The city of Penza is an administrative center of Penza region*, located on Sura River, 625 kilometers (388 miles) southeast of Moscow. Its population is half a million people.
It is in the Source of Life Church of Penza a new team of the evangelistic project 'One Year for Jesus' was luanched recently. The Project goal is to bring God's Word to everybody in Russia.
Project coordinator from the Volgograd Region Sergei Kiselyov organized the first training for a team of evangelists and the practical part of it contained one week outreach to villages and towns of Penza region.
A strategic plan was developed to reach every town in Penza region. For the beginning the team identified three towns near Penza, about 50 km away from the city. The team of full-time evangelists was joined by Christians who could participate part-time. Local authorities were notified of the outreach.
Going from home to home and talking to people, we gave them the New Testaments, and told them about Jesus. Many prayed a sinner's prayer. We visited each one of them again at the end of the week. When we saw people in need, we tried to help. We met some people of old age and we realized, that without us they would not have had an opprtunity to hear the Good News about Jesus at all. Some people were hospitable: they were willing to help us, fed us and gave water. There were very few people who refused and did not want to listen. In total, from June 23rd to 29th, we visited three towns with a population of over 1,000 people. These people have become dear to us, and we have already a follow up plan in place, to take care of new converts, visiting them, helping them to study the Bible. Next week at a local community center in one of the towns, together with the administration, we are planning to hold a youth festival. We believe that there will be a church in this town.
These days became special not only for the residents of these towns, but to a greater extent, this was a blessing for each team member. Indeed, according to participants, it was a special, blessed time. We learned to share the Good News about Jesus, to listen to people, to see their needs, understand them. We realized that these people need us. Nothing can be compared with the joy that we felt when people became aware of their sinfulness and repented before the Lord.
«From the very beginning, we have seen the hand of God in the whole project, and it is no coincidence, because that's what the church is for – to bring the Good News to everyone», said Pastor Alexander Timakov.
The Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith
The Source of Life Church, Penza, Russia
*Penza region is part of the Volga economic district. The region is one of Russia's leading producers of wheat, rye, oats, millet, buckwheat, cereal and forage crops, vegetables, potatoes, mustard, and meat.
