The Tomsk English Ministry Team

One of the most rewarding aspects of this trip was witnessing how the youth at the church have been so faithful in their follow-up from our classes last year. Although Russians have freedom of religion, Non-Russian Orthodox churchs are viewed as “cults” and as a result most Russians would never consider entering a Baptist, or any Protestant, church. As the Russian Orthodox Church does not emphasize a personal relationship with Christ and preaches in an archaic form of the language, most Russians have never heard the Gospel of Christ, although most would tell you that they are Christians because they are Russian. That background will help you understand why our short term trips are so important. Many Russians really want to learn English and are willing to visit a “cult” church in order to have the opportunity to study with native speakers. Each student receives about 15 hours of conversational English instruction, 14 of those hours are not taught from the Bible or are religious in any way. On the

last day we take about 1 hour to talk with the students about Jesus and what would compel us to travel so far away from our homes to come to Tomsk. That brings the people into the church and gives them an introduction to the saving faith in Christ. The Russians in the church do the follow on work which is the real heavy lifting. Their faith and dedication to their ministry and mission work of reaching the lost in their own community is both inspiring and convicting. Erika got the opportunity to visit both the Basic English Bible study and the Intermediate English Bible study (see picture on right). These Russian believers who are fluent in English use 1 hour to teach English and 1 hour to teach the Bible to believers and unbelievers every week. There are at least 3 unbelievers coming to the Basic class and 5 at the Intermediate class. From this trip we had about 33 say they were interested in joining these Bible/English Study groups! Your prayers for our Russian brothers and sisters on the English Ministry Team are greatly coveted.