Russian skeptic turns to Christ

Final update from the St. Petersburg project, with photo of some team members . . .

Our new brother, Nick (AKA Kolya or Nikolai), was on British Camp with us and was there last year as well. Last year he was one of the biggest skeptics, had read about all the contradictions in the Bible, and challenged everything! God seems to have done a big shift in his heart; he was more open to hearing our beliefs and came along to a couple of the breakfast Bible studies. He has a passion for Korea, having studied there for a while, so it was a real blessing that we had three Koreans on our team this year!

After our penultimate event - a 'feast' where Pete gave a short invitation to The Feast - Nick stayed on late and (forgive the lack of detail, I wasn't there) emerged from a side room with a couple of our team having accepted Christ! I hear he had a hearty welcome into the family from the girls living in the flat!

Hopefully - please pray for this - they'll have adequate follow-up; one of our key Russian workers, Andrey, organised a Bible study on our last morning and he's very good at keeping contact up.

The Way that Jesus did Things
So, now we're home and reflecting on the last four weeks, and the biggest thought that sticks with me is community. We had such a great atmosphere of friendship with the Russian students. It got to a point where we were taking Russian non-believing friends to translate for us - they were sharing the Gospel without having fully accepted it for themselves!

I feel that this is the way Jesus did things too - after all, his disciples didn't fully believe until after his resurrection, and yet he hung out with them until then, teaching and sharing with them, and getting them involved with his ministry. People were drawn to him, and were changed through the fellowship they had with him. Our prayer was that the students would be drawn to Jesus in us, rather than to our usefulness as English teachers!).
--- Laura

Soularium Reaches Russians

Here's an update from Laura as she wraps up the British project in St. Petersburg, along with a couple of photos of the team in action.

Before we even left Russia - 2 new members of the family! We met the first one, Sasha, won the university campus nearest our flats. Some of our team were playing guitar and worshipping, some were praying, and some were using a tool we've found to be a great conversation starter - 'Soularium'.

It's a collection of 50 images, and we ask students to respond to questions ranging from how they see their lives and how they wish their lives were, to which images they think represent God and why. It's a great way to speak to people, especially when we have a language barrier!

Lizzie and Arjen were doing Soularium with a student called Sasha and they shared with her an Agape booklet called Knowing God Personally (the Russian version is called 'The Four Spiritual Laws'...somewhat more imposing but there we go. At least it's in their own language!) Sasha decided that this really was Good News and said yes pretty much immediately! She came along to most of our get-togethers (more on those later) afterwards, and became a real part of our community.

Tomorrow . . . the story of Nikolai, a former skeptic

History of Soularium

Recently I learned a bit about how Soularium came into existence. It all began several years ago when Agape Europe commissioned a four-country study of cultural values and attitudes toward God. These countries were the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

A staff guy in Spain applied the results by combining photos with a spiritual interest questionnaire. He told some people in the States about it. Students on the TriBeCa summer project in Manhattan took it the next step, developing Soularium as we know it today.

It was so cool to learn that this tool, which is one of the most popular evangelistic tools used by CCC in America today, has European roots!

Here's a website that the Americans have developed where people can go to learn more about Soularium, and how people are responding: http://mysoularium.com/.

Soularium

Last time I mentioned the Soularium outreach used in the summer projects in France. This is a really cool approach built around photos. It assumes that everybody is on a spiritual journey of some sort. When you want to have a spiritual conversation with somebody, you spread out the 25 or so photos and ask your friend to choose three photos that represent their view of God. You might ask a follow up question regarding which photos illustrate where they are on their spiritual journely. Then you share three that represent your perspective.

This past week I have been in Durango, Colorado, talking to some students at Ft. Lewis college. Soularium has worked very well there, too. They spread the photos out on a table and engage passing students in spiritual conversations. When somebody wants to go deeper, they explain the principles of how to know God personally.

It's cool to see God using these photos both in American and in Europe. Next time, I'll share more about Soularium came into existence.

(The embedded photos show French Canadian students using Soularium in Paris).

The Most Livable City in Europe

In the late Middle Ages the Duke of Brittany built a chateau, or castle, in Nantes, France, to defend Brittany. Nowadays Nantes is known for caramels, crepes and the castle, as well as for being Time Magazine's choice for"the most livable city in Europe" http://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Nantes/Nantes/Nantes.

This summer, the grassy grounds around the castle were a favourite place for French and American students on the Nantes summer project to talk to people about the Lord.

The Sidewalk Mike
One approach was the "Sidewalk Mike," where a video team would interview random people about whether or not they thought God might exist. At the end of the week, the clips were made into a movie and shown at an evening meeting.

Many Questions
The students also did Soularium (more on that in a future blog). Tiffany Bozart (right, with sunglasses, talking to some guys about the Lord) tells of the time she and Clare, a French student , talked to a couple of girls sitting near the fountain in Place Royale. The plaza was a typical French plaza, filled with flowers and beauty.

"We would like to talk to you about belief in God," said Tiffany, and spread out the photos of Soularium. It turned out one girl had recently tried to commit suicide. She was very open, and had lots of questions. At the end of the visit, Clare said, "I just want you to take away one thing -- God loves you very much!" The two girls were silent, and Tiffany could see they were deeply touched.

One of the coolest things about the Nantes project, says Tiffany, was that two young believers took part, who were filled with enthusiasm about the Lord. Both had come to faith through Agape, one in Nantes and one in Toulouse.

Middle East Part 2

Here's part 2 of a report from the UK on their project in the Middle East:

On Monday the guy who runs the hostel, John, arranged for our group to have a meal with the guys living there. Conversation was hard as they all spoke a foreign language which only a couple of us could understand. It’s amazing how much you can say without words, and just sharing food together was lovely. The cook had made some delicious hearty soup, with sauce and coriander and chicken, it was delicious!

A guy pointed to me, pointed upwards and then made the hand motion of "a little bit" we were having a giggle trying to figure out what he meant. We finally got someone to translate and he was trying to point to us and himself and say Child of God, when we finally got it, he gave us a big hug. It's amazing the fellowship and love that God can give you for each other. All because we both know the power of God in our lives and that the other person has that realisation too.

We all went round the table introducing ourselves, and saying a little bit about ourselves and how we had found out about Jesus. These guys’ lives make me worship God more. I didn't want to embarrass them so I was trying not to cry but they have had hard lives, and even after finding God it’s still not easy.

Middle East, part 1

In this report on the Middle East project, Sara uses the word "chuffed." I have no idea what that means. Could one of you Brits help out a poor American who can't speak English, and give me a definition of "chuffed?" Thanks.

We've been here a week now, having great cultural training in the mornings, and in the afternoons going to the University to chat with students. We have found students to be really friendly and willing to chat, and have arranged some follow-up meetings.

This is something Sara wrote after this week:

"I have been praying that I would be more led by the Holy Spirit and didn't even know what this might look like. Whilst on campus though a girl sat behind us who I wanted to include in our conversation. I tried to think of every reason not to, and then thought maybe this is the spirit leading, making what I had joked about being a “divine appointment.” So I thought what's the worst that could happen?”

I went over and said my friend and I have been talking about hope, God and having faith. You don't have to, but can I ask what you think about those things? She said yes, even though she had piles of paper in front of her and was clearly studying. Her name was Clare. She was so lovely and we really got on, she had been to England and had studied in York! (my home town)!! I found out she was married and 6 months pregnant, you couldn't tell. So I took another scary step and asked her if I could pray for her baby, I did and she was really chuffed. It came time for us to go so I suggested she come to along to the BBQ we were having on the beach and she said, “well why don't you and your friends come to mine for tea.” We swapped numbers and Sam and I are now going on Thursday for tea.

The next day, I went onto campus where we did Soularium. I love the attitude that sharing my faith is not a production line, there is simply no pressure and God will bump you into someone, you just need to relax!

Please note that the names of those we have met have been changed for the purpose of this message.

To Russia With Love, Prayer Needs

Last month, as I've been commenting on, the UK sent a group to Russia. I just got an update from a second group of British students who are in St. Petersburg right now -- Here's an excerpt. Please pray for them.

By the way, here's a virtual tour of St. Petersburg, in case you want to learn more about the city: http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/

Update from Allan:
This past week we have been building on the friendships formed at the British Camp and trying to connect with these students so they might come to know Jesus.

Here are some specific people we've been meeting and praying for:

- Mitya; he has heard the gospel several times and has strong friendships with many of the Russian Christians here and many of our team. He doesn't yet know Jesus and doesn't understand how you can know God personally.
- Sergey; he is very spiritually open and happy to talk about God. It's hard to tell where he's really at. Sometimes it sounds like he is a Christian, but I don't think he's yet grasped the gospel.
- Andre; he is asking many questions about our faith but again hasn't made a decision to trust in Christ.
- Nicolai; he came to the British camp in Summer 2008 and was apparently very hostile/argumentative towards Christianity, but this year he is far more open to at least talking about God.

We've done some initiative evangelism on the local Polytechnic too. Term has ended but there are still quite a few people around. It is difficult as few of the students speak English, so we rely heavily on the Russian Agape staff translating for us. One day we went into a cafe and no one spoke English so we just guessed at the menu and ordered a meal deal - it turned out to be some sort of "mystery" meat and a plate of buckwheat! Not particularly appetising! An interesting experience nonetheless!

I've also had the opportunity to see some of the sights of St Petersburg. The Russian students have been great at showing us around the city and helping us navigate the streets! Without them it would be nearly impossible - very few people speak English even in the city and our Russian is very basic!! Some places I've been to are the Hermitage museum,Palace Square and the Church on Spilled Blood. The city is very beautiful with a really wide river, canal and many brightly coloured buildings.

Thanks for reading and praying!

до свидания (goodbye in Russian, pronounced das vee dan ya)

Spiritual interest in Russia

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that a group of British staff and students went to St. Petersburg, Russia. I just got a newsletter from them - they met 45 Russian students in an old Soviet summer kids camp 40 miles from the city, and just a few steps from the beach.

They spend several hours each day helping the Russians improve their English, mostly through extended conversation. Each morning they had a devotional on the Fruit of the Spirit, and though it was intended for the British team, some of the Russian students came as well.

Laura, who wrote the letter, pointed out that only about 1 percent of Russians have a living faith. Yet they responded quite well to the two "Soul Talks." As Laura put it, "I was blown away by the openness of the students to hear about God -- they had real questions and real answers, which makes such a refreshing change from British apathy and godlessness."

The Spanish connection

Two Spanish guys helped out during the Irish trip to El Camino, which I mentioned yesterday. Samuel Palacios (photo above) works with Agape in Barcelona, and he brought along a non-believing friend. One day the two Spaniards were running errands, and Samuel's friend, Dani, asked an interesting question: "Are you different because of your religion? Or is it just something about you?"

Samuel's response was: "If you have observed anything in me that is good or noble, that difference is entirely a result of my relationship with Jesus Christ, and has little to do with anything special about myself". This led into a great conversation about the difference Christ can make in our lives.

This is what the El Camino project is all about. As people bring non-believing friends along, they see the Christian life lived out -- not in a super-spiritual, detached from reality manner, but rather in a very down-to-earth way, amidst sore feet and tired bodies. As day after day rolls by, with everybody carrying heavy packs all day, people can see the difference Christ makes in one's life.

Several El Camino projects will be taking place this month, so be sure to keep them in your prayers.

From Dublin to Spain

Just got word that 15 people from Dublin joined Kate and Kelly Mulholland along the Camino de Santiago in northwestern Spain. They left the fair shores of Ireland on 16 June and journeyed 100 miles along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Chloe Hanan described the trip thus:
Most of our group barely knew each other before we started, but by the time we parted we were like family. The young believers in our midst were encouraged greatly in their faith, and the couple of people who had come as slightly estranged Christians were deeply impacted by the time of community and reflection.

The team also had great conversations about spiritual things with fellow pilgrims-- both in the evenings and along the trail itself.

I'm attaching a photo of the Irish team. Also, here's a wiki with more info on the trail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James

Summer in Paris

The Paris project just finished up, according to Heather Anderson, a Canadian who helped lead the project. A group of students from French-speaking Canada went to Paris to get to know French students and talk to them about how God has made a difference in their lives. The photo above shows the Sorbonne, a famous Parisian university.

They meet French students in several ways. One is to strike up conversations over lunch in a "mensa", or student cafeteria.

Another approach that everyone likes is called "Soularium," which is a deck of cards with photos on them. The Canadian student would meet a French student, or group of students, sitting in a park, then ask which picture best expressed their concept of God. These questions would often lead to deep discussions about God and faith and life, and how it all fits together.

The average French student has no interest in God -- But most enjoyed talking about the Soularium pictures.

In the Shadow of the Parthenon

Just found out that the summer project in Athens, Greece, finished up last week. Still trying to get more info on what happened (besides touring the Parthenon and eating souvlaki) -- it's becoming apparent that it is not as easy to get information on summer projects as I had expected!

I'm posting a picture of a Greek university that I took several years ago -- it's in Thessaloniki, not Athens, but at least it gives an idea of what it's like to be in Greece.

Camping in Russia

Last month, a group of British students went to St. Petersburg. They were staying at a camp outside the city, living alongside Russian students while teaching English, playing sports and sharing about why God is important to them.

I like the way the British website described these students:

Throughout history, some men and women have stepped up to a life less ordinary. They sought to be a part of God's plan in history and for the future, and they did it by giving their all. This summer, students will get a taste of world missions and learn things that can be applied for a lifetime.

http://www.agape.org.uk/news_article_jun09_3.html