New Fields Ministries

Our church has ordered 100 chairs...

Peace to you, dear brothers and sisters!
Not so long ago in the Church “Grace” (Russia, Kazan) we had a serious problem - there were not enough chairs for people who came to the Sunday worship service.

We prayed that the Lord might help us in our need. And today, we hasten to share with you a great joy - the chairs were bought! Thank God! As you know, we were looking for chairs that are comfortable, practical and beautiful. In one of the city’s newspapers, we came across an ad that some organization manufactures and sells the chairs, which were similar to those we are looking for.

We went to the address. Arriving at the place, we realized that this is just what we need: the chairs were sturdy enough, comfortable and beautiful. All that remained was to determine the fabric colors.

It would seem, there is no difference in what color the chairs are! However, we understand that our God - is the God of order, device, beauty and grandeur.
Therefore, we believe that the interior of the House of God must help to ensure that people’s hearts are filled with joy and stay open to the Lord.

We are confident that the colors of the chairs, too, must be chosen correctly, because they occupy a large area and are always looked upon. First, we wanted to order the chairs in blue, because it reminds us of the sky. But then we decided to take the burgundy color, because it seemed to us more solemn and reminded us of the blood shed by Jesus Christ on Calvary.

It should also be noted that the chairs burgundy color is very well combined with the interior of the hall, that we rent, and the color of the tablecloth, which we lay on the table during the Lord’s Supper. Thus, the color was selected!
We have made an order for 100 chairs. In the store we were told that our order will be sent to the company, which manufactures the chairs, and that within 10 days they will be made. And then, one day we saw the company truck brought what we have been waiting for so long.

With great pleasure we began to unload the brand-new chairs and free them from the packaging film. In these moments we prayed that the chairs, which God has blessed us with, were not mere objects of the interior of our church, but that they were all used by people, whom the Lord has saved.
Dear brothers and sisters! Our church is immensely grateful to God for your kind and sympathetic heart! We believe that the sacrifice that you made in the name of our Lord, surely will be filled according to the riches of His grace and goodness to all of you.

We ourselves would never have been able to accumulate or collect the necessary sum of money for the purchase of chairs. But thank God that He reveals His love and shows that his children are everywhere united to serve Him. Thank you, dear friends!

With love and prayer, the minister of the Baptist church “Grace”.

Igor Sokolov - Kazan, Russia

In the fall of 2009 in the Muslim city of Kazan - Russia we launched a project - the planting of a new evangelical church. Our team consisted of several families who have devoted themselves to the establishment of the church, which we call "Grace".

We immediately started praying about the place where we could hold services. We toured the city and knocked on all doors. However, our attempts ended in failure: The city officials, knowing of our desire to plant an evangelical church would not give us any place to meet, or asked for lease prices, that our young church could not pay. The first two services were held in a private apartment, the third - in a church in Kazan.

We continued to earnestly ask God for help. And, the Lord opened the door for us and our fourth service was already in a comfortable, bright room, an area of 80 square meters which can accommodate 70-80 people.

Today the regular attendance of the Church "Grace" is around 40 people. Many of them, formerly criminals who served times in prisons, now serve the Lord. We praise God because we see how much he has changed and continues to change these people. "We are confident of this, that he who began a good work in them will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil.1: 6).

So, we began to gather in this building every Sunday from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. However, the same room was rented, by two other organizations: The Institute of Social and Human Sciences, as well as the School of Dance. It was very inconvenient for us, because the Institute, met until 1:00 p.m. and the Dance School began its sessions at 3:30 p.m.

One day, quite unexpectedly for all the Institute decided to leave this building and move to another. Frankly, we were in great shock! But it turned out that the Institute took with them all the benches, which we used for the Sunday worship.

Dear brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask everyone who feels lead by the Lord to help us buy new chairs for the church. We have already found a suitable style of church chairs, that we would like to acquire.

Currently in stock by some wholesale distributors in the city of Kazan, is a nice and comfortable blue chair that costs 495 rubles. This is, roughly, $17 for 1 chair. The minimum quantity of chairs for such a price is 100 pieces, which means we have to pay 49500 rubles (or around $1700).

May God, Who is rich in mercy bless you and reward your giving!

Igor Sokolov - pastor of the "Grace" church in Kazan.

Undoubtedly, the most significant event this month for the church "Grace" in Kazan was the celebration of Christmas.

It was a great day, an offensive that we have been waiting for with excitement and trepidation, a day that should become a certain measure of God's blessing and the work done. This was the first joint celebration of our young church. Nobody knew what to expect from such an event, but everyone believed that the Lord again prepared special gift for us.

At the celebration we had about 50 adults and children. Of these, 8 people who did not know the Lord, 4 of whom have visited our church for the first time. Hallelujah! This is a victory! We were together for four hours. A special joy for all was the performance of children who were singing, telling poems and playing musical instruments.

All of this made the evening wonderfully solemn and glorious. Also this month, the Lord blessed us to start a women's prayer service in the village of Yudin, where we have a small bible study group.

Now once a week Masha Yaroshuk spends time with the women of the village. They share with each other personal experiences, read the Word of God and pray for various needs: spiritual, social, personal.

These meetings are shaping the formation of the church. And we are glad that this ministry has developed and strengthened. With Andrew Yaroshuk I had the opportunity to pray for a girl named Lyudmila, who was brought to us by her family. "Can you help her", they asked. Lyudmila screamed, and bared her teeth and physically attacked other people.

It was a horrible sight. At night they took her to four Orthodox churches, but they refused to help. And then they turned for help to us. Together with Andrew we bent over the girl in prayer and stayed there for a long time. We prayed that the Lord might delivered her from the demon who tormented her. And finally, she calmed down. We started talking to her, and she told us that the day before she turned for help to a folk healer, after which this hysteria started. Truly wonderful is our Lord, who has power over all unclean spirits and also gave this power to His followers! We sincerely thank all those who pray with us, and made us part of their lives. We have one common goal!