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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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