10 weary GPC members arrived in Surgut, Russia on the 25th of May 2006, after 3 separate flights and 24 hours of travel. As we descended into the Surgut airport around 11:00 p.m., we watched the sunset. Along our journey to Surgut we were met by two indispensable friends who served as our translators and guides throughout the trip PC (USA) missionaries Jeff Koning from Perm, Russia & Ellen Smith from Moscow, Russia. Upon arriving in the small Surgut airport, we were greeted by the warmest of congregation members from the Church of Christ the Savior. While in Surgut, we immediately thrust into our main purpose for traveling all the way to Siberia . . . to strengthen our relationship and partnership with our sister church. While Germantown Presbyterian has a great relationship with Senior Pastor Sergei Kubata, we wanted to not only strengthen our relationship with him, but to extend it to the entire staff and congregation. Our days in Surgut were extremely busy as we were immersed in the life of the church; we learned about the daily activities of the church, its church ministries, and its members themselves. Sunday morning when we arrived at the church service, I think we all realized how much the Surgut church, thousands of thousands of miles away, loves us. They greeted us warmly, asked us questions about ourselves, our church, and about you the congregation. The church members volunteered during our stay to serve as drivers for us as we traveled to and fro, to cook our meals in the church, and spent many hours of their time visiting with us. The (three hour) church service was unique in many of their practices, but we all realized that worship of Jesus Christ is the worship regardless of the country, language, or culture. During the service, we were able to witness 8 adult (full immersion) baptisms, the youth music ministry, and we were a part of the service as well; we organized an impromptu choir and sang “How Great Thou Art” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Chris also preached a sermon with the help of a translator during the service that was received well by the entire church.

   

It is overwhelming and extremely moving to hear the church members talk about their ministries. They are very passionate about spreading God’s word into their community. They have a homeless ministry, utilizing a shed behind their church to house the homeless; this is an extremely important mission considering the temperatures in this area of Siberia. Also, there is a prison ministry headed up by one of the associate pastors, “Sergei (2)”. Over the last several years a chapel has been built in one of the prisons that houses inmates who have contracted tuberculosis and Sergei (2)’s ministry is tirelessly working to provide hope to these inmates through the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church also has a very active youth group whose energy and love for Christ was evident to us all. There are approximately 70 youth members ranging in age from 13-30 who are involved in all aspects of the church. One area where they have a large presence is music ministry.

  

As a group, we were also able to visit with missionary Don Marsden in Moscow and learn about his children’s Christian education ministry, the Narnia Foundation. There aren’t many educational resources devoted to teaching children about Christianity, and Don publishes books in Russia that will reach children and teach them about God’s love.

  

The most important result from our journey to Surgut is that we strengthened existing and built new relationships with much of the congregation in Surgut. Their willingness to give of their time to visit with us was very gracious. We were able to talk with them and share stories of our lives in America, and hear about their stories as well. Despite what seemed initially to be a language barrier, we all managed to find ways to communicate and show that we love them as much as they love us. We gathered many emails and many prayer requests as the entire Christ the Savior Church prays for us and earnestly wants to know that we’re praying for them in America. They consistently asked us to pass their “hellos” on to other GPC members as they knew we represented the entire congregation during our stay.

   

We all left Russia feeling renewed and strengthened in our faith.