Perceptions
In the past I have felt on the verge of embarrassed or perhaps boring when telling my story of becoming a Christian. Not because there is any horrible stains or that I have to argue with family about my choices and lifestyle. In fact, there are little of those things, instead I have a story that may be familiar to many of you. I grew up in a Christian home, in the Church, knowing God for as long as I can remember. Now the one part of my story that sadly seems to be coming less and less common is that my parents are still together and my crazy Indian family is still together. Boring right?
I have been amazed at the responses of the Russians to this simple story. They are wide eyed and respond saying WOW somewhat in disbelief. I have recognized once again what a blessing it is to have this story. First I would like to say thank you who made that story what it is, but secondly I would like to give you a picture of the stories of some of our friends here.
Any type of religious affiliation other than the Russian Orthodox Church has seemed to be cultisized (yeah I just made that word up) where parents feel like their child is going to a cult. For this reason, many students were not allowed to go to the Church we are working with until they turned 18. At this point, when they decided to join the Church, their parents pushed them away and they lost all of their friends from school and other places. This is the price for falling in love with Jesus and his Church, at least initially. In many cases, no family support and weird looks from those you once called friends. Of course, like in any place divorce also hurts many families in Russia, and many of the people we know come from divorced homes. One of the qualities they see in the Church here though happens to be strong families. One of the most attractive qualities of the Church is that somehow the families that do exist in the Church make it.
I have heard that divorce rates are just about as high in the Church in America as the common statistic. Upon telling this to a close friend here, she could not believe it. I have not accepted the divorce rate by any means, but it has become a sad reality as I have witnessed family’s break apart.
All of this to say, perspective is an amazing thing. The Christians here have opened my eyes that maybe we should do something about the divorce rate and become stronger families (however, with this I could write an entire blog about making sure not to make the family a higher entity than God, but we’ll save that for another day). Along with this the idea of my “weak” personal story should be upheld perhaps as a miracle as I feel like the Russians see it.
Good news from us here though, I feel like I can confidently say that Jesus is penetrating the hearts of the Christians here. Many of the Christians here are also very young, I would say from about 20-30 and hopefully they will keep God’s commandments and multiply (smile) meaning a new Russian generation of Christians growing up in the Church.
I do want to specify before I go that all of the things we say are in light of a small remnant here in Tomsk. The Spirit that is thriving in the Church here is still a small community and I feel like I have been exposed to it so much that sometimes I forget that this is the minority. Of course, we still rejoice with our brothers and sisters (and even more so) for each one that finds their way into the community here. We have two personal Bible studies tomorrow, pray for that – for Sasha and Aleg that God would open their hearts.
I have been amazed at the responses of the Russians to this simple story. They are wide eyed and respond saying WOW somewhat in disbelief. I have recognized once again what a blessing it is to have this story. First I would like to say thank you who made that story what it is, but secondly I would like to give you a picture of the stories of some of our friends here.
Any type of religious affiliation other than the Russian Orthodox Church has seemed to be cultisized (yeah I just made that word up) where parents feel like their child is going to a cult. For this reason, many students were not allowed to go to the Church we are working with until they turned 18. At this point, when they decided to join the Church, their parents pushed them away and they lost all of their friends from school and other places. This is the price for falling in love with Jesus and his Church, at least initially. In many cases, no family support and weird looks from those you once called friends. Of course, like in any place divorce also hurts many families in Russia, and many of the people we know come from divorced homes. One of the qualities they see in the Church here though happens to be strong families. One of the most attractive qualities of the Church is that somehow the families that do exist in the Church make it.
I have heard that divorce rates are just about as high in the Church in America as the common statistic. Upon telling this to a close friend here, she could not believe it. I have not accepted the divorce rate by any means, but it has become a sad reality as I have witnessed family’s break apart.
All of this to say, perspective is an amazing thing. The Christians here have opened my eyes that maybe we should do something about the divorce rate and become stronger families (however, with this I could write an entire blog about making sure not to make the family a higher entity than God, but we’ll save that for another day). Along with this the idea of my “weak” personal story should be upheld perhaps as a miracle as I feel like the Russians see it.
Good news from us here though, I feel like I can confidently say that Jesus is penetrating the hearts of the Christians here. Many of the Christians here are also very young, I would say from about 20-30 and hopefully they will keep God’s commandments and multiply (smile) meaning a new Russian generation of Christians growing up in the Church.
I do want to specify before I go that all of the things we say are in light of a small remnant here in Tomsk. The Spirit that is thriving in the Church here is still a small community and I feel like I have been exposed to it so much that sometimes I forget that this is the minority. Of course, we still rejoice with our brothers and sisters (and even more so) for each one that finds their way into the community here. We have two personal Bible studies tomorrow, pray for that – for Sasha and Aleg that God would open their hearts.
posted by Heath at 9:37 PM
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