Can the Church Grow Amid Persecution?

Published December 7, 2016

I’m a fourth-generation Russian evangelical believer. Both of my great-grandfathers were evangelical Christians. By God’s grace, I’m now a minister at Russian Bible Church of Moscow.

My great-grandfather, Moisey Sikorsky, was shot because of his faith. His children were repressed, and most of them were sent into exile to Siberia. Another grandfather, Pyotr Bakhmutsky, was also exiled to Siberia where he served in forced labor in several different mines. He was tossed from one job to another with only one stated reason—“a believer.”

Persecution and rejection were no strangers to my family. But I never witnessed any ill will towards the authorities, no hatred towards people around us, no “pity me” image. Instead, they were joyous and happy Christians amidst constant humiliation.

Russian Baptists are used to being persecuted. But persecution has taught us three main things.

1. The word of God is not bound! (2 Tim. 2:9)
   God’s ministry will always prevail. Always!
2. God is sovereign.
   Even our suffering is a part of His plan to strengthen His Church, to expand His Kingdom and to save people for his glory! As Apostle Paul says, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” (Phil. 1:29).
3. We need to see opportunities instead of being chained by restrictions.
   During Soviet time, preaching the gospel publically was prohibited. So Christians used cemeteries and burial ceremonies to sing and preach Christ. Nobody would stop them there, especially during such sad moments. Small group Bible study was also prohibited. So, Christians had birthday and anniversaries parties almost every week where they read God’s Word!

Our church has much more freedom compared to previous generations. Even the new obstacles have encouraged us to be bold, more intensive and more creative in our evangelism. It also helps us to concentrate primarily on personal evangelism instead of big, attractive events. This is much more effective and more natural for spiritually healthy Christians.

We can’t go on campuses to preach Christ, but we have young people who study there. We have regular Bible studies in dorms because Christians live there. We can’t go to public libraries to preach Christ, but we can do public lectures about Russian classic literature, where the Bible is quoted and religious topics are discussed. We have some restrictions on street evangelism, but we can offer English language clubs where we can meet people, build personal relationships and share good news with them.

The most effective tool has always been to build a spiritual healthy community of faith where God’s grace is seen and Christ’s love is obvious. This is the most attractive, instructive and powerful way to display God’s glory and to show the power of the gospel to this world.

Dr. Evgeny Bakhmutsky (’16)
Pastor-teacher of Russian Bible Church in Moscow (Russia)