MARCH '26 PART 2: Stress Test of Faith

What were the intangibles of Christian faith that you knew even before you put your faith in Jesus?

Wheaton professor of Church History, John Dickson, mentioned on one of his podcasts that the catechism courses for the early church took almost 3 years. It is staggering to think that someone would commit this long to just go over the foundational truths of Christian faith. Yet when one thinks about it, the length of these courses is not as outrageous as it seems. After all, people were becoming Christians out of a completely different system of values. Christianity was turning their world upside down. Everything in Christianity was different -- the way they approached sexual relations, what was and was not acceptable in family life, the way they worked, the way they honored their country, and obviously the way they worshiped. That is why it took a prolonged period of time for them to learn this new way of life. 

We live in a world today that is shaped by Christianity. Our values, as British historian Tom Holland eloquently and convincingly articulated in his book Dominion, are deeply Christian values. However, at the same time, we live in the post-Christian world. And when it comes to post-Christian, I believe Russia was the first country that was violently thrust into this new period after the October Revolution of 1917, and perhaps Russia was the first country to enter the post-secular era after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It means that it is not enough today to simply share the Gospel with someone and hope that they will grow and will establish a firm foundation in their faith by simply attending church services and getting involved in a small group. That is why we launched a series of Sunday School classes called “Foundation.” I already shared about the “Starting Point” course that is a part of this series. 

Another course that is also a part of this series of classes is the “Stress Test.” That is an apologetic course that is broken down into three parts. Part one is the challenge of the Christian faith, where we talk about the fact that apart from God and relationship with Him, we cannot really know who we are; we have no meaningful access to human freedom, dignity or morality. Yes, it is a leap of faith for modern people to believe in God, but this first part is designed to show that it is a far greater leap to not believe in God. This part strives to show the beauty of the Christian message so that people would want to believe it is true.

The second part is dedicated to answering some of the challenges for the Christian faith. During this part we strive to answer questions like the problem of evil, the behavior of the Church through the ages, its sexual ethic that seems so restrictive, and its claims for exclusivity. Each Sunday School session is put together in such a way as to include a homework assignment which consists of some reading material as well as listening to or watching a Sunday sermon on the topic. During these last 2 years, our fall series of sermons were dedicated to preparing the groundwork for the “Stress Test” classes. We have already covered both the challenge of the Christian faith and the challenge for the Christian faith. Lord willing, we will wrap up the series in the fall of 2026. In the meantime, we are in the midst of going through the “Starting Point” classes with a second group of people, and the current series of sermons called “It’s Not That Simple” is dedicated to the Gospel and is also part of this 12-course series for catechizing new believers.

Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia, 
Constantin and Alexandra

P.S.  Of course one may ask a question about the impact of these series of classes. Well, my next newsletter will be about one person who recently went through them. But before that, let me share real quickly about another facet of our vision for our building in my very next newsletter.

THREE PRAYER REQUESTS:

Please take a moment right now, after you fnished reading this e-mail, to join us in praying for God:

1. To bless our Lent Season. We have successfully kicked off Lent with a special Ash Wednesday service. But it will be the first time in over 12 years that our Good Friday evangelistic service will not be at St.Peter and Paul Cathedral. Please pray for a smooth transition to a new place and a large turnout from those that do not know Christ.
2. To raise necessery funds for us to purchase our own building. I shared in my previous newsletter about our capital campaign that we just launched. Check it out if you have not yet and if you can please share about it with as many people as possible especially with the missions board of your church.
3. To bring peace to Russia and Ukraine. Moreover, ask God to use this conflict by bringing reconciliation and revival to these countries.