Gifts came in from 39 individuals and families and 17 churches. Many churches gave love offerings, above and beyond their budgeted giving...The Lord is obviously moving North American churches to suffer with their brethren in the more oppressed parts of the world and we thank Him for His faithfulness and mercies through believers and churches like you and yours!
We need to find 100 people who will pray for the church in Moscow and for #RenewRussia2016. We have already raised $42,000 for #RenewRussia2016, but we still need another $58,000 to make it possible for the church in Dmitrov and other ministries to continue.
Will you be one out of one hundred?
With very mixed feelings I want to introduce you to Vlad and Ella Nevjidovsky and their family. Vlad has been a ruling elder and preacher in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg since 2002.
The Board of SRS has designated May-June as #RenewRussia2016. Please check out our quick report detailing our needs and how you can get involved.
A couple of days ago we heard the sad news from one of our most faithful pastor/seminary students, Sergei Sukharev, that his father had passed away suddenly and tragically at only 60 years of age.
Sergei is unique in many ways, he is the pastor of a downtown Presbyterian church, just a few blocks from the Czar's Winter Palace. But more than that, Sergei is literally the only student in our seminary who was raised by a believing father. His father, Ivan, was an evangelical pastor during Soviet times, loving Christ and outspoken about his faith .
What's the first thing you think about when you receive a letter asking to support our seminary training in Russia? May be, "Oh, this seminary costs too much!" But do you know how much this training costs RUSSIAN PASTORS?
Here is a great example of the new harvest field God is opening for us in the Russian speaking world.
Dear Friends of SRS!
We have only one month before the spring intensive course of St. Petersburg seminary. It will be really intense and the largest in our history: 16 students, 6 pastors and 2 visiting professors from America. We hope it will bless both Russian ministers and American teachers. Alone we can't reach our goal. But together we can. Please help Russian pastors get a good education and the Church of Christ grow in Eurasia!
Eight Latvian men attended the conference “What Is a Real Man: God's Perspective” held by SRS in Jurmala, Latvia in March 2017. The goal of the conference was not to gain new members for the local Reformed church where Pastor Timur Anichkin ministers but to enter into a person-to-person relationship with men of the city to study the Word of God.
Was it worthwhile? Read Timur's report.
You may already know Russia for its ballet, great nesting dolls, and museums.
And you may personally know Rev. Blake Purcell who labored almost thirty years as a Christian missionary among Russian-speaking people of the former Soviet Union, and whose work God has blessed with 5 church plants, a seminary and a ministry residence that welcomes Christians and seekers.
But you may not know the TOP THREE REASONS for making RUSSIA your MISSIONS PRIORITY in 2018
In the past week I have shared with you the hard news that one of our SRS empowered churches was raided by 40 armed federal agents in Russia. I also passed on to you the wonderful news that the $60,000.00 given by our American donors has already paid for the building of a church facility in the Far East, which in turn has helped significantly grow the men's morning bible study in that church, despite the recent spread of TB among its members.
Today I want to refer to the raid on Pastor Nik's church, and the sad reality of Pastor Ruslan's whole family coming down with tuberculosis to illustrate how vulnerable the Evangelical Church in Russia really is.
My name is Brian O'Leary. I come from the little fishing village of Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland, I have been a U.S. citizen and lived in the USA most of my life, the past twenty-two years in the beautiful state of Kentucky. As the newest member of the board of SRS, I wanted to write to you about three of our four SRS supported church plants. I am excited about them all because, just as St. Patrick in Ireland, they are preaching Christ where He is not otherwise being preached.
Jeremiah 33:3, KJV
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
From passages like Jeremiah 33:3, we know that God loves to shew Himself to us, when we call to Him, in a big and mighty way.
Please do this very thing and call to Him for the Make Missions Great Again campaign, which field director Blake Purcell and his wife Cathy will be leaving for on Sunday, February 26, 2017.
Club Babochka is in a tough situation. One of their biggest sponsors is on the verge of cancelling their support.
The sponsor is a local charity group and they feel Club Babochka just doesn’t have enough shareable media that the charity can use to continue raising support. Babochka doesn’t have the funds or the staff to create this media, so they've asked two filmmakers, Zachary Purcell and Ryan Sax, to volunteer their work to film and produce several promotional videos of Babochka.
"It was a great shock to us when a few weeks ago we got the sad news that Valery had passed away of a heart attack. I immediately felt the need to have the churches of Reformed Presbyterian Church of Eurasia offer their condolences and some financial support for his widow and children, which we did. I also felt that God would have me visit them in their time of need. "
Blake and Cathy Purcell have just arrived in St. Petersburg in time for the Fall Intensive of the Biblical Theological Seminary (BTS). This is the first time they have gone to teach in Russia since the new anti-freedom of religion laws came into effect in July.
...Russia is the largest country in the world? ...More than 146 million people live in Russia? ...The Slavic Reformation Society is the only known historically Reformed church-planting ministry in Russia? Will you give a gift to #RenewRussia2016 to help us continue our vital work in Russia and for Russian-speaking people?
We need to find 100 people who will pray for the church in Moscow and for #RenewRussia2016. We have already raised $42,000 for #RenewRussia2016, but we still need another $58,000 to make it possible for the church in Dmitrov and other ministries to continue.
Will you be one out of one hundred?
