Russia Report

March, 2005

by: Jeff Jones

From January 28 to February 7, I had the privilege of participating in a short-term mission trip to Samara, Russia (which for me was my second trip to the country). I and three other men were sent to help strengthen the budding youth ministries of the churches in Samara. Since, most churches in Samara (and all of Russia) do not support a youth pastor (like we do) — and since many churches even have difficulty supporting a pastor teacher (like Jack Hughes)—youth ministry workers are comprised solely of volunteers. Thankfully, we found that the volunteer leaders were well aware of the difficulties involved in ministry to youth and desired greatly to do things biblically. Thus, the job of our missions team was to give them theological and practical guidance concerning youth ministry.

During our stay, (1) we met with leaders of various churches in Samara to answer questions about youth ministry, (2) we taught two pastoral ministry classes in Samara Theological Seminary on the topic of youth ministry, (3) we preached and gave lectures at a two day conference for (male) youth leaders from the region of Samara, (4) we preached and gave seminars at a one day Purity Conference for nearly 300 youth in and around Samara (some even traveled up to 5 hours to attend), and (5) a few members of the team (including myself) had the opportunity to preach in the churches. The week, as you can probably see, was filled with many teaching opportunities, all of which were done through very skilled translators. We did have time to sight see and have some informal fellowship, but for the most part we were kept quite busy.

Much of he fruit of our ministry is still yet to be seen, but while we were there many let us know that our coming was helpful and appreciated. Of course, I really felt that I was ministered to much more than I actually ministered myself. But all that to say, the trip was profitable and worthwhile. Thanks to all who supported me in prayer and with finances.