CHICAGO, IL (May 23, 2006) – With the Russian government increasingly placing restrictions on evangelism, churches will need to build different bridges to share the gospel, says Leonid Regheta, a project missionary for the Evangelical Covenant Church who lives in St. Petersburg. <\/p>\n
Regheta says those bridges include connecting with members of the Russian Orthodox Church and helping young evangelical churches develop ministries.<\/p>\n
Russian Minister of Justice Yury Chaika announced earlier this year that he will seek legislation curbing what he calls “illegal missionary activity.” Chaika has not defined his intentions, but the government already has denied the re-licensing of New Life Radio in Magadan, which many Covenanters support. The station’s parent company, Christian Radio for Russia, is appealing the decision.<\/p>\n
Government action may codify an anti-missions mindset that has been growing over the last two decades. “There has been a notable rise in making things difficult for evangelicals,” Regheta says. He notes, for example, that landlords frequently have denied use of buildings by religious groups.<\/p>\n
The actions by the government and others are a backlash against the freewheeling missionary activity of the early 1990s as the Soviet Union was crumbling, says Regheta. Religious groups of every persuasion moved into the country hoping to fill a spiritual vacuum.<\/p>\n
“Russians said ‘yes’ to a lot of cults because they didn’t have discernment,” Regheta says, explaining that they had not developed that ability under several generations of Communist rule.<\/p>\n
By the late 1990s, “The Russian people were saying they heard the talk, but they were asking, ‘Where’s the walk?’ ” Regheta says. Experiences with cults also have embittered many Russians, he adds. “In the media, there is virtual hysteria about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”<\/p>\n
At the same time, the Orthodox Church was using its contacts in the government to curb missionary activity, which they see as an incursion of religion mixed with national identity. The church has promoted the idea that “To be Russian is to be Orthodox,” Regheta says.<\/p>\n
Regheta has been working to develop positive relationships with the church. He has been welcomed by “progressive Orthodox clergy” and by the bishop of the region.<\/p>\n
Despite widespread animosity, “There are many people who are hungering for the word of God,” Regheta says. The hunger continues to create opportunities for Covenanters to spread the Gospel. Much of that opportunity comes from working with existing churches, most of which are new. Eighty percent of evangelical churches were planted within the last 15 years.<\/p>\n
Covenant expertise in camping has helped to start a new ministry in Vologda, says Regheta, who notes that such ministry is a “new thing” in the country. Creekside Covenant Church in Redmond, Washington, already has sent teams to help. Offerings taken at Covenant camps in the United States this summer will help fund that program. Other Covenant congregations are becoming involved in camping ministries and helping with orphanages.<\/p>\n
A Covenant theology of leadership also has an opportunity to be a guide for future ministry, Regheta says. As the Russian government has been for millennia, church ministers often are authoritarian and even dictatorial. Covenanters also could influence who is ordained in a country where women ministers are rare. “There are people who appreciate our openness to women in ministry,” Regheta says.<\/p>\n
Discipleship “has not existed at all,” says Regheta. He believes the Covenant’s commitment to growing disciples could impact Russian evangelicals and the growth of the church for years to come.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/p>\n