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December 2007—St. Petersburg, Russia A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

(Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the Camp’s work and life. This month’s are here.)

РОЖДЕСТВО—razh-dest-VO—Christmas

Romans 9:33 As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

Every Christmas I use this word the Russians use for Christmas. In the west with the growing persecution against the Church under the guise of Political correctness I understand using the word “Christmas” has fallen out of public use (seems we must tolerate anything but Jesus Christ—teach children homosexuality is normal, but that speaking about our faith is wrong). For those who find the word “Christmas” offensive because in mentions Christ would be much more offended by this word which literally would translate “the Virgin Birth.” So not only are we talking Christ, but The Son born of a Virgin.

Amazing—the Son of God, almighty, equal in glory and power, shed His Godhead and came to us as a helpless baby, allowed Himself to be dependent on human parents (notice, Joseph had to be warned in a dream to flee—his duty as father to protect his family). We think we are so strong, but we are weak—weaker than that helpless Child took on our weaknesses, took on our sins, and chose to die for us, so save us because we are too helpless to save our selves.

Pushkin Parish Celebrates 30 years

John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease.

A major event for the small Church of Ingria this month was celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the 1977 re-opening of the first Ingrian Lutheran parish on Russian territory (the Lutheran parish of Petrozavodsk was opened seven years earlier in Karelia which is considered a separate state and not part of Russia proper).

In the 30s many Lutherans in the St. Petersburg area and Karelia had their property seized and were “resettled” in Siberia. Among these deportees were the Kugappi family, the Soittu family, and the Savilainen family (names some of you might recognize from previous prayer letters). Then in the 60s deportees were allowed to come back to the area—some first to Karelia, but then finally back to the St. Petersburg area.

The Lutherans saw that some Russian Orthodox parishes had reopened, so they collected signatures from all the Ingrian Lutherans they could locate and received permission to open first the parish in Petrozavodsk, but finally in Pushkin.

As the only parish in the St. Petersburg area in the 80s, Sunday worship attendance was between 400-500. The Church was supported by offerings gathered from Ingrian Lutherans throughout the country—enough was gathered for the initial remodeling, salaries for pastors and to fund other programs.

In the late 80s an until the present day, however, attendance began to fall off as the parish began to plant (or re-plant) parishes in the surrounding villages and towns (over 30 in all.). From that 400 in attendance at one service, now there are less than 100. This does not mean the Ingrian Church is shrinking, quite the contrary, if we take the attendance of all the parishes that have sprung from Pushkin, on a given Sunday, there would be over 4000 worshipping!

Since many of the parishes have their roots in Pushkin, this anniversary called together members from all over—from those daughter parishes as well as representatives from other regions. The worship hall was once more filled to capacity as people celebrated not simply an anniversary of the opening of a building, but the anniversary of the re-establishment of the free proclamation of the Gospel.

English Service Celebrates 3 years

Acts 2:6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

English Worship service also had an anniversary—we celebrated 3 years of worship which started with the first Sunday of Advent 2004. This is not such a milestone as Pushkin, but is something for which we praise God. Hearing the Gospel and praising our Lord in our own language is important. With the new visa laws limiting the time foreigners can stay in Russia, with the rising costs, the future is uncertain. But even in these three years we have come through many trials—we had to stop services at St. Michaels because we were asked to pay about 3 times our weekly offerings in rent. The Bishop then offered for us to use the hall in the central offices, and although this made us harder to locate (very little walk-in traffic), we now have a more stable place to gather and worship.

Two years ago Darren Johnson an American exchange student studying at Koltushe Seminary for his B-Div was assigned to help with English Worship as part of his practical training. He and his wife Irina have also been a great blessing to our group. He has only one more year to serve, so the future sees some more changes already in store.

Average attendance this last year was 17 (if we do not count Summer groups), the expenses have been covered by the weekly offerings, and we are seeking ways to grow.

Prayer Requests

Pray for English worship service, that we can find ways to grow and spread the Gospel. Pray also for all those missionaries struggling with the new Russian visa law. Pray for the Pushkin parish and all her daughter parishes—that God bless the Church of Ingria with increased growth. Pray for Zhanya as she begins to explore some new employment and service opportunities. Pray that God guide me as I explore some more ministry opportunities as well—teaching at International Christian Academy, village Evangelism, and pray for passing the baton of Pro-life ministry to Russian leadership. Pray that God help us both strengthen our relationship with Him as we move forward in His service—as I usually put it every month—pray that God give us more wisdom to see His will, more faith to trust to follow His will and more strength so that we can accomplish His will!

A Russian Joke

Two women, long time friends from school meet at a party given by a mutual friend. One begins to tell the other about how she has met the most wonderful man: “He is just wonderful! On Saturday he brought me to an elegant restaurant and said two wonderful words I have been waiting so long for a man to say to me.” “What were those words? Marry me?” “No, even better, ‘my treat.’”

Hark the Glad sound the Savior Comes,

The Savior promised Long

Let every heart prepare a throne

And Every voice a song

TLH 66 vrs 1

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

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Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the Camp’s work and life. This month’s are here and descriptions are with them.

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. 12^th 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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