Weekly Update |   February 8, 2024

One Church’s Ministry

Peace to you, dear church!

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit… But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 24-27)

With this large passage we begin our letter to remind us about the unity all believers across the whole world share in Christ—those both at peace and those at war, on both sides of the frontlines.

Today we pray much for and participate in the spiritual and physical needs of those suffering in Ukraine. Many other Christian churches do the same in America, Europe, and other countries, even those in Russia. Speaking of this country, we must remember about the unity of the members of a church and about the fact that a person does not choose where they are born. God has not intended for all to immigrate, even when they experience cruel oppression from the government.

But our short testimony about one of the churches in a border town in Russia is not about this. Rather, it’s about the work that this church has been doing already for over 10 years on the frontlines of the war with Eastern Ukraine. There is a small group of Baptist believers from a city called Novoshakhtinsk where the pastor is Andrey Karelov.

From the first days of the war, these brothers and sisters organized the delivery of humanitarian aid to those having suffered close by in the regions of Luzhansk and Donetsk. They helped the civil defense authorities in their home town to sort and deliver food and necessary aid to refugees who had to flee from their homes to cross the border, often under gunfire. They helped both financially and physically to fix church buildings that had been ruined with bullet holes. They drilled wells for drinking water, installed heating, and transported medicine, firewood, and even coal. The entire community of the Rostov region, led by senior pastor Vladimir Drok, was involved in this mission.

And to this day, humbly and without vivid presentations, this work of the brothers and sisters from Novoshakhtinsk continues under the leadership of pastor Andrey Karelov. They opened a shelter inside a local church in the region of Lisichansk to accept people who’ve lost their homes and relatives and are in need of care. One of the buildings of this church is full to the brim, and people still continue to come. They decided to fix up and prepare one more building to be able to accept more people, so brother Andrey Karelov and his son David did the remodel and fixes to the water lines and heating system. But before they can accept more people there is much more work to be done for the building to be up-to-date with all the modern sanitary codes and have all the proper certificates. These brothers and sisters do everything exclusively using church donations and their personal time, and the pastor and his son, as do many others, work to have an income for their families while also volunteering for the church.

And today, despite the intense pressure of the Russian authorities against evangelical Christian Baptists, they continue to labor in God’s harvest. Missionary activity is forbidden so they do personal evangelism. They share about Christ using all means available to them, including a mobile display of artwork on biblical themes that many in public schools, art schools, clubs, and culture houses accept with joy.

The children of God labor without grumbling and giving up, but they don’t ignore their needs, which are not simply material. The prayers of pastor Andrey Karelov in Novoshakhtinsk are for God to bless the church with future deacons, preachers of the Word, teachers and leaders, and pastors. Also, that the people, God’s lights, would not dim and there would be enough salt amidst the uncircumcised hearts that await the sowers. You are invited to pray for this need!

News Archive