Angel's Christmas Tree

by Igor Krutogolov

In November we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Angel’s Christmas Tree project. There was a special meeting in the concert hall in the center of St. Petersburg. Coordinators of this project came to participate in the meeting from different regions of the country. As of today we run this program in 60 penal colonies of Russia. We invited pastors whose churches participate or participated in this project during 10 years.

SRS 2013 Christmas Ministry Catalog

This catalog highlights some of the Biblical Theological Seminary's graduates and their churches and ministries. These men are laboring hard for the Lord, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the former Soviet Union. Please take a few minutes to learn about these pastors and ministers, and prayerfully consider how you or your church could help one of them. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

2013 Christmas Catalog 

Christmas Concert

On December 15, 2013 the Reformed Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg hosted Christmas concert. It took place in a historical building of St. John Estonian Lutheran Church, aka the Jaani Kirik Concert Hall, where our church meets for Sunday services. A wonderful choir of Christ Church on the Neva sang Christmas hymns, Psalms and other songs of glorification. They were able to fill the air with joy, peace and hope in anticipation of approaching holiday. We invite you to the Christmas concert performed by this remarkable team.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor Timur Anickin, Riga Reformed Church

By David Shormann

This Christmas, consider supporting Riga Reformed Church of Jesus Christ our Savior in Jurmala, Latvia, and her pastor, Timur Anickin. Watch the video to learn more.


Click here to read more about Pastor Timur and Riga Reformed Church.

Click here to donate.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

News and Prayer Requests

by Edd of Novolitovsk in the cold Far East of Russia

Peace and grace from our Lord Jesus Christ to you, dear brothers!

I decided to share some news and prayer requests with you. There were two brothers at our service last Sunday. One is Rais who was baptized in our church, and another is Valéry – fresh, baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church who became a widower not long ago. Please pray for them. I got acquainted with both brothers in our “banya” – bathhouse. They came to our service from Nakhodka.

Last week Valéry had a car wreck. My wife Sveta picked him up on the road when she was driving from our village to the city to bring my mom and Kate. Sveta invited him to come to our church and he did!

Another prayer request: we have a good tradition for Christmas service. I prepare Bible quotes and put them inside the small plastic eggs (like Kinder Surprise). Then after the liturgy, every person, including guests, choose one egg from the bag. The Bible quote he finds in the egg is like some kind of instruction or comfort for the next year. To tell the truth, some women see it like Chinese cookies that foretell the future but that’s all right! Please pray that we’ll have many guests and that our church members be cheerful to invite their relatives and friends. If you want, you can help me with Bible quotes: choose the quotes you like and send them to me – I’ll print them and put inside the eggs. Just don’t choose very heavy quotes! 

The weather here is just terrible – strong wind, minus 10 C and very humid. In short, it’s almost impossible to keep the building warm. I can see that the coal I have till the end of the year won’t be enough. And I don’t have means to buy some more. Please pray that God would help me to solve this situation. Last night I burned 3 buckets of coal. That’s much more than it usually takes to heat the building thoroughly.

Another problem is the stove itself. It has to be “reformed” next year. I have a friend who works with heating boilers. He promised to look for a boiler for our building. Please pray that my stove will survive till the end of this winter and that God would make my friend willing to help us. He is rich but remained a normal guy.

The saints of Coram Deo Presbyterian Church

Solus Christus and Me

By Blake Purcell, SRS Field Director

In February of 1991 I was ushered into an ornately built but run down marble central room in the palace.  My friend introduced me to the fifty or so people at the meeting.  I was asked to share why an American with three children and my wife six months pregnant would move to the Soviet Union in October of 1990 right when everything in the country was falling apart, and thousands of Soviets were beginning to emigrate to America.

This was one of history’s last meetings of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

After I was done sharing why we came to their country and had explained Revelation 3:20 and how Christ had come into my life, and forgiven my sin, and made me willing with the help of other believing Americans to move my family to the USSR, one man raised his hand.  I asked him to speak.  “You came here for that?”

I could tell there was a major disconnect between me being forgiven for my sins, and my willingness to move to their country that was so bad off the heating in the room we were in was not working.  It was probably -20 C outside and + 2 C inside where I was speaking.  You could see everyone’s breath.