Praying For the People of Russia
Update from Buddy, missionary
My focus and my updates to you in these last weeks have, quite naturally, concerned Ukraine and the work here. However, I would urge you, challenge you even, not to forget to give thought and much prayer for the people of Russia. I am seeing a worldwide tendency to blame all Russians for this national insanity, when in fact, the responsibility can be, without apology, placed within the Kremlin walls and squarely on the sagging shoulders of Vladimir Putin and his regime.
While there is an unprecedented war raging in Ukraine, the work of ministry continues in the country responsible for the aggression. Our brothers and sisters in Christ still must function and carry on the work of the church, at the same time the authorities there are carrying out atrocities on innocent people, many who are family and friends, in Ukraine. You should know that the Russian people are frightened, therefore handcuffed by their own government at this time.
The work that we started and the people we worked with for 25 years, are still there, and life continues. The kids that we have worked with and the people we have ministered to and with, are fighting their own battles on a very different front, but no less real, in Russia.
Vladimir Kalininn was a Colonel in the Soviet Air Force, for 30 years. He remembers the oppressive regime of those days, and feels the return of that system. He is physically broken and will need surgery in the next few weeks, and yet continues to carry on our work in Kaspli and with the Tech school kids.
Zhenya, who you have read about from me for years, is my all time favourite Russian grandmother. A kinder and more gentle and grateful Christian heart, I’ve never met. I’ve never heard her complain. She will be 94 this year. When she was born, communism in Russia was only 10 years old. She lived through the years of the secret Church meetings and told me about the hardships of being a Christian through those days. Now, she is seeing her country become something even worse than what Stalin, Brezhnev, or Khrushchev could have even imagined.
The kids in the orphanage at Pochinok who we have helped and for whom we have built and taught a better way of life, are now hearing and being taught a philosophy that will offer them no future.
Leonid in Adhyghea, a policeman during the Cold War days, has worked with us in that Muslim region, and seen good fruit as a result of his effort for the Gospel’s sake. Now the added pressure of a war nearby makes that work even more of a challenge.
The kids in the school for the blind, still are, and the kind of help that they need, will be difficult to find in the near future.
Oxana has moved to Caucuses and the work we wanted to partner with her in working with disabled kids in the orphanages there, will have to wait. She and Dema and the family she’s adopted will work on with what they have and do the best they can.
There are hundreds of other examples that I could share. My point being, the work of the Kingdom continues in Russia. It is a different front, but a battle all the same. Our people there need your faithful prayers and support more than ever. Please do not judge a people by their passport. Some of the finest Christians you’ll ever meet, live behind that newly drawn curtain. Whether or not it will be iron, is not yet clear.
War produces multiple victims, both within the war zone and internationally. This war is no different. You, yourself, are feeling the runoff of the economic effect 5,000 miles away from here. I know it’s hard to compare with the mama who shelters her babies in the basement of a bombed out apartment building in Kharkiv, but you understand my point. Though the effects vary, they are real to those who feel them wherever they are. There are victims everywhere, and the greatest victims in this conflict, without question, are the Ukrainians. But second on the victim list are the Russians.
In some ways the future of Russia looks more horrible than for Ukraine, which I believe will win this war.
That once great culture is in danger of falling into an abyss of evil and inhumanity like we have not seen in civilised times. How has it happened? It seems that while Putin’s regime has failed to build an effective army, it has succeeded in creating an extremely creative fictional reality for it’s citizens. It is in this type of society that Russian Christians must live and worship and raise their families in now.
For us, you and I, we now must find a way to fight this war on both of these fronts. Ukraine is in desperate need and they are most evident. Russia’s needs are just as desperate, but not nearly as open and visible. While we know how to help the Ukrainians as long as the bombs are dropping, knowing how to minister to a new world within Russia will be, in many ways, even more difficult. However, I’ve always believed that just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible. We didn’t know what we were doing 25 years ago when Russia opened up to the Gospel, so we went “not knowing”, and God was good and blessed. Now, that Russia is closed again, we’ll just have to let Him lead us as we are “not knowing” again.
Our battle is not with the Russian people, but with the evil regime of Putin. We fight against all he has done and is doing to destroy the innocent people of both Ukraine and Russia. For this reason, the work goes on. This week we will be back in Ukraine, in Vinnitsa. Our goal will be to be in Kiev region again and even a little further north in those suburbs most devastated for all these weeks. What we are trying to do, with your help, is not only meet the needs of the people now, but also to set up a network of people within the country that can work together as we will need to help these people and their churches rebuild what has been destroyed.
It seems that the Russians are set on connecting to Moldova in the days to come. They have been totally ineffective as an army other than lobbing what seems to be an endless supply of bombs. It means, more death and destruction and misery, for a longer period of time.
I continue to be grateful for every single thought and prayer. It is encouraging to know that you are engaged with this part of the Kingdom at such time as this. Also, I am sincerely appreciative of every note that I receive. Encouragement is motivating and precious at any time in life, but especially now. Many blessings to you as you are working and building His Kingdom in your part of the world.