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ПОБЕДА—pa-BEH-da-Victory

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.

So this month among other things I had the pleasure to present two themes at a Russian pastoral conference in Moscow: on “Biblical foundations and methods of parish evangelism” and “stewardship.” More on those below. Holy Trinity Church in Moscow is located on the grounds of the old Lutheran cemetery in Russia, as is the parish guest house. This was my first time staying overnight at the guest house, and I found it interesting to be sleeping on the boarder of a cemetery. Some might find this scary, but for me, growing up in the church, I have always enjoyed cemeteries and praying, for some reason, walking through a Christian cemetery always made me feel closer to heaven, closer to the church triumphant and my Lord. I mentioned this to one of the pastors attending the conference as we walked from the guest house to the chapel. He said that he still found cemeteries spooky and unpleasant. This made me think, and then look closer.

I remember as a child, walking through the cemeteries close to my own church, my grandfather’s church, and other churches—walking along the graves, reading the various epitaphs (usually uplifting verses about the resurrection or comforting verses about God’s care). Since such was so ingrained in my experience, I never noticed that Russian cemeteries as a general rule have just stones with dates of birth and death—maybe a cross, maybe an angel, but as a rule no comforting Bible verses. Some very old graves, possibly, but for the most part, because of the 70 years of atheism, epitaphs that quote Scripture proclaiming death as victory, pointing to salvation, resurrection and everlasting life, epitaphs that make a cemetery a witness to life, are just not part of the landscape.

A seminary professor once quipped, “if you want to measure true church growth, count the number of Christian burials you perform in a year.” My prayer is that future generations of people walking through Russian cemeteries will be able to read more than simple farewells and dates of birth and death—that they will be able to read of the hope, comfort and joy of what it means to life and die in Christ as a child of our heavenly Father.

Stewardship strikes again!

2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

For several years I was going around Ingrian parishes doing seminars on stewardship. At the time, these were well received, but viewed rather skeptically. The world wide financial crisis, the resulting cuts in mission support for many pastors and churches of Ingria, the rising costs of living in Russia (the financial crisis here has caused the prices of staple items to rise rather than fall), and other factors impacting the financial situation of the church have caused a renewed interest in stewardship. Three years ago, the Moscow district asked me to speak on Stewardship, and like I said, the information was well received but pastors were still rather skeptical. This May I was again invited to speak on this theme to many of the same pastors—and many now were much more eager to try out some of the methods the Bible puts forth as ways to raise support for pastors’ salaries, paying a congregations’ monthly bills, etc.

Believe it or not, the Bible does talk about such things as accepting money from sponsors (and for what—mainly mission work, in times of financial crisis, for building or repairing places of worship, and one time major needs), talks about the congregations’ responsibility to pay her pastor and the regular upkeep of the worship facility, for covering the monthly bills, and so forth. All of these rest on the people of God generously giving from the gifts God has given to them (and the Bible does not seem to support the church going into business as a means of support).

Of course, another way to increase the support gained through the weekly offering is to grow the congregation—so this was the second theme I was asked to present on during the conference (which had mission and outreach as its central theme). Pastor Alexei Uiminen, head of the Ingrian Missionary office, also presented on out reach techniques, while several other pastors from the region presented on specific regional issues and nuances. As much as finances were a concern, the major concern was still how to best seek and reach the lost with the Gospel!

Good News

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

At the very beginning of this month the Missionary Committee of the Ingrian Lutheran Church in Russia received a long awaited shipment of “Good News” a theologically sound journal published in several languages by the Concordia Mission Society (PO box 8555, St. Louis MO 63126). We received 100 copies of the 3^rd to the 27^th number of the journal and have already begun to use them to help spread the Gospel and fortify the local parishes. I have already a few times in my prayer letters strongly hinted our need for copies of this journal, and this is my public and heartfelt thanks that my pleas and prayers have been heard.

Why do I find this journal so helpful? First, it is solidly Biblical and well in keeping with the Biblical truths expressed in our Lutheran Confessions. Also, the journal is very well presented—well written, well translated, and printed in a very attractive, readable format. It does not deal with Church politics, it does not advertise various agendas, it simply puts forth Biblical truth on various topics. What makes this journal especially useful is that each number is on a specific theme—so when I teach a seminar on God as our Father, Forgiveness, or Mission, for instance, there is a journal on that theme that I can use which offers deeper follow up on my 2 hour seminar. This way those attending can dig deeper on their own on that theme—and share that knowledge with others. Another plus about “Good News” is that it is clearly evangelistic in character—it not only can be used to fortify the faithful in clear biblical teaching, but also clearly calls those who do not yet believe to quit rejecting the Salvation Christ has already won for them on the cross.

Besides using “Good News” as part of our seminars, the Missionary committee is providing Lutheran parish libraries with a complete set of the 24 journals we have available.

Prayer Requests Say a prayer of thanks for our receiving the “Good News” journal and that we may use the copies we have wisely for the spreading of the Gospel. Pray for the work coming up in June especially the English language outreach camp in Viburg. Pray also for us and the Ingrian Lutheran Pastors in this financial crisis—we are praying for you all as well. Pray especially for the following Russian pastors—Bishop Aarre Kugappi as he seeks to guide the Church God has put in care, pray for Pastor Boichenko in Nizhniy Novgorod as he seeks to move forward on building the Church there; for Pastor Poncho and Furs from Saratov, Pastor Shanin in Tver, Pastor Vladimirov in Voronesh (as his support is ending and he needs to decide what to do with his flock in that city); and for the Pastor Andrei who is serving the Moscow parish. Pray for Lewis Purcell and Chan Woo—the two graduating seniors from International Christian academy. Continue to pray that God guide us as we consider school for our children—Karl has very much enjoyed studying at International Christian Academy, Nastya has said she would like to study there, I am very pleased with the level of study and the Christian atmosphere, but financially there are questions AND Karl’s Russian language has fallen off significantly. Pray also for our future here—I have let my District president back home know that I am open to a call (this is a bit complicated because I am officially on the Ingrian Lutheran roster). This is not so much that we want to leave Russia, but as an act of faith. We are open to stay or go depending on what God wills, and it seems to me time to put out the fleece as it were for confirmation or motivation. Pray for my family, for Zhanya as she continues to study, for me as I already am beginning to plan next year’s ministry. Pray that God strengthen my faith, Zhanya’s faith, the faith of both Karl and Nastya, so that we together as a family may continue to serve God as He sees and as He wills (as I always pray: give us more wisdom to know God’s will, faith to trust His will, and strength to follow His will).

Nastya’s Witenss of faith: Sometimes my children’s faith surprises me. The other day Nastya during our nightly devotions said to me, “Papa, sometimes I am afraid at night that a monster might eat me. Then I pray and I know that God will protect me from the monster—and even if the God lets the monster eat me, I will then be in heaven. So either way I don’t need to be afraid, and I go to sleep.”

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

TLH hymn #644—sometimes I just feel like singing the doxology!

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. These photos will not remain here indefinitely as Flickr is no longer a free service for me. The most recent 200 St. Paul photos will be displayed. -LW.

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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