Western Funding for National Workers: Certainly

East-West Church and Ministry Report, Jan 01, 1996 (Russia)

Grigori Komendant
With the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union, the former Communist
empire split into many independent countries. As a result, separate
national unions of Evangelical Christians-Baptists were formed in each
republic. Although these national unions already existed on paper,
they now have become functional, independent conventions with their
own national flavor and character, such as ethnic languages and
culture, national history, and distinctive traditions. Not to include these
national characteristics and distinctives in areas of evangelism,
missions, and church life is now impossible.

The Apostle Paul recognized these distinctives in his spiritual ministry

to people of different nationalities and diverse religious and social
views. In his commitment to reaching all people with the message of
the gospel, Paul declared, "to the Jews I became like a Jew....To those
under the law I became like one under the law....To those not having
the law I became like one not having the law....To the weak I became
weak.... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible
means I might save some" (I Corinthians 9:20-22, NIV).

The Apostle Paul not only demonstrated a deep insight into the life and
character of the peoples to whom he ministered, but he also identified
with them almost to the point of becoming as one of them so that he
could "win some." To attain this success, Paul pointed out another
important aspect of missionary service--that is the need to subject
oneself--"to make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as
possible" (I Corinthians 9:19, NIV). It seems that this important
quality in the Apostle Paul was what contributed to his unusually
successful missionary activity throughout his lifetime.

And what about today? We can now honestly say that we have "a
great, open door for the proclamation of the gospel." Our churches
have waited a long time for this moment. Foreign missionaries, who
also have waited for this moment, came rushing to us, it must be said,
with many different agendas. It is necessary to report here that there
have been negative as well as positive results. Unfortunately, in
coming to us, many foreign workers have not considered identifying
with us and becoming "as one of us." There are those who may look
very much like us outwardly, even to the point of learning our

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language, but they have not been able to "subject" themselves, "to
enslave themselves" for Christ's sake. They seem to have more
success in "enslaving" others: some they entice with dollars, some
they buy with humanitarian aid, and some they seduce with free-
wheeling church services or a loose lifestyle.

But, praise God, there are those who came to us, sought out our
churches and our brothers and sisters, and stayed to labor together
with us as partners in the work of spreading the gospel message. To
some degree, they too cannot become "as one of us," yet their lack of
language ability or knowledge of our culture, history, and traditions
have been beautifully overcome by their willingness to "subject self" to
the Lord, His work, and to our Russian and Ukrainian fellowships. They
labor not to plant American-style churches, but churches in the spirit
and tradition of our fellowships and our people.

Observing their committed experience and humble dedication, our

national workers were challenged and encouraged. As a result, many
of our lay preachers were willing to trust the Lord, leave their secular
jobs, and commit themselves to full-time Christian service. When they
saw that American missionaries were willing to leave a comfortable life
to win souls for Christ in Russia, many of our young people were
deeply touched and responded to God's call with courage and faith.

What was an impossibility before under an atheistic government is

now a reality. Missions and evangelism on a national scale are now
possible. Our young people saw their responsibility and historic
opportunity to reach their own people for Christ. And they are
responding by the thousands. For the last three years, this army of
evangelists and preachers has been planting more than 100 new
churches per year in Ukraine alone. Our country has never seen
anything like this in all its history. It is of utmost importance and
urgency that we encourage and support this holy endeavor.

Our national missionaries, the brothers and sisters of our local

churches, have many important advantages. The first is a knowledge
of the language, something that the foreign missionary must spend
years to learn. Secondly, they know the culture, traditions, character,
and mentality of our people, their history, and peculiarities. Then, if
we add to these advantages training in evangelism, church-planting,
preaching, and discipling, the results of their ministry are most
effective. Already, experience has shown that those of our workers
who have received even short-term training through seminars and

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extension courses have won many people to Christ and started many
new churches.

We have a great God! After years of prayer and expectation, He has

opened the door for preaching and evangelizing our people! But the
door was thrown open so quickly and so broadly that we were not
prepared. So God graciously sent to us through these open doors
many loving and dedicated workers from other lands. In an amazingly
short time, God has also raised up an army of our own national
workers.

Today, because of our desperate economic situation, we need Western

churches and denominations to partner with us and help support the
missionaries and church-planters that we are training together. A
missionary family can be supported for as little as $185 a month, and
this includes ministry expenses! This is a fraction of what it would cost
to send us a foreign missionary. It may be some years before we will
be able to support all our missionary candidates responding to God's
call. We have no assurance of how long this door of opportunity will
stay open and how much time we have to evangelize our nation.

Seventy years of persecution have produced a strong evangelical

church that has been tested and tried by fire. We had been forced to
depend greatly upon lay church leaders and preachers to survive. Now
we need help in giving these experienced workers Bible-training and
financial support. So we ask our brothers and sisters in the West--
come and help us! We need "a few good men and women"--specialists
in their field--to help train our eager workers who need ministry tools
to do the job of evangelism.

We are deeply grateful for the support that we currently are receiving
for our national workers and for the good training they are receiving in
church-planting from Western specialists. We feel that the most
effective and successful methods to quickly reach the peoples of the
former Soviet Union for Christ are to plant new churches and open new
fields. We call upon our sister churches around the world to join us in
building up the church in the former Soviet Union, against which the
gates of hell have not prevailed.

Dr. Grigori Komendant is president of the Evangelical Christian-Baptist

Union of Ukraine and the Euro-Asiatic Federation of Unions of
Evangelical Christians-Baptists

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