Weekly UpdateThis coming Sunday, Lord willing, we will be celebrating our church’s 21st anniversary. Praise God for His faithfulness and care for the church. However, in this letter, I want to focus on something unique—preparing ourselves to listen to the Sunday’s sermon. As I reflect on the text of the upcoming sermon, I realize it is a powerful and radical message that can deeply impact many. Given the seriousness of this, I suggest that we all take the following two steps:…
Weekly UpdateThe kingdom of Jesus Christ spreads and grows not just through the local church, but also through the cooperation and collaboration of churches with each other. This is exactly what happened last week in Sydney, Australia. At the invitation of the local Slavic church there, Irina and I were able to participate in their life and ministry. This was the first time that the Slavic association of churches in Australia held a youth camp that ended up having about 60…
Weekly UpdateSmall (home) groups have all started up by now and we are glad that this year there are more people showing interest in having fellowship in smaller and closer circles. We earnestly recommend that during gatherings, at least a small amount of time be spent discussing your sermon applications. Below you will find some questions and practical advice on how to better prepare for this discussion: Pray that God would continue to work, open, and change your heart and life….
Weekly UpdateThis upcoming Sunday we will have the opportunity to hear about a missions ministry called, “The Gideons International.” We are glad to work together with organizations that spread the Word of God in this world. This international organization was founded in 1899, and their main goal is the spreading of Bibles in about 200 countries in 108 different languages. Grace Family Church has supported this ministry for many years now. We believe that the ministry of spreading the gospel in…
Weekly UpdateMany small groups are meeting for the first time this week, so it would be good to discuss some expectations and the expected etiquette of small groups leaders and the rest of the members of the group. Remember, small groups are a place where we can serve one another, just as with anything else that happens in the church. Communication. Many groups use Viber or other chats for communication. When a leader posts an announcement or asks a question, please…
Weekly UpdateOftentimes we must remind ourselves about important and valuable things so that we would not forget to treasure, value, and use them. The men’s and women’s prayer breakfasts are such things that fall into the category of very important and especially valuable ministries of the church of which we must remind ourselves from time to time. We recently had a seminar about relations within a family and we’ve heard some good feedback. These are things we should discuss and be…
Weekly UpdateDear church, many of you were able to attend Sunday’s evening service and choose a small group where you will spend your time in fellowship, mutual edification, and prayer for the next 9 months. However, not everyone was able to be at the service. We really strongly encourage you to continue the search for a group where you will be able to spiritually grow, receive help, and serve. Listed below are the groups that still have space. Please don’t put…
Weekly Update“Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.” (Neh. 9:1-3) At various…
Weekly UpdateA team of over 20 teenagers and adults, led by pastor Andrey Kobzar, spent two weeks in Torrevieja, Spain, teaching and working alongside local ministers to run a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for slavic refugee children. This time was dedicated to building new relationship, learning, mutual support, and collective spiritual growth. During the morning service on June 30, Grace Family Church blessed its team as they prepared for their mission to Spain. A diverse lineup of participants—ranging from a baby…
Weekly UpdateThis summer, a small part of our church had an opportunity to participate and help in a camp for widows and orphans in Ukraine called, “From Heart to Heart.” On behalf of the whole team I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support in this project! May the Lord bless you! This camp has been organized from 2015 by the family of Sergei and Oksana Kopchuk from Second Slavic Baptist Church together with the missions organization called…
Weekly UpdateThe family is God’s design. This is why proper and biblical relations between a husband and wife visibly point to the relationship of Christ and the Church. For these relationships to correctly depict the spiritual reality, we must constantly check them and make adjustments. Not only is this applicable to the relations between a husband and wife, but parents and their children also need constant improvements. These adjustments often happen through simple reminders of already-known truths. This was the goal…
Weekly UpdateDear church, last Sunday evening, during our service, we were delighted to welcome a new group of brothers and sisters into our church family. Today, we want to remind you to notice these new members and show them special attention and love. Below you will find a few practical steps that you can take. 1) Invite them to your home. This is a wonderful way to get to know them, pray together, and perhaps answer any of their questions (1…
Weekly UpdateA few Sundays ago, while studying the Gospel of Luke 18:31-34, we encountered the biblical doctrine of redemption. This is a very important component of a sinner’s salvation. Today, I would like to reflect a bit more on it, and, perhaps, clarify some aspects of this doctrine, particularly to whom the ransom was paid, or who accepted this ransom from the hands of Jesus Christ. Let’s briefly review what has already been said: The text in Luke 18:31-34 speaks about…
Weekly UpdateAs you may know, our church is involved in ministering to the Afghan people in Sacramento. The following is a list of ways you can participate in this ministry. For more details and information please contact Alex Chernysh via SMS, Telegram, Viber, or WhatsApp. For his contact details please get in touch with the church secretary. 1. Prayer and a team. One of the most needed elements in working with Muslims is prayer. Specifically that the strongholds of Islam and…
Weekly Update“For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25) A simple reading of this text does not create any problems. Any person who understands hyperbole recognizes that Jesus is simply teaching that no person is able to be saved while relying on his wealth. To make this point he uses the biggest known animal in that area and the smallest opening—the eye…
Weekly UpdateOne of the elders recently received this question: How can I know that Christ died specifically for me? This is an important question that cannot be ignored, so this article tries to give a brief answer. Firstly, this question talks about knowledge! How can I “know” that Christ died for my sins? This is where many people get tripped up, oftentimes by resorting to just the emotions when making decisions about spiritual matters. Normally, when someone starts looking for a…
Weekly UpdateWhen the foundation of an education is God’s Word, this education is blessed and beneficial. Five students from our church just finished the sixth module of Coram Deo, and they’re now halfway through the course with only six more modules left. The topic of this last module was called “Giants On Our Earth” or in one word, “Fears.” A whole module was dedicated to this topic because the problem of fear is addressed all throughout the Bible. I’ll share what…
Weekly UpdateFriends, every one of us strives to grow spiritually. Reading Christian books is one of the tools that helps us in this. Through books we can learn more about God, learn to be a mother, look at the lives of missionaries to imitate them, learn how to overcome temptation, and many other things. There was a pastor in Alexander Stroke’s church who was sick with cancer at the end of his life. When the elders came to visit him, they…
Weekly UpdateDear church, This week marks a significant moment at Grace Family Church as all of our student ministries begin their summer break. For many, this brings excitement as they look forward to spending more time with their families. However, there are also those who will miss the joy of our weekly gatherings. One thing we will all miss is the blessed fellowship we share around God’s Word. Our main goal at GFC is to spread the kingdom of God to…
Weekly UpdateThis past Saturday God gifted our church a wonderful time of fellowship at the park. Praise God and thank you to everyone who labored to make this celebration possible. It was pleasant to witness people from both morning services worshipping God together. Once more, congratulations to the team of high schoolers who won the soccer tournament! You can see a photo from the picnic further below. Now, from Sunday evening through Tuesday, the elder board was together at a prayer…
Weekly UpdateDear church, in this article you will find some important information about various church ministries that will be useful to you. 1) An extra opportunity to participate in Communion. Since not all church members are able to be present on Sunday mornings, which also means they cannot participate in the Lord’s Supper, we have an extra Communion service on the Thursday after the Sunday communion service. As usual, at the end of the hour-long prayer meeting we have another opportunity…
Weekly UpdateThis article needed to be written eventually. We have a good tradition in Grace Family Church where we can explain and clarify various aspects of church ministries. We definitely want to be transparent, reasonable, and biblical in all aspects of church life. This contributes to a feeling of ownership in every church member. One of the questions that has come up for me personally in my conversations with church members is the question of raising hands during corporate singing. What…
Weekly UpdateThere are different types of reactions that people have after hearing a sermon. Perhaps one of the rarest—writing a poem. Stepan Yermolenko did just that after hearing last Sunday’s sermon on Mark 15, which I can’t wait to share with you. The first half figuratively portrays Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride. ***The following comes courtesy of AI. The poem was originally written in Russian but ChatGPT was able to translate it poetically into English. Check…
Weekly UpdateThe hermeneutics class officially ended this past Sunday. Now, not everyone who so passionately began the course was able to get to the end, but those that did ended with a lesson about how to apply a particular passage. After the course was completed, I got some requests to further explain how to move from observation to interpretation. It is not an easy process to synthesize all the observations into one cohesive idea and get an adequate interpretation of a…
Weekly UpdateDear church, our upcoming baptism will be happening on April 28 at 9:00 AM. God saves people, gives them repentance, a second birth, and a desire to proclaim their faith that they are followers of Christ through water baptism. We believe that baptism must be done according to faith with a full submersion into the water, since this is how baptisms were done in the first church (Acts 8:37-38). This is a big celebration, and we rejoice and thank God…
