Thoughts of a Church Planter in Russia

What have I learnt about church planting in Russia that I can pass onto anyone unfortunate enough to have stumbled across my random thoughts that make up my blog (I once did make sense I think - check my entries before coming here...)

Church planting is fun! Hard work, but very rewarding. Hard work, but worth it (in the end, I hope).

Recently, it does feel like I've touched God's heart for mission. I mean, I've been so excited by what is happening here, but that's not because its just a great city, or that there is such a great group of people here, or that we're really doing something different. But this is God's plan for every Christian - this is what mission looks like! It's exciting, its stirring, its worth living for - its worth dying for! This is church, this is mission, this is life in God, with God, for God.

Truth is, this is life as it is meant to be. This IS normal, Christian life. It's just a shame it often feels so far from the norm.

I praise God daily for the honour of serving him in Russia, because it is a great privilege. Some would view it as a hardship, a sacrifice. If that's true on a very material level, it's not true on any other. It's an honour, I really mean that. A great honour!

But let me get you in on a secret.....In Russia, in this city, it does seem that part of God's strategy for growing the church is through meals. We put meals on, people come. And come...and come.

Crowds, every week we've hosted it, new people have arrived. In these last two meals its been 20 new people. It keeps reminding me of the Luke 5 passage (see earlier blog).

Obviously, planting a church into another culture and language, does have its challenges, but its the challenges coupled with lots of prayer that makes it such a buzz. Our meetings are bilingual, which is fun, but you have to keep an eye on timings. The preach can only be half the normal time because of the need for translation.

Going forward, prayer meetings will also be the same, though we've mainly got by with English at the moment based on who's come.

So I'm glad to be here. I will continue on this thread with more stuff as I get the chance. Until next time....