MOSCOW — Despite local government's opposition and harassment, the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (RUECB) completed its third biannual, national congress on schedule on Aug. 4, at a camp near the village of Rumyantsevo west of Moscow.
“It was a truly wonderful event!” said Vitaly Vlasenko, director of the RUECB's department for external church relations. “Many participants claim it was their best conference ever.”
Focusing on the theme, “Transformation 2008,” the conference had something for everyone, including a program for the more than 200 children. Issues covered included parenting, romantic relationships, discipleship, leadership and mentoring. The creative arts played a major role; music and drama were big hits every evening from 10 until midnight.
Though the event included guests from nearby former Soviet countries, it remained a truly Russian one. There apparently was no speech in the main tent given in a Western tongue. But choirs sang in their South Russian mother tongues of Kabardian, Ossetic, Balgar and Roma. Two Wycliffe Bible translators from Russia were also introduced. The only Westerners present in any numbers were 18 members of Harvest Bible Chapel in Naperville, Ill., near Chicago. They played a vital role in getting the camp prepared for the more than 2,000 visitors.
This Brethren-run camp is named “Little Creek,” and the secular press predicted last week that the creek would “dry up” due to government opposition to the event. Yet the Noah-like scenes on Sunday, when tents and parts of the campus stood under water, left a completely opposite impression. Russians still understand how to endure adversity: The weekend turned out to be a very moist but happy affair with believers hunched together in the tightest of quarters.
Although local authorities regard the congress to be illegal, RUECB-leadership claims adamantly that the event was never forbidden by federal authorities.
Peter Lunichkin of St. Petersburg, head of the RUECB's social ministries department, cautioned against undue excitement. Russian believers do not lose emotional control as soon as a government office attempts to forbid something, he said.
“We're accustomed to public resistance,” Lunichkin assured. “Without any opposing pressure whatever, we would probably not know what to do with ourselves.” He added that great freedom remains for proclaiming the gospel in Russia. Wide access to children's homes in the St. Petersburg region is still available. “We don't know how long this freedom will hold, but that still is the case at present.”
Public electricity to the camp, cut off just before the congress began on July 31, was not immediately restored after its closing on Aug. 4. Local government officials, who had (in the name of public safety) declared the conference illegal, were also responsible for cutting off its power. The conference's legal aftermath is already beginning.
The RUECB, Russia's largest, unified Protestant church, represents approximately 80,000 adult members in 1,750 congregations and groups.
William Yoder works with the RUECB's department for external church relations.