■  RUSSIAN LITERATURE MINISTRY

No one needs to be told that Russia has experienced astonishing change in the past twenty years.  It was around 1984 or so that our church first began to feel a burden for believers in what was then the Soviet Union.  These efforts began in response to a sermon on Hebrews 13:3 - "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." At that time, many believers were imprisoned there, and we sought to obey God's Word by writing letters to them, using addresses supplied by Russian Gospel Ministries (then, "International Representation").
 

Although we did not know it then, many such letters did reach our suffering brethren, resulting in great encouragement and, in some cases, better treatment by the authorities. We also helped to send relief goods, Bibles, and Christian literature. Most of all, we prayed for the release of the prisoners, and the collapse of the Communist regime so that liberty might come to the Soviet Union.
 

God answered those prayers! By the late 1980's, all of the prisoners were released. Soon after that, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the doors swung open. It was then that we began to pray that God would give us something else to do in the former Soviet republics. We especially desired to minister to churches.
 

It became clear to us that the way in which we could help the most was to promote the translation, production, and distribution of good Christian literature in the Russian language. Providentially, we were put in contact with some brethren in California who shared that vision. That led to Pastor Bob Carr's first visit to Russia in 1993. Since then, we have been enabled to cooperate with a variety of brethren in a number of different countries.

At the end of 1995, God brought us into contact with a young Russian man, Andrei Valtsev, who had spent two years studying in London.  Andrei agreed to work with us as a full-time translator, and has continued in that capacity ever since.  He and his dear family live in St. Petersburg, in the far north of Russia.
 

The books which we have helped to produce have been distributed in virtually all of the former Soviet republics, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Israel, Germany, and the United States. Please pray that God would use this literature for the conversion of the lost, and for the building up of believers.

Andrei has translated a number of titles over the past several years. Grace Baptist Church has published six of them.
 

1. Sam Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

    The fruit of years of labor, this valuable book really constitutes something of a simplified systematic theology.  The Confession contains a summary of the major teachings found in the Scriptures, and Pastor Waldron provides a very helpful and readable commentary.  It was our aim to produce a volume which would be of help to pastors and laymen alike, and the response indicates that such indeed is the case. 
 

2. Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child's Heart

    Pastor Tripp's book on child-rearing has been enthusiastically received by English readers, and we believed that the book would be very useful to Russian-speaking families as well.  In fact, specific requests for the book in Russian were made known to us even while we were in the production stage!  We were encouraged to discover that Shepherding a Child's Heart would even be used as a textbook for training house parents at a Russian children's home, and has been used several times for seminars on child-rearing attended by pastors’ wives.  This title is currently in its third printing.
 

3.  Gardiner Spring, Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character

    Mr. Spring pastored a church in New York City in the 1800's, and wrote this searching treatment of the marks which distinguish a true Christian.  Counterfeit religion is no less a problem in this generation, and it is our hope that this little volume will be helpful to many souls.
 

4.  John Dagg, Manual of Theology

A beloved Baptist minister of the nineteenth century, John Dagg combined a keen mind and a comprehensive knowledge of the Scriptures with a warm pastoral heart.  The Manual of Theology is indeed a systematic theology, yet written in a "popular" and devotional style.  It is our hope that this book will help readers to gain a more thorough understanding of the Bible. 
 

5.  John Dagg, Manual of Church Order. 

This companion volume to the Manual of Theology is a comprehensive yet very readable discussion of the proper ordering of local churches.  Dagg ably summarizes the Biblical teaching on such issues as membership, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the proper exercise of church discipline, and the government of the local church. 
 

6.  Paul David Tripp, War of Words.

The subject of communication is important the world over, and we are excited to place this excellent book in the hands of Russian readers.  Dr. Tripp gets to the heart of the problem of sinful words:  a sinful, self-seeking heart.  He skillfully demonstrates that our words are under the authority of God, and should be used as God directs for His glory.  This volume is hot off the press, and we are excited about its potential.
 

A number of the titles translated by Andrei have been published by Roundwood Trust, a ministry undertaken by some British brethren who focus on the publication of foreign-language literature. These titles include...
  
    1. J.C. Ryle, Walking with God
    2. J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer
    3. John Owen, Thinking Spiritually
    4. John Owen,  Christians are Forever!
    5. Jeremiah Burroughs, Learning to be Happy
    6. Carine Mackenzie, Our Loving God
    7. Jay Adams, Christian Living in the Home

    8. J.C. Ryle, Separation From The World

Our current project is The Guide:  The Bible Book by Book by Roger Ellsworth.  The translation is complete, and the book is being prepared for printing in Belarus.  In the meantime, Andrei is translating An Introduction to the Puritans by Erroll Hulse. 

In the past year or two we’ve begun to establish a working relationship with a major Christian publisher.  Evangelical Press is keenly interested in foreign-language publishing efforts, and has been promoting greater cooperation among various groups working on titles in Russian.  While we are thankful for the Russian publishers that we have employed, EP will offer a much better distribution network, both in eastern Europe and in North America.  We are particularly anxious to have our books made readily available to Russian readers here in the U.S.

We remain committed to supporting Andrei so that he may give himself full-time to this work.  This dimension of the ministry is placing significant and increasing demands on our budget.  Furthermore, although most of our books are sold rather than donated, we are not yet able to recoup enough funds from sales to make the ministry self-sufficient.  We need to keep the prices low so that people can afford them, but the costs of publishing are always rising.

While we are grateful for regular gifts from one of our sister churches, more financial help would enable us to meet the costs of production for each new title.  Instead of asking for regular annual commitments, perhaps you or your church would consider helping us to publish specific books, for example, “adopting” a particular title.  Please contact us for more details if you have such an interest.

Whether or not you are able to help financially, we do earnestly seek your prayers for this worthy endeavor. 

 
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