Apostle Leonard Young baptizes Sergei Motorin of Borisoglebsk, Russia.—photo by Stanislav Gladysh

The Community of Christ Reaches Russia and Ukraine

In Russia and Ukraine, we’ve currently around 400 church members,” said Apostle Leonard Young. “We’re growing fast with between 30 to 50 new members baptized each year. Probably 75 percent of those members are young adults under 30 years of age.”

This rate of growth among those demographics shows that Russia and Ukraine are lands of promise for Community of Christ. Uniquely appealing distinctives are resonating with new members.

“I can think of at least three of our basic beliefs that make our message so attractive in Russia and Ukraine,” explained Young. “First is the idea of Zion and transforming this world. The Russian Orthodox Church emphasizes life after this one. The Community of Christ focuses on the hope and potential in our earthly existence as well.”

“For me, the most helpful aspect of the Community of Christ is that we live on the earth and try to make life better here and not wait for a better life when we die,” said Elena Bezgina of Voronezh, Russia. “When I think about it, it helps me to do more than I expect from myself and help others to understand it.”

“Second is the spirit of community and relationships within our church,” continued Young. “The idea of trusting people can be a new concept in Eastern Europe. Third is their fascination with other cultures. So you can see how appealing being a part of an international fellowship is for our brothers and sisters throughout Ukraine and Russia.”

“It’s very important when you have many friends and not only in your own country,” said Bezgina. “When these friends keep your name in their hearts and in their prayers, then my life becomes brighter and easier.”

The celebration of being a part of an international fellowship is perhaps most keenly felt during World Conference.
 

Oasis of Peace is back home and performing throughout Kiev, Ukraine.—photo by Anatoliy Hurallsky

Oasis of Peace in Kiev
There are Community of Christ congregations in Kiev, the capital and largest city in Ukraine. The singing children from Oasis of Peace, memorable crowd pleasers during the 2007 World Conference, are from Kiev.

“When I first heard that the apostolic field planning this service intended to involve Oasis of Peace, I said to myself, ‘I sure hope they are placed after me in the order of the service,’” revealed President Steve Veazey from the pulpit before his March 25 World Conference sermon. “I knew it would be quite a challenge to follow them and I was right.” (Yet follow them he did with what was eventually canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 163.)

During their visit to International Headquarters in March, Oasis of Peace and their entourage gave and likewise received considerable ministry.

“The warm and friendly atmosphere at the World Conference and open relationships with all the people we met had a very important and inspiring part in the development of our children’s musical ministry,” said Maria Glushkovetskaya, the Maria von Trapp of Oasis of Peace, who accompanies the singing children on her guitar. “Our group was flying home on the wings of happiness with new expectations and a big desire to become real ambassadors of the peace of Christ in Ukraine.”

Now back home, Oasis of Peace has enjoyed a summer filled with musical performances in diverse settings.

“We are providing ministry in schools and orphanages, hospitals and clinics, big factories and small firms, train stations and airports, and simply on the streets of Kiev where we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and God’s healing and comforting hand reaching out to every heart and soul,” said Glushkovetskaya.

Elsewhere in Ukraine
“Our congregations in both Russia and Ukraine currently meet in homes and schools,” said Young. “We’ve only one church building and that’s in Gorlovka, Ukraine.”

Ukraine declared its independence from the then-Soviet Union in 1991. Ephim Brudsky is a field specialist and pastor in Gorlovka. In 1998, Brudsky became the first Community of Christ member baptized in Ukraine. He discovered this denomination through the www.CofChrist.org Web site.

“The kingdom of God is not something to come after our life only,” explained Brudsky. “It is in our midst here and now as we are doing God’s work by sharing the peace of Jesus Christ with our communities.”

There is a heritage of gospel stories being shared visually and not just textually. Beautiful art of biblical figures also conveys stories. The Gorlovka congregation is attuned to the possibilities of witnessing through paintings and sculpture. Planning for a cross in their church building has become a focus on three crosses in homage to their diverse religious heritage. One will reflect the Latin style, another Greek, and a third will show a clear Russian Orthodox influence.

“Their desire for a cross in their church gave me an interesting lesson in Ukraine iconography,” said Young. “They see icons as teaching tools and living scripture.”

Another new Community of Christ congregation meets in Donetsk, an eastern Ukraine city along the Kalmius River. Igor Karpachov is pastor.

“The Donetsk Community of Christ is interested in the development of a community partnership program that will hopefully connect our church with the greater community,” said Karpachov. “We are very different and we can learn much from each other. All of us are created as children of God and we want to change this world in which we now live in the Ukraine so that the reign of God will come to pass.”

Young adults from Borisoglebsk, Russia, typify the age of church members and prospects for church growth in Russia and Ukraine.—photo by Leonard Young

Russia Then and Now
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began in Russia in 1995 when karate instructor Sergei Bogolopev adapted some of his martial arts classes for students interested in learning about Christ. Bogolopev resides in Akademgorodok, Russia, a suburb of Novosibirsk, Siberia. Sergei was the first member of the church baptized in Russia (Dzerassa Kambegova, a native of Vladikavkaz, Russia, joined this church in 1994 as an Iowa high school foreign exchange student before attending Graceland). Larry Tyree was the apostle assigned to this new field.

“Sergei had approximately 150 people in that group, some of whom eventually began to meet in his home and other locations and were baptized,” remembered Tyree. “Sergei had at one point in my count 40 different groups meeting. These were not official church groups, but ministries from which contacts emerged.”

The Community of Christ presence in Russia has since expanded officially. There are new congregations in Moscow, Siberia, and Voronezh in western Russia. Voronezh is an important railway junction between Moscow and Kiev. International Friendship Clubs have been established in Voronezh and also in Borisoglebsk, a city named in tribute of its first Christian martyrs, St. Boris and St. Gleb.

“We hope to have more people joining us in our faith,” said Voronezh pastor Bezgina. “We want to be understood and respected by other religions.”
Stereotypes are crumbling like the Berlin Wall. Just as United States citizens were once fed media images of Cossack caricatures and cartoon Bullwinkle villains, Apostle Young noted that the images of America many Russian baby boomers were exposed to in decades past depicted Appalachian poverty, urban race riots, and bread lines circa the Great Depression. Each Cold War superpower portrayed its nemesis as suffering a bleak existence of waiting in lines for food.

President of Seventy Richard James and Apostle Leonard Young ordain Stanislav Gladysh to the office of seventy.—photo by Olia Gladysh

“In Russia, the government does little to help the establishment of brotherly communications between denominations,” lamented Seventy Stanislav Gladysh of Borisoglebsk.

“Formerly, Stan was a true believer in the utopian ideals of the Communist vision,” said Young. “When the Soviet Union ended he searched for something new and when he found the Community of Christ, he realized that those dreams would not be achieved through governments, but rather through Christ.”

“All activity devoted to the establishment of the church in the world is a most holy business,” shared Gladysh. “Our church is aimed at the mission of helping this world become a true tool of the Divine. The tolerance inherent in the Community of Christ is the same as what human life together should be.”

Prospects for tolerance have a good seedbed in already established cultural hospitality. Apostle Young experiences this in every home he visits.

“Our people in Russia and Ukraine are extremely hospitable,” said Young. “Guests are invariably given a gift of bread and salt. This symbolizes their hope for your life sustenance.”

“What people need to hear are not esoteric stories, but real, practical truths about how to live life in a Christian way,” said Karpachov. “We look at the future with hope. Hope is given to us through Christ Jesus. We are called to look beyond the horizon and to share Christ’s peace with the whole world.”
—Dirk Ellingson reporting