Russia

Field Office Information

C&MA Field Entry in 1993

Field Director:

Tom Becker

Mailing Address:

Azovskaya Street 24, K2, Apt 715 Entrance 10, 14th Floor
Moscow 117452, RUSSIA

Phone:

011-7-095-318-0409

Email:

cmarussia@aol.com

Website:

http://www.cmainrussia.org

National Church

The Evangelical Christian Missionary Union, The Missionary Brotherhood, The Association of Missionary Churches of Evangelical Christians: 35 organized churches, 19 unorganized groups, 32 ordained ministers, 2,350 baptized members, and 3,000 inclusive members

Team Initiatives

• Come alongside our fledging church plants in four of Russia’s five largest cities to help them grow and have an impact on their communities. These churches have the potential of reaching 20 million people of many nationalities.
• Identify and help meet the needs of the four national church groups with which the mission is partnering. Pray that this model would be an example of the unity of the Body of Christ.
• Encourage our national church partners to adopt a churches-planting-churches approach in their efforts, believing that this will help overcome some social and economic barriers to growth.

Faith-based Freedom

2005-05-20 15:28:27.0

Evgeny, a young artist from Kiev, and his wife were addicted to drugs. They were connected with the Rehabilitation Center, a ministry of the Evangelical Christian and Missionary Union, a partner of The Alliance in Russia. After a year of treatment and counseling, Evgeny and his wife accepted Christ and became active in the Tikhoretsk church. 

In the United States, churches don’t often partner with a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. But in Russia it is becoming a natural offshoot of ministry. Drug and alcohol abuse is widespread and growing, and churches have begun to reach out to people with addictions. Every year there are 200,000 alcohol-related deaths in Russia, where it is estimated that 30 percent of youth have tried, are using, or are addicted to drugs. 

Rehabilitation programs run by the Russian government have a success rate of less than 15 percent. However, church-sponsored efforts are much more effective. The Rehabilitation Center in Tikhoretsk has a success rate of nearly 90 percent. Why? The difference, according to Pastor Vladimir Ignatev, is faith. “It is Christ alone who can turn a drug-addicted man or woman around,” declares Ignatev. Eighty percent of the people in the Tikhoretsk church are either rehabilitated addicts or relatives who realized that only God could have changed the broken lives of their loved ones. 

It was that miracle of faith that gave the young couple from Ukraine the courage to overcome their addictions. Evgeny soon became a leader of a small group in the church and also led prayer and evangelistic services. He is now studying for the ministry at Kuban Evangelical Christian University in Krasnodar. “This is just one of many exciting examples of the success of the center’s ministry,” says Alliance missionary Phil Arndt, a professor at the university. 

Arndt talked with the residents of the center, and their lives—without hope, ravaged by abuse and disease—had a common resolution: Jesus, the healer of their bodies and souls. “Often these people found a divine touch from the Savior at the time of their repentance,” says Arndt, “and the stories of their deliverance are nothing short of miraculous.” 

A man named Alexander was homeless four years ago. When he came to the Rehabilitation Center, the doctors had said he had hours to live. His liver was nearly useless because of cirrhosis, his kidneys were dysfunctional, his legs were horribly swollen, and he could hardly breathe. Workers and residents at the Rehabilitation Center shared the gospel with Alexander, and he repented. Thinking that at last he had found peace, Alexander was ready to meet his Savior. 

But the people at the center prayed that God would heal Alexander’s body, just as He had healed his soul. “What happened next was a real-life miracle,” Arndt reports. “Alexander got better! Today, he has no liver problems, no kidney problems, and no asthma. He leads a vital prayer group in the church and is mentoring young believers.” 

The Rehabilitation Center currently has about 50 residents, who are housed in various places. The main home is owned by a man who is soon to be released from prison. There are several options for relocation, but the center has no funds with which to build a facility or buy an existing home. “I was with the people at the center last week and was overwhelmed once again by the faith of those whose lives have been changed,” says Arndt. “They have absolute trust in God that their prayers for a place to minister to those whose lives have been written off by society, but not by God, will be answered! 

“We pray that God would provide for a permanent home for the center and that lives would continue to be changed for the Kingdom.” 

Pray that this work would continue to bring crushed and ruined people to true redemption in Christ. The Alliance has opened a special account for tax-deductible gifts to the center. Please consider giving to this outstanding ministry! You can send your donation to: C&MA, P.O. Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500. In the memo area of your check, please designate “Tikhoretsk Rehab Center.”

Demographics

Population

Population--143,420,309 Infant mortality rate--15.4/1,000 Life expectancy--67.1

Capital City

Moscow (11,970,500) pop.

Geography

About 1.8 times the size of the United States, Russia (6,592,735 sq. mi.) is the largest country in the world, spanning 11 time zones with every topography and climate except tropical. European area is low plain, grassy in south and wooded in north; Ural Mountains are in the east and Caucasus Mountains in south. Asiatic area is vast plain with mountains in south and east; tundra covers northern plains, marshes in west, desert in southwest.

Languages

Russian (official), other

Ethnicity/Race

Russian--81.5%; Tatar--3.8%; Ukrainian--3%; other--11.7%

Economy

Per capita income--$9,800 Inflation--11.5% Unemployment--8.3% Literacy rate--100% (2003 est.)

Government/Political Climate

Constitutional federation. After the Russian Empire was overthrown in 1917, the Communists under Lenin seized power and formed the USSR. Multiparty federal democracy instituted in 1990. Recent years have seen erosion in nascent democratic institutions.

Religion

Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other