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

 

НАПОМНИТ—na-POM-neet—He will remind

John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

I am writing this newsletter on my daughter Anastasiya’s birthday (“Nastya” for short).  We are planning to celebrate her birthday tomorrow (Saturday) with friends.  Calendars, holidays, important dates—these are things that help us mark time, mark growth, remind us of important events and so forth.  The Church has its own calendar as well.  We are now in the Trinity season or post-Pentecost season (depending on which Lutheran Hymnal you are using).  Either way, this is a special season in the Church year that follows Pentecost—and it is the longest season.  At Pentecost Jesus’ promise to send the Comforter the Holy Spirit to remind His disciples of all He had said and done is fulfilled.  During this season, then, the Church through preaching and teaching reminds us present day disciples of Jesus’ teaching and miracles to strengthen our faith and witness. 

Especially in our present world, with all the advancing technology, the ever growing threat of evil—terrorism, vice, lax morality, narcotics, abortion, AIDS, etc.—it is especially important that we remain faithful to our Lord in Whose death and resurrection we have been baptized as a witness of Life to those perishing around us.

Common Questions about My Service in Ingria

Psalm 92:13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

      Many people have asked about my service here.  To make a long story short, two years have passed since I received the phone call from LCMS World Mission that due to budget cuts support for my work was ended.  Through a series of events, I received a call from the LCMS Partner Church in Russia, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria.  Receiving such a call was possible because of the Altar and Pulpit Fellowship agreement between the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Ingrian Lutheran Church signed at the 1998 convention.  Accepting a such a call from a partner church means that I am officially transferred from the LCMS roster to the roster of the partner Church—and this also means that the LCMS no longer pays my salary or benefits.  To return to the LCMS roster, the reverse transfer process would have to occur—I would first have to receive and accept a call from a congregation or ministry of the LCMS.

      The Lutheran Church of Ingria gets its name from the old geographical name for the territory on which it was founded—Ingermanland—which actually includes Narva, Estonia (at its western edge), the St. Petersburg and surrounding region, and goes as far north as Karelia.  Ingrian Lutheran Churches were founded in this area from 1601 when the area was controlled by Swedes, Finns and other Viking types.  Although almost all the church buildings and schools were destroyed under communism, some buildings remained—a handful of which have been given back to congregations.  In the late 1950’s and 60’s Lutheran missionaries based out of Narva Estonia (most important for Ingria, Elmar Kuhl), came to teach Ingrian Lutherans in kitchens—and since Estonia was part of the Eastern Block, the confirmands would travel to Estonia to be Confirmed (such was the road traveled by the current Bishop and many of the first generation of current Ingrian pastors).  For this simple witness to their faith they endured KGB pressure, pressure from school administrators, and so forth.  Yet they endured.  Finally, in 1977 the first two Ingrian Congregations were re-established, one in Karelia in Petrozavodsk and the other outside of St. Petersburg in the suburb of Pushkin.    Back then the dream was small—re-establish 5 or 6 congregations in St. Petersburg area and Karelia.  Now through her own efforts and with the help of partners like the LCMS and missionaries from Finland and Germany, the Ingrian Lutheran Church has 80 congregations and over 100 preaching stations—more than twice the number of 8 years ago.  These congregations span from the Estonian boarder, through the Ural mountains to Chita, Siberia and Ulan Ude in Buryatia—with dreams of going farther east. 

Men’s Seminar in Karelia

Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

      This July I was invited to lead the Bible study portion of the annual men’s missionary retreat on Lake Ladoga in Karelia.  My assigned topic was “men’s roles in the Church.”  With so much talk about women’s roles in the church, it seems many men had forgotten their role—and the head of the Ingrian Missionary committee felt it was a good time and occasion to remind them.  So, amidst fishing, sleeping bags, cooking “Ukha” --fresh Russian fish soup-- over an open fire, and swatting flies and mosquitoes, we talked of what it means to be a man before God.

      We talked of fellowship, prayer, conflict, and church politics.  Space does not allow for all the details, roles and biblical characteristics that God calls Christian men to fulfill and exhibit, but first and foremost, to be a Christian man implies that the man has been regenerated through baptism and the Word—that the man trusts in Christ Jesus first and foremost in all things temporal and eternal.  Lists of roles and characteristics, like job descriptions and so forth, can be fulfilled externally even by unbelievers, wolves in sheep’s clothing and so forth—and often to the detriment of the flock.  Only a man of faith can fulfill his Godly role faithfully—for only a man of faith draws his strength from the One Who was faithful unto death, Jesus Christ, our Savior.   Depending on our own wisdom and strength to fulfill our God given roles in the Church and society (which include son, brother, father, husband, employee, etc.) leads only to failure.  In and through faith, even when we fail externally, God Who is faithful, uses all for good.

      Of course, at the end of the Bible study, I pulled out Luther’s Small Catechism, referencing especially Luther’s explanations of the 10 Commandments and the Table of Duties.  If we would constantly remember these basic biblical truths and try to live by them, much of the hurt we Christians cause each other, much of the infighting and mudslinging, politics and back stabbing that we see even in the Church, would cease, for being a man of God and fulfilling our God given roles begins with a right relationship with our Father through Christ, but works itself out in our relationship to our neighbor—family, friends, and (recalling the good Samaritan) even those that hate us or mean us harm.

Prayer Requests 

Pray for Alyona, newly baptized into the Christian faith at the Russian service on July 24; for Ingrian Pastor Oleg as he considers the call to serve as missionary to the Russian population in Narva, Estonia;  Pastor Arvo Soittu as he continues to build his retreat and seminar center in the village of Tixovitzi outside of St. Petersburg; for all the men who attended the retreat in Karelia, that their faith may have been strengthened and that they may now bear fruits of that faith; for the youth meeting next month (on the 19th) where we will discuss proper dating relationships and so forth; for my upcoming preaching next month at the Russian service at St. Michaels (on the 21st); for St. Michael’s parish and her pastor, Sergei Tatarenko, for all the remodeling that is going on there—that God supply the material and craftsmanship needed as well as ease the bureaucracy involved with such things;  for the St. Michael’s congregation that it continue to grow in faith and strength; for Ingrian Bishop Arre Kugappi, that he remain healthy in body, mind and Spirit as he leads his Church; for the English service as we are looking for the best way to advertise the service to reach students and those in the international business community; for safe travel and good weather for the small group of volunteers from the Eastern European Network arriving on Monday and our time with them; for me and my family, that God may continue to guide and strengthen us in our service. 

Old and New Friends

This last month I had the opportunity to meet with old and new friends.   New friends because of several groups that were in town—including a group from Our Savior Lutheran Church (MI) who had been serving out it Tixovitzi at a camp organized for orphans; a group of Lutherans from Slovakia (who were also leading a seminar out at Tixovitzi later in the month), and a group organized by Dave Anderson’s “fellowship ministries” who were in town for a few days.  Old friends because at the beginning of the month Pastor Arvo Soittu invited me to Tixovitzi to participate and to help out with music at a youth seminar (led by the Slovak Lutherans).  My wife and I worked with Arvo Soittu back in 1995-6 when we were helping plant a church in the village of Volosovo.  Since Arvo is also probst (district president) of the Western Ingrian area, we also took the opportunity to discuss my doing stewardship seminars in the parishes he is overseeing.  Then I then had the opportunity to travel to Moscow for a day to meet with Concordia Seminary Professor Robert Kolb—we along with LCMS Missionary Matt Heise and Ingrian pastor Oleg spent the day in “Novaya Derevnaya” at the Alexander Men museum, seeing the Orthodox parish there and discussing many things (Oleg was very interested in details about what I had experience in Narva as he is considering a call to serve there as a missionary pastor to the Russian population).

Some Unexpected but Welcome Help

One of the dear people who receives our monthly prayer letter volunteered to set up a webpage for us attached to her website.  There you can find back copies of these newsletters and pictures.  We are also sending her extra pictures to post—especially family pictures so sort of round out the picture of our life here: http://www.worthywomanpage.com/camp/index.html.  I also know that Jim Heap is posting our newsletters and other missionary newsletters on his site: http://www.solachristus.org/Missionaries.  If you know of any other websites that are posting our newsletter, please let me know, so I can let people know.

 

Almighty God, Thy Word is cast like seed into the ground;

Now let the dew of heav’n descend and righteousness abound.

 

Let not the foe of Christ and man this holy seed remove,

But give it root in ev’ry heart to bring forth fruits of love.

TLH #49 verse 1 &2

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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