Central and Eastern Europe

The Netherlands

Reaching Russia-From the Netherlands
When Jan and Nel Kits began ministering in Russia in the early 1990s, they faced challenges that could be expected within a country that had been under communism for 70 years. 

“We were ministering in cities where large evangelistic efforts were taking place,” says Jan. “We were there to train people and churches to follow up with new believers.” But the Kits noticed that many Christians, while free in their minds from the fear and bondage of communism, were not free in their hearts.

“We told them they could freely talk about Christ, but if they had done that a year and a half before, they would have gone to prison.” Jan said it reminded him of a Holocaust survivor who once told him, “I’m out of the concentration camp, but the concentration camp is not out of me.”

“They felt guilty because they wanted to share their faith, but they couldn’t do it. We wanted to help them be able to share their faith and bring people to church—which also used to be a crime.”

And although the fall of communism caused many unbelievers to feel curious about Christianity initially, that curiosity soon wore off. Reaching the people of Russia was not going to be an easy task.

For five years, Jan and Nel, who live in the Netherlands, traveled in and out of Russia doing evangelistic training and teaching churches to use tools such as the Four Spiritual Laws booklet and the Holy Spirit booklet. It wasn’t long before they realized that families in Russia were being neglected, so they began an outreach to families. The issue of family would soon become the key to unlock the communist-hardened hearts of this broken country.

Jan and Nel continued training leaders and churches in evangelism, but they began adding a few weeks to each of their trips to Russia so that they could conduct marriage conferences using FamilyLife’s materials. For the first time in their lives, they began to see significant numbers of Russian men come to Christ.

“Russians are a very proud people,” Jan explains. “Men especially. But in some cities, divorce rates were hitting 85%. The men felt that they were failing because they couldn’t keep their families together. They wouldn’t come to church or listen to an evangelistic presentation, but they felt the need to improve their marriage relationship. So they attended our marriage conferences, and many prayed to receive Christ.”

Because Jan and Nel lived in the Netherlands, they were working under Campus Crusade’s Western Europe Area of Affairs. Since Russia was not part of the same Area of Affairs, they realized early on that they needed to contact the Campus Crusade National Director of Russia to tell him what they were doing. Jan met with Roy Stiff to give him a report on their marriage conferences and to show him some statistics on how many people had become believers through the conferences. Roy was impressed. “You see more people come to Christ in a year than we see in all of the Campus ministry,” he said.

At first, FamilyLife was an add-on to the ministry Jan and Nel were already doing. Soon, it became an integral part of all of their efforts in Russia. The Kits continued to train staff couples with Campus Crusade’s basic two-year training, but they trained them in the context of FamilyLife. Jan and Nel taught couples to deliver talks on marriage and to lead HomeBuilders small groups. They realized the importance of HomeBuilders groups to sustain a family ministry, so every time they conducted a marriage conference, they also offered HomeBuilders leadership training. Attendees received materials, became equipped to start groups, and learned how they could train others to do the same.

A HomeBuilders movement in Siberia happened partly by accident when an electronic field-test copy of a Russian HomeBuilders book began making its way into e-mail boxes of some key leaders in Siberia. A few people began using the materials and forwarding the files to others. Then more people gained access to the files, and the HomeBuilders ministry spread further and further. People everywhere were printing their own books and beginning HomeBuilders groups.

“We had no control over it,” says Jan. “It went like wildfire throughout Siberia.”

Jan and Nel have had many opportunities to see the fruit of their labor. One couple they trained now lives and works in the Eastern part of Siberia, near Irkutsk. Sergey and Lena Aleev have seen remarkable results in nearby Buddhist-populated cities. Numerous Buddhists have attended the FamilyLife conferences and indicated that they prayed to receive Christ. One church in that area is made up of about 97% former Buddhists, many of whom are there as a result of FamilyLife conferences.

Another example of how God has multiplied Jan and Nel’s efforts is through a couple named Nadja and Misha Telepov. Nadja worked as an interpreter, but she confided one day that she didn’t like to translate for Jan because he spoke a type of English she didn’t understand. Jan and Nel realized she wasn’t a Christian and didn’t understand the Christian jargon. So they shared the Four Spiritual Laws with her and told her that if she wanted to understand, there was a prayer she could pray. The Kits left Russia in May of that year and came back in July. When they saw Nadja again, the first thing she said was, “I prayed page ten.” From then on, she began to understand the spiritual language. Her husband, Misha, also became a believer, and they realized that they had a heart to help Russian families. After they received their doctorates in psychology, they created their own family organization as a partner ministry with FamilyLife. They trained a team of leaders and volunteers and even developed a one-hour TV program in their city. 

Jan and Nel are always excited to see how their disciples will take what they’ve learned and continue to multiply the ministry in unique ways.

 “Now when people introduce us, we are introduced as the trainers of so-and-so,” says Jan. “And that is exactly what we want—we want the Russians to do the work. When we are finished, we disappear. Our goal is to work ourselves out of a job.”

Of course, in spite of many successes, there are still many difficulties. Russia, by far the largest country in the world, spans eleven time zones. Most people live in the European part of Russia. Sergey and Lena are the only staff couple doing FamilyLife in the Asian part, a very difficult area in which to conduct ministry.

“People who call themselves Christians there are orthodox,” Jan says. “They were born Russian, so they’re automatically orthodox. But the percentage of protestant Christians in that part of the world is about .01%. So there is no Christian community in which to raise support.”

Sergey and Lena, along with their three children and a grandmother, live in a two-room house with no bathroom, no toilet, and no running water at all. Jan hopes to help them raise money to move to nearby Irkutsk, where they can live, work, and meet with people in their home. Jan also wants to help them get involved in extending FamilyLife to the large student community there, since many get married within a few months of graduation. Jan worries that if Segey and Lena can’t get an apartment or house in the city, the ministry in Siberia will suffer.

Even considering the difficulties stemming from communist mindsets, broken families, and a lack of a local Christian support network, the hardships of building a movement in Russia have been far outweighed by the victories of lives and marriages being transformed and renewed. 

“People have asked me, ‘Why haven’t you stopped working there yet?’ I say, ‘I’m not working. I’m doing what I love to do,’ ” Jan says.

Russia

During a men's prayer meeting, men were asked to pray about usual things such as for the ministry, for families, and for their health. But there was one prayer request that sounded very different then the others. The man asked to pray about himself. He said, "I was in the ministry for quite a long time, but only recently God just showed to me how selfish I was and especially when it concerned my family." This man and his wife had joined a HomeBuilders Couples group study in St. Petersburg. As he and his wife were doing their HomeBuilders project together, he suddenly saw himself in a new light.

The movement of HomeBuilders that was started in that city 3 years ago continues to help couples change their life according to God's plan.

Romania

The Entrance Ticket
Two Hundred families came together at the Baptist church in Braila, in southern Romania for a FamilyLife conference. The entrance ticket for every person was his or her spouse. All of them were attending this kind of conference for the first time. They came from the villages and towns around Braila with a strong desire to learn more about God’s design for the family. At every break between sessions, the people gathered around us to share their life stories.

The saddest story told was one of a poor family from a village on the Danube side. The couple sat next to each other like two strangers. The tears of the woman came often and you could read on her face what kind of relationship she had with her spouse. During the break, she approached the FamilyLife speaker with shyness and asked her to listen to her story. The conferee was dressed very modestly. Her shoes were falling apart and her palms had some deeper cracks, which showed how hard she worked.

She has a difficult time convincing her husband to come to this conference. He had recently come home from jail where he spent ten years for killing a man. During the time he was away, it was difficult for the family. She had to raise their children alone and work every day for other people. During this time, she met Jesus. She became a good Christian and forgave her husband. When her husband got out of jail, it did not change the situation. He brought a lot of bad habits with him and was a worse man than when he entered the jail.

She expected this conference would be the solution for her situation. During the conference, the plan and purpose of God for the family was given, also how to resolve conflicts, and honoring your spouse. There were more than ten lectures about the family.

At the end of the first day, her husband came and confessed to the man conference speaker that he was a bad man, a bad spouse and a bad father. He asked him to help him change his life. The FamilyLife speaker spent a lot of time with him speaking about the Lord Jesus—His death for his sins, His desire to forgive him and to give him eternal life. Then he prayed and received Jesus in his heart.

From the point of his salvation, his face became bright and his attitude for his wife changed. A few months later he was baptized and he became a good spouse and a good father. He and his wife are now happy together.

Bulgaria

Learning How Love Can Grow
Rousse, Bulgaria was the location of a September 2007 marriage conference.  The FamilyLife team had been praying that the attendees would be mostly couples.  They saw that prayer answer when 50 people attended.

Many were believers who were able to strengthen the foundations of their marriage.  They also had some non-believers who heard the Gospel for the first time.  There was great variety among the couples—one couple had been married 50 years!  Another couple who attended was just a week away from getting married.

The first assignment was a test to see how well each knew the other.  The engaged couple had a few surprises and a lot to discuss.  One thing everyone enjoyed was the small group interaction.  Each group had to do three things:   

• Tell how they met
• Work together to assemble a puzzle whose theme was love or family
• Solve one case study of a typical problem for married people.

The FamilyLife staff are now organizing HomeBuilders groups and training the leaders for them.  They asked prayer for wisdom, the groups to flourish and be used by God to change lives and families.  Also pray for the non-believers who attended the conference to become involved in these studies and that they will be met with love, acceptance and help to come to Christ by believers. 

Comments by Conferees:

“I will be looking to rekindle the romance in our relationship.”

“I am committed to set aside more time for each other despite all the mistakes we have made.”

“I want to organize a special weekend to be together with my wife!”

“I want to set aside more time for my husband and to remember that he is God’s gift to me.”

“I want to start showing respect and honor my wife.”

Kazakhstan

FamilyLife Training

“We were at the edge of divorce and now have steps to continue our marriage.” 
                              —Kazakh Seminar Attendee

The Kazakhs are an Asiatic or Mongol people who look a lot like American Eskimos. Northwestern China is on their eastern border. Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union in Central Asia until its breakup in 1992. Therefore, a lot of ethnic Russians, a mostly Slavic Occidental people, emigrated there during the 20th century and remain today. Most of the population is Muslim with a few remnants of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In April 2006, two of our staff traveled through 14 time zones from home to Almaty, Kazakhstan to conduct an International Leadership Conference (ILC) including Speaker Training and a demonstration event. Fifteen couples attended the training including couples from Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Turkey.

Two of the couples had previously attended an ILC in 2003. In 2004, they conducted two HomeBuilders groups and in 2005 expanded to 17 groups. Now they were ready to expand with additional leaders and speakers, plus begin to establish FamilyLife in a few neighboring countries.

The training was held at a rustic sanatorium, which is a Soviet-era rest camp for Communist party officials. The setting was beautiful in a spur of the Himalaya Mountains. Kazakhstan surprisingly is reminiscent of Colorado in the USA. A large snowstorm occurred during the conference that transformed the setting. It looked like a beautiful Narnia in winter.

In keeping with the new FamilyLife International strategy, our representatives wanted to demonstrate a more reproducible marriage event rather than the hotel based Weekend to Remember. They used the Couples Relationship Seminar (CRS). God gave them a seminar that was extraordinary.

However, there were some translation challenges. Translations were English to Russian and Kazakh and English to Turkish. The first translator had limited knowledge of the Bible to help her interpret the stories they told. In spite of these obstacles, by God’s grace, they were able to establish a warm and fun atmosphere with the group. Under those conditions, what they had was nothing less than a miracle.

The Kazakh leaders decided without any suggestion from our team to replace their interpreter with a more experienced professional, prior to the marriage seminar. That was such a relief, but he created yet another challenge. The audience really warmed up and started laughing regularly at their jokes and stories. So did the interpreter. Although our staff had gone over their jokes with him in advance to prevent this from happening, the interpreter stopped the seminar a dozen or more times by laughing too hard to deliver the punch line of the jokes.

Three expatriate couples serving as missionaries in Kazakhstan attended the ILC and seminar. One of these couples approached the speakers with some special marriage needs about living and serving overseas. The speakers gave some solid advice, which they received very willingly.

Like all Couples Relationship Seminars, the day had a session where the audience is divided into HomeBuilders style groups to discuss marriage principles. Several people continued their discussions through the teatime that followed.

After the seminar the guests were treated to a romantic dinner. Everyone considered the seminar to be a tremendous success. The audience of 103 was over half non-Christians. Seven individuals indicated decisions that they received Christ, a significant result in a Muslim culture. Twenty-two signed up to join HomeBuilders groups.

In spite of the challenges, the week for the ILC and marriage seminar went splendidly. The hosts and those trained were ecstatic about the results.

Comments from conferees:

“I really loved everything, can't choose one thing. My wife and I began to understand. God helped me to come. A few days ago I had a crash in my life, I turned to God ‑ he helped me to come here today. I now understand many things. Thank you.” 
                              (He received Christ)

“I was nervous ‑ we were all part of the team. I looked at different nationalistic parts of our team and yet we all reflected God. My prayer was that God would put each of us at the right place in the group. I approached two women and said to them "Are you aware there are people here who don't know Christ?" And they said, "That would be us!" 
                              —An ILC trainee who shared Christ with them

“This was our first conference as a couple like this. We were participants, observers, and helpers. Nothing like this is in Uzbekistan. We are so thankful to see it with our own eyes. Our prayer was to start this. Lord how do we build this for our people?”

“For the first time in 20 years I received a love letter from my husband.”

“I told a widow who wanted to come. “No, this is not for you.” But, she begged me. I was trying to understand her reason for coming. She came to me after and said; “Now I know what to tell my children.” Thank you for your prayers ‑ what I did yesterday was of God”

“I was not sure how I fit as a single person. And I just want you to know how important this has been for me. My parents were divorced when I was 7 years old. They had no problems before then. Just one huge argument. They were beating each other and separated forever. They had never communicated and just lived in only their own worlds. I had never wanted to marry. I'm 27. Two months ago I prayed God would change my heart. At the seminar, I was able to forgive my parents for not being an example or teaching me. I am ready to follow whatever God has for me now.” 
                              —translator for the conference