April 2006 —St. Petersburg, Russia   A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

(Click on St. Paul Photo Albums to see photos of the Camp’s work and life.  This month’s are here.  More info at the bottom of the page.)

 

ОТЧЁТНОСТЬ—ot-CHOAT-nost—accountability

Mark 6:30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.

     When the disciples returned to Jesus after He had sent them out by twos, they gave an account of all they had done and taught.  Although actions speak louder than words, it is important that our words and actions go together—or to put that in Church jargon, that our doctrine (which means teachings) and practice go hand in hand.  One of the banner cries of the Lutheran Reformation is “Sola Scriptura”—not simply a slogan, but a way of being, a way of teaching.  When we depart from Scripture in either teaching or practice, we cease to be Lutheran, and one might even say cease to be Christian—since our faith comes to us through the Word which is taught (Rom 10:17) and without practice (or deeds) is dead (see James 2:17). 

In this post-modern age, of course, such thinking is not politically correct, but this does not mean it is not eternally correct.  Postmodern society often puts pressure on us to be and talk more “politically correct,” trying to hold us accountable to human standards of tolerance, goodness, and so forth, so that everyone in this life may have their consciences salved.  But as Christians we are called to be and talk “eternally correct” so that everyone may be called to repentance and faith so their souls may be saved.  As disciples of Christ we will all be called home someday and give an accounting to our Lord, not only of our deeds, but also of our words.  Let us, therefore, strive to live by the Word of God which contains all we need to guide both our faith and life—and live and teach so as to bring that life giving faith to all those around us.  

Spring is always a time for a big push in mission work here in Russia.  This is not only because of Easter, but also because as soon as the cold weather begins to thaw, there is a short period in which to work as people are still around.  By mid-May many Russians are already heading out to their dachas to grow their winter food supplies, so before then there is a push to get as many seminars and as much teaching done as possible.  This explains why last month was so busy—and this month as well. 

An Accounting of Seminars in Nizhniy Novgorod

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

On March 27th we boarded the train for Nizhniy Novgorod loaded down with my broken laptop computer, video projector, guitar, and materials—all things necessary or useful for teaching.  The Ingrian Lutheran Missionary committee was sending me Nizhniy to do a district conference on the 29th and 30th to help the parishes of the Volga region to develop a cooperative mission strategy (sharing resources, planning joint events and so forth).  While in Nizhniy we also scheduled a pro-life seminar for April 1 along with an evangelism concert, and as this all lined up with the kids’ spring break, we went as a family.  To give an honest accounting, the district seminar did not come off very well—although only two of the 15  pastors and deacons from the district had said they would not be able to come, in truth only two were able to come (and one of those was the Nizhniy Novgorod pastor).

I do not discourage easily, so rather than waste the opportunity, along with the pastors (and LCMS missionaries Brent and his vicar John who showed up hoping to piggy back one of their projects onto the district meeting), we gathered the parish elders and held a one day “parish evangelism” seminar.  We also used the extra time to do some final preparations for the Pro-life seminar and rehearse for the planned concert.

 The Pro-life Bible Workshop, also to give an honest accounting, went off very well.  Hosted by the local Lutheran Parish, over 35 participants—mostly University students—both churched and unchurched attended.  The local Catholic Parish participated, and also the regional youth director of the Russian Orthodox Church—Nizhniy Novgorod diocese (with the official blessing of the Orthodox Archbishop). 

The all day conference entitled “Our Way or God’s Way—sex, family and life” was structured in a workshop format to maximize the possibility for open discussion.  The participants were first divided into sub-groups to facilitate discussion and then we began to discuss a progression of issues:  sex, marriage, children, abortion, and the meaning of being human.  Each topic began with the question: “what does the world say about….” Then each group was assigned a Bible passage related to the subject at hand which they were discuss to discern what God has to say about….  Each sub-group then would read their passage and relate their “discoveries” to the whole, followed by more discussion. 

Obviously we covered a lot of ground, but one of the goals of this seminar was to serve as an introduction to using Scripture as a guide to understanding God’s way.  Everyone understood that each topic could have been a seminar unto itself.  Also, at the end of the seminar other questions came up that were related to what the participants had discovered:  Why God instituted marriage; how to pick a spouse; how and why to date properly and so forth.  The format worked very well for the youth, and we have already discussed how to follow up on this seminar (possibly taking each topic and going more in depth or working up seminars on the questions that came at the end).  How all this fits into the pro-life initiative is another issue—although if people build their lives, their relationships, marriages and families on God’s Word because of faith in His Son, this is not only pro-life, but pro-eternal life! 

 

Prayer Requests

Praise for the growing pro-life contacts and ministry that God has been providing, praise for the success if the Nizhniy pro-life seminar and for the opportunities there.  Pray for follow up I n Nizhniy Novgorod; for other ministry possibilities that seem to be opening up (that God give us discernment and strength); for blessings on Fedor Tulinin,  Alexei Uiminen, Ivan Laptev, Andrei Savelinen, and Alexander Schmidt who have been working with me or involving me in various ministries.  Pray for our plans to visit the USA this June and July; for Catechet (fieldworker) Darren and Irina Johnson as they gear up to cover English Worship while we are in the USA (his email: djij@yandex.ru); for the English worship service and plans for outreach; for the financial needs of the Ingrian Church as they struggle to pay their pastors a living wage, to expand outreach and parish education to strengthen the flock, and to meet the increasing government standards and deadlines for repairing the buildings the government so generously restored to them.  Pray Ingrian Lutheran Bishop Arri Kugappi in his travels, first for a meeting scheduled in Omsk the first weekend in May with bishop elect Vsevelod Lytkin of the Siberian Lutheran Church as the Ingrian Bishop once more seeks to invite a merger as best for the future of confessional Lutheranism in Russia, and then as Arri travels to St. Louis; for LCMS missionary Brent Smith who has been called to take over as the LCMS World Mission Eurasia regional director.  Pray for the summer programs now being planned that they bear fruit that lasts, and continue to pray for us that God grant us more wisdom faith and strength to discern, follow and do His will His way.

 

Family News

God willing we are coming to the USA for a visit this June and July—we will be staying at my mother’s in Melrose Park (contact information below in the fine print).  We have some documents to take care of related to my wife’s immigration status (this is also something to keep in prayer), but also have a fairly busy schedule already planned visiting family and friends (we will be on the west coast most of July).  

Other Work This Month

Immediately after my return from Nizhniy Novgorod, the Ingrian Lutheran Mission committee gave its annual accounting to the Church and many of the missionary societies which support its efforts—I am now part of that “accounting.”  This meeting also included planning for next year—and even though inflation in Russia has gone up 11% and the cost of living over 25% (how that works, I don’t know), in keeping with recent trends, the mission societies sought to cut rather than raise support.  It seemed a relief to all (except one pastor present) that although I am officially working for the Ingrian Missionary committee, they do not pay me—so I am not burden on the budget.  After this meeting, the mission committee gathered to discuss next years work—and to the credit of the committee, we are seeking to expand our efforts even though the budget is actually shrinking.

 

TLH  Hymn #624

O blessed home where man and wife together lead a godly life,

By deeds their faith confessing

There many a happy day is spent, there Jesus gladly will consent

To tarry with His blessing

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

_________________________________________________________________________

Click on St. Paul Photo Albums to see photos of the Camp’s work and life.  This month’s are here and descriptions are below:

 

eAprilConcertN-N01, eAprilConcertN-N02 - The first two pictures are of the concert in Nizhniy Novgorod--pastor Yaroslav Boichenko on keyboards and Karl, Nastya and Leon (the pastor's son) helping sing--we did a couple of children's songs.

eAprilIngianMissionMeeting - The third picture is of the Ingrian Mission Committee meeting where we gave our accounting. That accounting included the stewardship seminars, the mission training centers and the pro-life work.

eAprilProlifeN-N01 - The next is of the pro-life seminar in Nizhniy Novgorod. Our newsletter goes into detail about our pro-life seminar for youth in Nizhniy Novgorod. So I won't go into too much detail about that here.

eAprilServiceN-N - While at Nizhniy I also helped out at the Sunday Service--here is a picture of us at the altar.

eAprilStMikesY-outh01 - This month as last month I was invited to talk on pro-life issues at the youth club at St. Michaels. The first picture is me talking with the youth leader, Deacon Ivan Laptev--he is telling me my part of the program and filling me in more detail the evenings focus.

eAprilYouthrea-ds - One of the youth is reading a couple of our brochures--the Russian language brochures can be downloaded from the our Ingrian Lutheran pro-life website www.prolife.elci.ru (there is a small toggle in the upper corner <rus-eng> that toggles the sight from Russian to English language). He is reading "The Early Church Speaks for Life" a brochure quoting the early Church fathers on abortion. He is also holding another brochure, "You are not a Toilet" which debunks various manipulative tactics some use when trying to talk others into having sex.

 

 

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!

 

St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, 1025 Lake Street, Melrose Park, Illinois 60160; Church: 708‑343‑1000, School: 708‑343‑5000

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