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- The
Vision...
- The
History
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- The
School...
- The
Study Course
- Students
- Teachers
- Facilities
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- The
Fruit...
- Village
Churches
- Graduates
- Changing
Russia
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To
Contribute
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- Noel Morris
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- "Faith in
Action" is supported by Faith Ministries & Faith Bible
- College in New
Zealand,
- Faith Ministries
Japan,
- and World Outreach.
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PDF version 153KB
FIFTEEN
YEARS OF FAITH - Noel Morris
| Not
everything in God runs smoothly, and for “Faith in Action”
the past
year has been one of ups and downs. Despite a toughening stance on
religious activities all over Russia, Russian people are still coming
to the Lord. Many of our students came to faith within the last year.
Opposition to the church varies from place to place, but at present the
authorities in Vladivostok have not been too restrictive. But since its
beginning in April 1994, “Faith in Action” continues to
train leaders for the
churches in Russia. |
The
moral failure of a senior church leader has caused a lot of heartbreak,
and also damaged the school’s reputation with the local churches.
This June there were only 3 Graduates, but it seems that there are
still another 8 students who are at pre sent on
practical assignments among the churches in Far East Russia. In
September when they return, they will become the senior class and
another group of new students is also expected.
One of the
students who graduated, Dennis, is now on staff in the church and Bible
School, and he speaks English. This is a great bonus for me, as getting
news is always dependent on translators. Dennis has sent a report about
life as a student and details from his time at “Faith in
Action”. As you read, remember that “Faith in Action”
is referred to as a “Training Seminar” and no longer a
Bible School. But the content and the purpose of the teaching remain
the same.
TRIP TO VLADIVOSTOK
This
October I am planning a trip to Vladivostok to see the situation for
myself. I will teach in the classroom for 2 weeks, and meet with church
leaders and the many friends I have made there over the years. I have
not been in Russia for 4 years, last year when I tried to go I could
not get a visa in time.
A Hamilton couple, Karl and Lorraine
Dunseath, will join me this time. Karl came with me in 2002 and now
wants to take Lorraine to see the places he went, and meet the people
he met.
VIA JAPAN On
my way to Russia this time I plan to spend a week in Japan. Believers
there have been faithful in giving support for “Faith in
Action” since it started, and I want to meet with many of them
and encourage their continuing support.
My prayer needs:
- - that our visa invitations will arrive in time
- - that the remainder of my airfare and travel costs will be provided
- - that I will know from the Lord what I should be teaching in the classes
- - for health and protection as we travel
- REPORT FROM DENNIS
- Let
me introduce myself. My name is Dennis, I’m from the Church of Living
God in Vladivostok, Russia. My Pastor has asked me to tell you about
our “Faith in Action” Bible Seminars that are conducted in our Church
on a permanent basis. Recently I’ve graduated from these seminars, so
my story will be a kind of example.
I started in September of
2008. Our group of students initially consisted of 10 people, 3 sisters
and 7 brothers. We were of various ages (19 to 58), from various places
and had come to God in various ways. Our Great Lord blessed us as we
lived and studied together, serving each other in God.
SCHEDULE Our
schedule was as follows: we had morning and evening classes Monday thru
Friday, with some house-keeping every afternoon. On Saturdays we
cleaned our church hall and the grounds, and on Sunday we had a service
at the church.
Every day we had morning and evening prayer and
praise in groups, and each student, being led by the Holy Spirit,
prayed with our group of students, and also in the prayer room
individually with God.
Outside of class-time, students were
studying the Holy Bible, studying the sermons of famous pastors,
watching preaching on DVD and video, and shared their thoughts of God
with each other. This helped form a great brotherhood in God between
our students.
THE SCHOOL YEAR Our
classes ran from September 1st 2008 to December 14th 2008 –
studying the Bible and getting acquainted with the Bible meanings, such
as homiletics, hermeneutics and others. We were taught by our
church’s pastors and staff as well as teachers from the USA.
From
December 15th 2008 – February 28th 2009 all our students were
assigned to practical service in our branch churches. For example, I
had my practical time in Livadia Settlement, about 4 hours away from
here by car, where we have a branch church with a rehabilitation
centre. The men there are mostly ex-prisoners, so they are used to very
difficult life circumstances. I helped those guys to get to know about
God’s love, prayed for them and shared their routine work with
them. The most important thing was that step by step they accepted
Jesus in their hearts, and thanks to God they’ve now got a
reasonable life-style. I was very much pleased with this! On March
2nd 2009 our group came back to Vladivostok, and our classes lasted all
the way through to June 3rd 2009. For various reasons, some of our
students suspended their education. We prayed for them and hopefully
these brothers and sisters will continue studying in the future.
Besides
this, we were joined by a number of new students, who will be study
through to December 2009. Our building is equipped with only one
classroom, so our group had the same classes together with the
newcomers. Also sister Lidia Y came to continue studying (she
interrupted her study in 2007 due to personal reasons). During
this spring semester we were studying the Bible, getting acquainted
with the primary philosophies of the Bible, with the Christians’
life in Russia, and with ethics. Moreover, we had a week of lessons
from teachers of the “Open Russian Theological Academy”.
Vitaly, Lidia & Dennis receive their Graduation Certificates | GRADUATION & BEYOND Dennis
D, Vitaly M and Lidia Y were Spring 2009 Graduates. Each of us had
prepared a written report on one of the Bible’s heroes as well as
an oral Diploma work. My written report was devoted to Joseph, and my
Diploma work was “Problems of the younger generation nowadays and
the methods of evangelizing them”. On June 7th at the Sunday
Church Service, each of us graduates was handed a Certificate of
Graduation from the “Faith in Action” Seminars.
Brother Vitaly has gone to serve God in our branch church in Lesozavodsk (10 hours away from here by car).
Sister
Lidia has returned to her home town, Plastun settlement in the North,
where she and her husband (who is a 2005 Graduate) have a call of God
to organize a home cell group (we don’t have a church in Plastun
yet).
I now serve God here, in the Vladivostok church and in “Faith in Action”.
From
my viewpoint, these classes at “Faith in Action” were a
great blessing from God for every student. The teaching helped to
radically review our previous life, to get us separated from all
negative influences, and to arm us with God’s Power to start a
new life, Life with God.
“Faith in Action” prayer needs:
- - for the leadership and staff of “Faith in Action”
- - for the students on practical assignments in churches
- - for new students to come and study in September
- - for financial provision for the school and staff needs
- - for the churches in Russia to continue public evangelism freely
DONATIONS ON-LINE
- You can make an on-line
donation in many different currencies:
US$, AU$, CAN$, UK£,
JPYen & Euro. -
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- Please give generously and
regularly to support your brothers and sisters in Christ at FIA
- Gifts
for this ministry to Russia can be sent:
Online: click
here to donate by Paypal (various currency choices) |
In NZ: C/o P.O. Box 12357 Hamilton |
- In Japan: Postal Furikae 01150-8-74597 Faith Ministries
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From
other countries:
Bank: A/c name: Faith Ministries,
A/c No. 060603 0000421 00
National Bank of NZ, Chartwell Branch,
Routing No. NBNZ22 |
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