Helping a Broken Church

When I arrived in Sosnovo, I began hearing about the problems of the local Baptist Church and it’s decline over the last several months.  It was sad to hear the various situations and the decisions that had been made that lead to a disintegration of what had been a great Christian fellowship and a point of light in this community.  SAC has always tried to work through and with the local church as a further outreach to lift up the local church.  However, relations and support of the Day Center by the Sosnovo church has declined since the departure of Pastor Slava three years ago. 

For a couple of years I had heard how the church needed another pastor like Slava.  He lived there and knew and witnessed to the people.  Currently, they have a student preacher come from St. Petersburg every Sunday to deliver a message, but he is not there to “Sheppard” the flock of believers.  As a result, the flock has dispersed and the “wolves” in the community have consumed some. 

Some of the problems include:

-  The church paid for meals for the kids at the Day Center through a local café who gave yesterday’s leftovers, but this support has stopped.

-  The building occupied by the church and the Day Center had been available for sale, but the church didn’t take advantage of this and now the sanctuary room where the church met has been closed by the mayor, unoccupied, and subsequently had flooding due to recently installed city supplied heaters.  The church must meet in apartments.

-  A self-appointed church council has made decisions without a church vote.

-  Three members are specifically causing dissention among other church members.

-  Youth Sunday School has been recently closed as leadership didn’t see the need.

-  Complaints against Nadezhda about her teaching occurred without observation.

-  Accusations have occurred against members without investigation.  

-  The church has disassociated themselves with the Day Center ministry.

As a result:

-  Membership has declined from 26 members to 18 members

-  One member returned to drinking

-  Some members refuse to go to church anymore, and opt for a Wednesday evening Bible study held at the Day Center.

-  No outreach program, no Sunday School, and the church is not working with the Day Center.

-  No church building due to in attention.

Normally, I would stay out of the local church politics and problems.  However, the closing of Sunday School disturbed me and the lack working together with the Day Center was a deep concern.  So, on Wednesday, April 28, I set up a meeting with the “Bishop” of the Central Baptist Church in St. Petersburg.  In Russia, the Bishop is the leader of all churches and pastors of the 38 Baptist churches in the Leningrad Region surrounding St. Petersburg.  Sometimes as an “outsider”, I can serve as a catalyst to get conversations going and problems out in the open.  Several in Sosnovo were afraid to approach the Bishop with their concerns.  Much of that is due to Russian culture and their authoritarian environment. 

We all met at St. Petersburg Christian University.  Victor Sipko, the Bishop of Central Baptist Church, was very friendly and responsive to our concerns.  I emphasized with him that I wasn’t there to place blame, but only to give the facts that I knew and let him resolve the issues.  He listened very carefully and asked Nadezhda, the director of the Day Center, several questions.  He called Shamil, the current Sosnovo preacher to verify some information.  The meeting lasted about 50 minutes. 

As we all left the building and walked toward the metro station, Nadezhda kept proclaiming… “Praise God”!  She was happy all these things were now out in the open.  A follow-up meeting is planned in Sosnovo on Tuesday, May 11, with Victor Sipko, Nadezhda, and Shamil.  Later that day they will meet with the mayor to discuss use of the building. 

My hope and prayer is that the Sosnovo Baptist Church will be on the road to recovery and again become a place of warm Christian fellowship and that they will join together with the Day Center in outreach to connect the youth of Sosnovo with God’s Kingdom.