A Church Was Born Here

It was on these grounds on July 4th weekend 2008 that a church was born. Most westerners have a visual in their minds of a group of people in a semi circle with shovels in hand posing for the local newspaper as they break ground for their "new church". In other words, that church's image for decades to come is often defined by the building that comes up from the ground and constructed in the image of the architectural drawings. But that's not what happened here.
The place I'm referring to is at a campground called "Yolochka" (translated into English means small tree, and is often the phrase used for a Christmas Tree). We are 20 miles or so outside the city of Bryansk, Russia and a million miles from where the rest of the world 20 years ago thought a church for young people would be born.
The Church calls itself "History Makers". Four years ago Patty and I were challenged to seek out ways to lay a foundation for a movement of God in Bryansk. Even though we had worked here for several years by then, there was no real church planting going on. And the most open field seemed to be among young people who were seeking answers. I remember before we traveled to Russia to spend those 2 months, we had prayed for an open opportunity to find that "person of peace" who would open the door to starting a church for a young generation. We had no idea that an answer would come so quickly. We barely got off the plane in Moscow when we received a call from our dear young friend Luba for some help, advice, and direction. A small group of young adults, most of whom were from Russian Baptist traditions, felt the great need to start a new church that would focus on reaching the secular young people of Bryansk. And they had encountered great roadblocks, not from the government, but from their Baptist relatives and leaders. They were criticized, ridiculed, called heratics, and instructed to fall back into line and attend the normal church structure. The group was made up of about 10 core young adults, ages ranged from 16 to 28 years old. Since being run off from a local church youth group for being too energetic and opening the door to non-believers who looked different, they had been meeting in a home on Tuesday nights. That group grew in number but didn't know where to go. Some of their parents were so upset with them they wouldn't talk to them about this subject. It was a painful time.
So here comes Patty and Billy seeking ways to find those that God had appointed to start a church among a young generation in Russia. We had worked by then for 7 years here and we knew most of the local church leaders. We sat with these young people for a few days listening to their stories of what they felt they should do in planting a church, but they were so torn. I knew this was also putting me in a vulnerable position as well, because I was working so closely with summer camps out of traditional churches. And many of these people I was working with were the most upset about this new group. But through those weeks of listening and counsel Patty and I couldn't come to any other conclusion than the fact that a church was emerging here. Over the next months in visit after visit we played adviser, counselor, referee, vision guide, and maybe most importantly, protector, as this group began to make plans to forge ahead with plans to move from a small house group, to becoming a church in Bryansk.
Early the next summer, in 2008, I was in Bryansk planning out the details for teams of Americans that were to come and help with different camps for the summer; things we had traditionally done for 8 years at that point. We had a childrens camp planned that was just not coming together, and we also had a college age young adult group from Dallas, Texas coming to serve in any way they were needed. The Yolochka campground that we had originally scheduled a kids camp for was now open, and we had this team coming. Luba and Pasha and I felt that this was the time to have a camp for this young group so they could invite their friends to the warm and friendly confines of this special place, Yolochka. This discussion and decision was agreed upon at a German restaurant in town over dinner. And even a couple of the older resistent people agreed. Even though this group had met in a home for almost 2 years, and had held a couple of public concerts with their emerging music team, the first official event was this camp in early July 2008. The team from Dallas was called "Glowing Heart" and about 16 of them came to join 40 or so of the History Maker group. Henry Loftin, the leader of Glowing Heart spoke at the evening sessions, and the GH band played music that stirred the souls of this generation. This college age group from Texas connected in deep ways with this college age group from Bryansk. At the Sunday morning finish of the 4 day camp, the Glowing Heart team, following the pattern of Jesus with his disciples, took buckets of water and washed the feet, one at a time, of every Russian young person at that camp. Learning to be a servant is how you boldly lead. A Church was born.
There have been lots of powerful and significant events that have taken place with History Makers, and their have been some painful ones as well. But right now as I sit in the midday sunshine at Yolochka and hear the sounds of the 75 young people here at this camp, this church is now part of a movement of God among this generation. They have planned this camp. They are leading it. Some young people who came to faith at that first camp are now the small group leaders and missionaries today. This church will NEVER own a building. They have no paid staff, and may never have any. They have no bylaws officially except the Scripture. But they have a faith in Christ that they freely share.
In the days ahead in this blog I want to share a few of those individual stories. But join me in prayer for this young church as it touches the lives of a generation seeking answers.
This place, Yolochka, is holy ground for me. I believe that are seeing a movement of God coming right out of this ground.
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