Tonight brings a conclusion to the third day of classes in the seminary. My assigned topic has been, "The Theology and Practice of Church Planting". Over the past two days we have laid the Biblical and theological foundations that flesh out in practical theology in church planting. It has been a joy to see these men interact with the Scripture, and to find answers and convictions to their questions. It is one thing to say that we are impressed by someone's hunger for the Truth. It is something else altogether when we see someone's willingness to accept the Truth. Unfortunately we often hear the language of "seeking" and "hungering" but often fail to see it come to fruition in "accepting" the Truth even when it is difficult. These brothers have embodied godly submission to the Authority of Scripture and for that I am deeply grateful, rebuked, and encouraged all at the same time.
Tonight we had the privilege of spending time in the home of Sergei and his family. Sergei embodies everything I would have imagined a 1st Century pastor to be: passionate, determined, undeterred, Scripture saturated, and visionary. I have known Sergei for 5 years now, but only tonight did I have the opportunity to meet his gracious wife. His wife comes from a legacy of Gospel faithfulness that few of us can even imagine. Her father, a man named Adronicus, was imprisoned for 20 years of his life in the gulags of Siberia under the Stalin regime. His crime: Baptist Preacher. Tonight I saw his prison release photo, held the "pardon" from the communist party finally granted 20 years after his release finally allowing him the privilege of working again. I heard the stories once again of hardships beyond my imagination, saw the emotion in the eyes of his daughter as she tried to grapple with the horrors suffered by her father, and was personally drawn into the awe of God's grace that not only sustains a man who should have died, but emboldens him to continue the thing that put him there to begin with. To such men, the rewards of Heaven belong. I hope to be able to write more about him in the days and months ahead. We need to hear the stories of men like Adronicus to strengthen our resolve. Thank you to Sergei and his family for sharing such personal stories with us tonight. One thing they made clear, was that there were many like their father. But for me, he is the only one that I feel like I personally knew.
A couple of random observations from the class to conclude tonight:
1) As we talked about questioning our philosophies of ministry today the translator turned to me and said, "we have no word for this in our language". I thought she was joking with me, but I suddenly realized that she was not. This is a culture where you do not question anything. Due to the oppression that they have lived under for literally centuries they have developed a mentality that shares only what is necessary, and does not question unnecessarily. How different than my own experience.
2) Yesterday I asked the men how many in their families are the first to become followers of Jesus Christ. Answer: 100%. To the man, each is an outcast from their culture, having chosen instead the difficult path of following Jesus in spite of the cost. Then this afternoon, I was wondering why they did not understand some things that I have taken for granted having grown up in church and in a Christian family. A sense of awe swept over me, I am standing in the midst of a group of modern day reformers. Much like Luther, Hus, Wycliffe, Calvin, and Tyndale before them, these men have rejected the system to plod a road not travelled in almost 500 years in their country. They are pursuing an evangelical heritage that is totally foreign. They have few older men to mentor them, they have few books in their language. What they do have is an unwavering conviction about the God they love, a dependence of the Holy Spirit to guide them, a tender and tenacious prayer life, and courage. The kind that caused Stephen to preach and die in Acts, the kind that sung hymns in the midst of Smithfield's fires, the kind that in all honesty, I have realized I do not have but want to cultivate.
I love this place. But more than that I love these men. I can already tell that leaving will be sweet sorrow.
1 comments:
Everything that you have taken the time to share to this point has been really encouraging, Pastor. It's so true...we simply can't understand how eye opening it will be to experience a different culture until we arrive there and meet those differences face to face. It's good for our souls to see how global God really is! That literally every person matters to Him! It's certainly something that will change your whole way of thinking about almost everything...to the point of seeing fairly odd to the people around you when you return "home." (In a good way)! Again, I firmly feel that going to a new and different place and meeting with beauty there...a beauty of the image of God in people...and a beauty of the spiritual work He is doing even in people who are different is an awe-inspiring thing. I'm so glad you got to go and continue to pray for you and brother Jay and the men you are ministering to. Please send greetings to all from the Skelly family.
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