teach them from the Word of God. Who are we that God chooses to use us to bring his sons home? Two people who started to attend our church a few months ago were baptised in February. It was a great service. The Russian and English-speaking congregations met together for the second part of the service to witness the baptism of these people.
Sunday services
It is a great encouragement to see a growing number of people attending our Sunday services in Russian. We see new faces almost every Sunday, both Christians and non-Christians. People come to the church at the invitation of Christians, through reading adverts in the Russian newspaper, or simply through seeing the sign in Russian outside the church. My prayer is, as I preach through the book of Ephesians at the moment, that the Holy Spirit will bring a lasting change in the hearts and minds of the people, to the praise of His glorious name.
One of the characteristics of our Russian Church is that generally people do not stay around for very long, as is also true for many who come to work in London. A good thing from my point of view is that now a few families in the Russian Church are staying here permanently and are committed to the church, eager to see this work prosper. They are a great support in my ministry.
Evangelism
We must always remember the words of our Lord Jesus: ‘Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’ Personal evangelism, I think, is the most important way to share the Gospel. When a Christian is living his life in obedience to God’s Word and sharing his life with those around him, people will see that there is a God who changes people for good. Then they will want to know about our God and will want to come to the church to see what it is all about. The people around us need to see that the foundation of our lives is not the things in this world, but our God. I pray that every believer would be excited about his walk with the Lord and be active in sharing his faith with the people he meets. I hope to devote some of our Friday evening meeting to talk about how we could personally share the Gospel in our situation, particularly with Russian speakers.
An increasing number of people from the countries that recently joined the EU are left homeless in the UK. Unlike the UK residents, when these people arrive they are not entitled to a job seeker’s allowance, and some of them, after losing a job, end up on the streets of London. The leadership of the church here is considering the possibility of opening a day centre to help them. It would be an opportunity to help them with their everyday needs and also to share the Gospel. This requires a commitment from those involved and some alterations to the rooms in the building to suit this purpose.
Young people’s group
We are very pleased that a good number of young people now meet together every Saturday night for Bible study and fun. Usually we have around 20 people at this meeting. Mihail Staucean is helping to lead this work, while finishing his studies in WEST College. (Mihail is also involved in working out how to establish a day centre for homeless people from Eastern Europe.) It is great to see young people regularly attending these meetings; some of them are from Christian homes where the parents attend a different church. Some bring along their Russian-speaking friends.
It is also encouraging that young people from this group gladly come to our regular outreach at Stratford Station and shopping centre in East London. We have found it to be a good location to give out invitations to our services and events, distribute Christian tracts, and use the opportunity to talk to people. A lot of Russian speakers pass through Stratford Station. In two hours we can give out 200-300 leaflets, only to Russian speakers. Our prayer is that this sowing will bring much fruit.