A Growing Influence

After the resurrection of Jesus, His acension and outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, there was a powerful movement of Christian growth as people came to faith and passed the word from household to household and person to person. In the Book of Acts we can see how God used a few committed believers to spread the gospel.

The strategy of Jesus was simple, send the best trained leaders out from Jerusalem to various cities and preach the good news then disciple or equip them to reproduce themselves in that region. It proved to be a remarkably successful approach. In about 300 years the Roman Empire was afire with Christians despite persecution and oppression.

What is generally overlooked by modern Christians is how slow but steady that method proved to be. We truly love a quick fix. We want to preach a few sermons, preferably on radio and TV, and let the newly converted babies rear themselves. That approach in Russia and Eastern Europe has proved disasterous. Many of the new churches planted by this method after Perestroika have closed and others are very weak.

Our approach is different. First, we do not plant new churches but support the churches and leaders already here. They know the culture, spiritual needs and the best ways to share the gospel and follow up with discipleship. It is a slow bu powerful model much like that Jesus suggested.

In this part of the world, almost eveyone has been traumatized and, as a result, suffers from emotional and relational problems. Addictive behavior has been rampant ever since Peter The Great promoted alcohol as an essential part of government. The Soviets exacerbated that problem and cigarrettes have become a partner to alcohol as an agent of death, destruction and depression.

We have introduced the 12 Step Groups here and find that when they are cobined with prayer, scripture and worship they provide a wonderful process for getting and staying sober. As many as 75 to 80% of all men are alcoholics! Read Isaiah 28 for the reasons why.

The 12 Steps are a wonderful summary of basic Christianity. The local Christians have added several "Group Rules" that assist in training the people to listen, care and break the patterns of co-dependency. Pray for the leaders. Next week some of them will travel to cities far from Moscow to train more leaders. They are literally "Going into all the world and making disciples" by "teaching them to do everything that Jesus did."

If you can support one of the Russian leaders, let us know.

Gary Sweeten

My last letter from Moscow this trip

Miracles Needed

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17 NAS).

“For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 NKJV).

The writer of the book of Hebrews says:

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Heb. 1:3 NIV).

The French theologian Auguste Lecerf made this observation: “The constant relations which we call natural laws are simply ‘divine habits’: or, better, the habitual order which God imposes on nature. It is these habits, or this habitual process, which constitute the object of the natural and physical sciences.” God works according to a pattern. Creation works according to what has been described as a “great cosmic liturgy.”

What is a “miracle” then? A miracle is not God “breaking” the so-called “laws of nature.” A miracle is simply God doing something contrary to His normal pattern. It is an exception to His ordinary, usual way of doing things. It is not His “bursting” into His created order and acting, because He is always acting. He is the one who “moves” the sun across the heavens (or rotates the earth), at a consistent speed. This is His daily divine habit. But let’s say one day He decides to make the sun stand still, as He chose to do in Joshua’s day. Is He not simply deviating from His “normal routine?”

To quote Lecerf: “The miracle, in its form, is but a deviation from the habitual course of natural phenomena, provoked by the intervention of a new factor: an extraordinary volition of God. There is, thus, no violation of law, as scientifically defined, since every scientific law supposes this restriction, explicit or implicit: all things being equal in all respects.”

What this means is that we must toss out this traditional distinction between the natural and the supernatural. By the way, this distinction is rooted in Greek philosophy, not in Biblical thinking. The Biblical worldview is radically different and does not draw this natural/supernatural distinction. I suggest that we take the word “supernatural” out of our vocabulary, and begin to think and speak of God as He reveals Himself to be in the Scriptures. Romans 11:36 says, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” The same God who “performs” miracles also brings about the everyday “mundane” things such as causing the grass to grow, sending the rain, etc., it’s all God in an intimate, personal way going about the directing of His creation.

As a minister of the gospel I am constantly looking for God to upset the “natural order of sinful humanity” and break into our lives with grace and mercy. Sin is rampant in every nation, culture and society. Yet, God continually does miracles and brings men and women to Himself. He heals their broken spirits and reconciles dysfunctional generational curses while bringing sobriety to the drunken and clarity to the confused.



At this time of international monetary worries, we need to be praying for God's grace and mercy as well as His miraculous interventions. It is for sure that we have no power to change things.

Appreciation

One of the keys to good spiritual health is appreciation. My friends in Russia have a lot of that commodity. Despite having lived through a history of many bloody wars and revolutions as well as famine and persecution, many of my friends here appreciate God's love and mercy in a very deep way. Maybe that appreciation comes from having faced so many trials and tribulations.

I spoke yesterday with the woman who published our book, Listening for Heaven's Sake, in Russian. She mentioned that the number of Russian Protestant churches is shrinking from the high of the revivals in the Nineties. It is too hard to maintain a church here. Many of the new churches were started or funded by Western missionaries but could not sustain themselves after the missionaries left.

This is why it is so important to support local Russian leaders. Russian nationals must learn how to lead the churches here and overcome the many challenges they face. Space is very limited and money scarce. Getting from place to place to place long and streneous. Seventy years of Socialist oppression has left the people stunned and too often involved in addictive behaviors that chalenge the church in every way.

I am convinced that the work of equipping and encouragement is the most important thing we can do. Healthy leaders are necessary to have a chelthy church. None of us can lead others farther than we have gone ourselves. Leadership!

Thanks for your prayers. Our local friends do appreciate them very much.

Gary Sweeten
Moscow
http://www.sweetenlife.com/

Friends

I mentioned in my last post about the volunteer team here in Russia. They work so hard and face so many barriers that I am amazed at their courage and perseverance.

One Pastor travels for 75 miles each way to lead the groups in Moscow. He and others get there early to clean up, set up food and drinks and even put light bulbs in so we can see. They take them out after the groups or they will be stolen. They bring toilet paper, towels, bread, meat, tea, coffee, etc. They actually have to make the place work every time.

Pray for space that is theirs.

Growing Believers

Here I am again, sitting in an internet cafe named Asia that is just a ten minute walk from my flat. It has fairly inexpensive food and charges two US dollars for an hour of internet time.

The TV in my rented room has no cable and the only way I can get news from back home is to get a rare English paper or go online. The stock market here is tanking badly and the Russians are blaming the US for being too greedy. Oh well, another reason for people overseas to blame the US for everything.

Watching the stock market at home go down provides me with a wonderful opportunity to learn to trust God for the future, again and again. I left Cincinnati the day after Dow Jones dropped by a huge amount and had to learn to pray for God's peace because I had to face the fact that I am powerless.

Here in Russia Galina and her team of hard working volunteers (See Photos) have been training a lot of churches and volunteer groups to lead 12 step groups. This is essential in Eastern Europe where smoking, drinking and drugs are rampant. Step One is to recognize our Powerlessness and the current market reminds us of that fact. I did not control its rise and I can not control its drop.

I have been visiting Russia since 1991 and I am amazed at the many ways the team here is growing in its ability to help ordinary people. From the Ural Mountains to Ukraine to Moscow they have set up 12 Step Groups, Apples Training, Renewing the Mind Clases and Family Systems Healing Seminars. I can see enormous differences in the lives of so many wonderful people.

The materials and processes we developed way back in the Seventies and adopted from AA are working here just as well or better than in the States. Thanks for your prayers and financial support. But life is tougher here than at home. Several families live together in tiny two and three ROOM flats. Mom, Dad, Daughter and Son in Law with three little kids all together in three rooms! Can you imagine?

Now that is learning to get along with your in laws!

Pray for us. God's grace and power are needed. Today.

Gary Sweeten

www.sweetenlife.com

www.liferoute.ru

A Great Time In Russia

As I travel around the world and experience the stresses of economic uncertainty, family trauma and relational pain I am reminded of the assessments of experts such as Dr. Roberta Gilbert, an MD Psychitrist. She joins many others who think we are experiencing a time of societal regression in many nations. Societal regression occurs when there is an increase in all the negative aspects of life and a decrese in the positive aspects.
Negative Aspects: Violence, family breakups, family abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, interpersonal clashes, depression, anxiety, increased greed, leaders abuse power, sexual predators are commion, etc.
Positive Aspects: Family harmony, economic growth and basic needs are met, mutual caring, attendance at religious services, traditions are remembered and kept, parents are honored, children are desired, sexual relationships are monogamous, character is desired over beauty, peace and harmony are widespread.

Despite the widespread growth of the negative factors in many nations, we are seeing the development of powerful, loving Christian communities in numerous cities. (See above photo)Building a community that swims upstream against the tide of dysfunction is not easy but with faith in God and an open spirit to His guidance and power it can be done. These communities are light houses that offer hope, love and healing in a very dark culture.

The Russian people are reeling from many wars, the reign of an evil socialist empire for Seventy years and the death/destruction of numeorus good people. Entire families were wiped out by the Bolsheviks and 92,000 Orthodox Priests were killed for no reason other than they stood for love and mercy. Protestant Ministers and ther churches were also destroyed in a bllody attempt to replace love with evil.

The Russian churches and its people are recovering and working hard to rebuild the society based on godly principles. It is a long hard battle ans will take the prayers and support of Believers around the world.

Last night I visited with about fifty men and women who are deeply involved in the Recovery programs of Liferoute. There was an open and quite lively discussion about how to best relate to family and friends in a healthy and upbuilding manner. Such discussions were prohibited by the Communists and if the militant Atheists in America have their way it will be stopped in our own nation. Research from all over the world shows that Christianity produces health and wealth in any nation that comes to faith in large numbers. Here is Russia we can see what happens when the state viciously attacks our faith.

So, pray for our friends here. They are making progress despite great odds.

Gary Sweeten

Moscow Revisited

I am sitting in a Moscow Internet Cafe named Asia Cafe eating an omlette with Tiger Prawns an cheese although I thought I ordered ham and cheese. Such is the state of trying to communicate in English only with a young waitress who speaks only Japanese and Russian. Living and traveling in the largest city in Europe certainly proves that we are experiencing the global village in a whole new way. The trains, subways and streets are filled with people from every nationality, tribe and tongue. Cars from every imaginable country run rampant through the streets are breakneck speeds and a pedesrtian must always be alert or be killed. It is great fun to experience the excitement of international interaction.

I am staying in a flat (apartment) near Christ The Savior Cathedral and it is a very high class, busy section of this huge city. The Cathedral stands as a huge testimony of the failure of the Bolsheviks. It seems that the Communists hated this church more rabidly than most even though they hated all churches. In a fit of pique they blew it up in an attempt to erase its powerful message from the consciousness of the Russian people for all time. (It was originally built as a memorial to the defeat of Napolean's armies so the pride of Russia and Moscow was great.)

The Communists, in a typical stroke of genius, decided to build in its place a big office building dedicated to the rise of Communism. Here was the problem: God openly rebuked their efforts by making such a structure impossible. The prayers of the people and the church somehow softened the ground under the structure and the engineers and architects found themselves unable to get a foundation to stick. (Hmmm! A lack of foundation. Isn't that interesting.)

So, after several tries, the Party gave up and made it into a big swimming pool. It was as though God placed a large baptismal fount right in the middle of the city for all to see as a symbol of the atheistic attempts to destroy the church. Many of my friends swam in that pool and it kept the story of the Party's failure alive in the hearts and minds of the Muskovites.

Just after the fall of Communism, the Orthodox Church decided to rebuild the Cathedral. Despite warnings that the ground was too soft to sustain it, they went ahead. "How" they asked, "could the ground sustain the original Cathedral and not a new one?" Now Christ The Savior stands as an open rebuke to all attempts to destroy Christ and His message of victory and hope.

My spirits are uplifted each time I see the church and I am reminded of God's power and truth.

Pray for our ministry here. The efforts at helping Christians grow and prosper in a very difficult place are succeeding but it is slow and challenging. Pray for Galina and her team of intrepid and skilled workers. The culture and society has been severely damaged by seventy years of crushing oppression and trauma. Alcoholism and other addictions are rampant destroying many Christian families. Our friends are making headway but the enemy is strongly resisting.

Gary Sweeten

www.sweetenlife.com

www.liferoute.ru