May 2005—St. Petersburg, Russia   A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

 

Братолюбие (brat-ah-LYOU-be-ye) Brotherly love

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

May has been a month filled with Church holidays—the last Sundays of the Easter season, Pentecost and Trinity.  The Ingrian Lutheran cycle of Gospel readings used John 15:26-16:4 on Exaudi Sunday, the Sunday before Pentecost.  Luther’s comments on that text include a quote borrowed from Augustine—where God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel, and Luther adds, “and next door a tavern.”  Jesus warns His disciples that they can expect persecution, especially from those who claim to be believers serving God.  Of course, we may all too quickly point our fingers at those in the Church who we feel have persecuted us, but the more personal question is who might we be persecuting, interfering with their service, in our sincerity and desire to serve God?  If the Apostle Peter can confess Jesus as Savior and then in the next breath tempt Jesus from fulfilling His mission so that Jesus calls Peter Satan (Matt 16:18-23), any of us who believe can be used by the Devil to interfere and impede ministry especially when we feel our intentions are for someone’s own good. 

The Church will always have its politics, the devil will build his chapels and taverns, but this does not mean that we Christians should ever give in and accept this as the status quo—we are called to work against such things in the Church.  The Church is not a business, it is a family, the family of believers, Children of God baptized into Christ who through faith have been empowered to be children of God, our Heavenly Father.  Families work best when there is clear communication, the same holds true in the Church.  Secret agendas, using others to fulfill our goals, or pushing our own goals at the expense of others, such things are not healthy.  Jesus also teaches us to communicate with our God through prayer, but also with each other—if for no other reason than to give each other the opportunity to ask for and receive forgiveness.

Visitors from Omsk

Psalm 132:7 Let us go into His tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool.

      Early this month a delegation came to St. Petersburg from the Ingrian Lutheran congregation in Omsk, Siberia.  They were here for the ordination of their pastor, a man who has been discipled by the Finnish missionary pastor stationed in Omsk, Juha Saari.  Juha and I got acquainted back in 2001 at a clergy seminar in Krasnoyarsk.

      While he was in town we were able to catch up on things, and I asked him a little about what is going on in Omsk.  There is an old Lutheran Church building still extant in the city dating from the late 1700’s—and it was the second Church built (replacing the first which no longer exists).  The congregation is trying very hard to get that building back, not only because of its historic value, but because of the potential witness to the faith.

When we read the Old Testament about the Tabernacle that God had Israel build in the desert, we notice several things—first, the Tabernacle did not descend from heaven like manna.  Israel was to build it.  Second, we see what the Tabernacle is called—the Tabernacle of meeting (because this is where God has said He will meet the people), the Tabernacle of the Testimony (because the Ark of the Testimony was kept there) and the Tabernacle of Witness (because it was a witness to the covenant between God and the people).  Although the Tabernacle’s mission was fulfilled in Christ in Whom God and Mankind have met and become reconciled, Christian Church buildings are signs of our faith and our new covenant with God.  In Russia a Church building is the best form of public outreach—especially when that building is historical.  In the face of contemporary atheism, in the face of a society that often thinks of Lutheranism as some modern western sect, such historical buildings speak loud and clear of the deep roots of Lutheranism in Russia, Russian culture and history.  Reclaiming them, rebuilding them, or building new buildings on old cites bear witness to the surrounding culture of the life and church reforming Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Once More to the Siberian Outback

Romans 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established --

During his May visit to St. Petersburg, Missionary Pastor Juha Saari offered to cover my expenses if I could take trip to the Siberian villages and parishes to uplift and encourage the leaders and congregations there.  After praying with my wife, we accepted his help, and May 20th flew out of St. Petersburg headed for Novosibirsk.  My wife (with our daughter) stayed in Novo to spend some time with parishioners and to help train a young man to lead the Sunday school there.  I along with my son Karl went on further east.  First, we went to Krasnoyarsk where I preached and did a short pro-life presentation, and we immediately caught the train to the villages, meeting up with deacon Vacheslav Shadrin to lead worship and encouragement in Upper Bulanka and Lower Bulanka, to baptize two babies, lead worship and do a short talk on stewardship in Suatuk, and then to Minusinsk (where Vacheslav serves) for a pro-life seminar there.  Then we returned to Novosibirsk where I preached, talked briefly about both life ministry and stewardship and showed the Luther film as an evangelism event.

During the trip we stopped in the county seat so to speak, Karatuz, to meet with the regional director, Vladimir Saar, an Estonian Lutheran (brought to faith through the evangelism efforts of Daniil Sobelev and Gregory Savchenko).  He talked at length about the need for more work in the villages establishing congregations—and offered his support while he is serving (the next election is in two years).  We prayed about this open door of opportunity.  His region has many villages which are Estonian, Latvian, Finn and German—many of whom would be open to planting congregations (Vacheslav has already identified three possibilities around Minusinsk).  We also talked about the need to identify and train local leaders for any congregations that could be planted.

As good as it was to see old friends, as necessary as it was to administer the Word and Sacraments, the trip made clear the great need and opportunities for evangelism in the Siberian villages--the door is wide open, the harvest is waiting, but the workers are few—pray for laborers (and the resources to send them).

Prayer Requests

Pray for a potential elder in Upper Bulanka, pray for Ernst Lel in Suatuk who is also a potential elder, pray for Deacon Vacheslav and his family as he finishes up at the University in Abakan and seeks to find the time, resources and local leaders to open more work in the villages in that area.  Pray for the Omsk group, pastor Juha and the new Russian pastor, that they might get the Church building back for the praise and glory of God.  Pray that the Devil’s chapels may always decrease in size and that God preserve each one of us from ever being used as his instrument against our fellow believers and the ministry of the church.  Pray for the students returning back to America (which means the USA and Canada) from their time of study in Russia—that their experience here may be used for the glory of God as they live their lives.  Pray for all the short term groups coming to Russia to help out with Bible camps and other ministries.  Pray for the pro-life initiative in the Lutheran Church here and for all the pregnant women in Russia—that they may find those who would support their keeping their baby as opposed to those who see pregnancy as pathology.

English Service

This month we said good-bye to our foreign exchange students, most of whom were not Lutheran, but who enjoyed our fellowship and worship.  One, coming from a non-denominational background, commented just how much she appreciated liturgy, saying, “its so nice having a clear liturgy.  If I lose space out during the service, it’s so nice to be able to find my place and rejoin the service.”

Family News

During our trip to Siberia, my wife and I decided to let Karl come with me to the villages so he could see just what it is that daddy does when he goes on his trips.  Near the end of the trip—during our last train ride— Karl announced that he wanted to be a pastor like me, then added, “can astronauts be pastors?”  He got to ring the bell in Suatuk, be the acolyte in two villages and in Novosibirsk, and he got to meet believers and unbelievers—and ask daddy a lot of questions (he even paused some times to let me answer one or two!).

 

 

Lift High the Cross, the love of Christ proclaim

‘til all the world proclaims His sacred Name.

Come Christians follow where our Master trod,

Our King victorious, Christ the Son of God.

Lift High the Cross, the love of Christ proclaim

‘til all the world proclaims His sacred Name.

 

This is the song the MOST ministries group sang at the end of their work repairing the Church in Suatuk

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

_________________________________________________________________________

 

CONTACT ADDRESSES Feedback, questions, whatever are most welcome.

Our Russian home address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp

18 line V. O. dom 43 Kv. 7

St. Petersburg, Russia, 199178

 

Stateside contact address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp,

C/O Marli Camp

902 N. 12th

Melrose Park, IL, 60160

Russian Lutheran Church Address:

Ev. Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia

Bolshaya Konyushennaya dom 8

St. Peterburg, Russia, 191186

 

Telephone: after getting an international line by dialing 011, dial 7- 812 (our area code) 321-1508(our phone number)

Note—Between St. Petersburg and central US time, the difference is 9 hours.  Stateside contact telephone: 708-344-4472

 

E-MAIL:  lzkcamp(at symbol)mail.ru & leif.camp(at symbol)elci.ru.  Prolife web site with Russian materials you can down load: prolife.elci.ru.  Other websites: Lisa Stapp has set up a website which has some of our last newsletters (with their cover letters and pictures):  http://www.worthywomanpage.com/camp/index.html.  Also my mother's home congregation has our newsletters--the latest can be downloaded from: http://www.stpaulmp.org/camp/  a second site archives our past newsletters since 2002 http://www.stpaulmp.org/archives/ .   Please feel free to share this newsletter with your Church, friends, or enemies if it might help (just please do not quote things out of context or edit my words in such a way as to change their intent).  If you would like to receive a copy via e-mail, simply email me directly and ask!

 

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