Russia's Future

Since 1991 I have traveled to Russia to teach. Additionally, several key leaders have come to the US to study and be refreshed. We also send a small amount of money to Lifeways Russia each month to support the ongoing work of healing, training leaders and building a free church structure. Is it worth the cost?

What we do now in Russia will resonate forever in the political and spiritual lives of individuals, churches and nations. On the way home I spent five days in Scotland and learned an awfully lot about how today affects always. The history of England and Scotland are the past, present and future of democracy. What happened there in the 1500's still influences us today.

The development of the English Bible and the emphasis upon freedom of religion led to the American Declaration of Independence and our Constitution as well as our tri-partite form of government. Although the wars leading to freedom were bloody and the carnage awful our current liberty and freedom to worship are the happy result.

It was in England and Scotland that men and women began to read scripture in their own language. Here they discovered that neither kings nor priests had the divine right to rule others but all humans were divinely created to rule themselves. Can you imagine the thrill of reading Genesis for the very first time and discovering that you were personally created in God's image?
They had never, ever heard such a radically important truth before and it filled their hearts with a fervor to live free and die free.

The Protestant Reformation remade Europe in the image of free men and women. Although the Roman Catholic kings and popes initially resisted such rebellious ideas they too have benefited from the truths of scripture being released into the hands of all God's people and from the separation of church and state.

The Russian Reformation

Russia has never experienced a Religious Reformation or a Scientific Enlightment. The Slavic people have always intuitively preferred a collectivist approach to government and religion so the individualistic drives of Baptists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals have been foreign to their culture. The Russian Orthodox Church and the government of Putin continue to see personal religion and individual congregations as a danger to the state. In some ways, Russia today is similar in feeling to Pre-Reformation Europe with strained Orthodox-Protestant relationships and state pressure on sects designed to shut them down.

Our Ministry Promotes Democracy

We are not trying to cause a New Reformation in Russia. Only God can do such a thing. However, by brining Christians of all denominations together for cooperation and learning we are modeling something that has never happened before in Russia. Open dialogues, friendly discussions, mutual prayer, healing of bitterness, teaching on forgiveness and cooperative work at various faith groups sets the stage for a healthy democracy.

In Scotland, England and Europe democracy took decades and numerous wars. Because of the spiritual and religious emphasis from ministries such as Lifeway perhaps we can avert such bloodshed.

Democracy as we know it in America is not possible in Russia today. People must learn how to debate with reason and mutual respect before they can have open, honest voting. Under Communism there were two daily newspapers. One was named Truth and the other News. It was said that in Truth there was no News and in News there was no Truth. The same is happening today.

After the two airplanes were blown out of the sky during our visit the government released a statement saying there was no evidence of terror. Our driver, a wounded vet from Afghanistan, was furious. "Two planes going down at the same time after leaving the same airport in Moscow and it was a 'coincidence'! He shouted.

During the Beslan hostage crisis the government controlled media told many lies even though the local residents knew better and the terrorists were enraged. But governments do not tell the truth until there is an environment of trust and open debate.

One Christian college where I have spoken on two occasions tried to have small groups but they did not work. The members of the groups insisted on settling differences with shouting, name calling and fists. They asked us to teach their students how to deal with differences. Galina and Nina took all of the students through a series of sessions on healing and renewing the mind that proved essential to Christian behavior.

So, this is why mission activities are about nation building as well as evangelism and church life. These all go hand in hand. Every leader with whom I spoke asked for prayers from Americans. They have a very difficult road to travel and many years on the journey toward democracy. However, from the perspective of world peace and stability and the freedom of our grand kids, Russian democracy is essential.