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Getting the Gospel to Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union The following is a brief history as to why and how Couriers for Christ ministry came into existence, as well as some of the ministry's accomplishments and goals. by Don Stertz In the early 1970's, our church's founding pastor, Dr. Howard Nelson, had a burden to reach Communist Russia and Eastern Europe with the Gospel. At that time most mission boards called that part of the world closed, but the Bible said "Go ye into all the world..." and Dr. Nelson believed that if God gave the command, He would provide a way to accomplish the task. In October of 1974, our church had a mission conference. Among the missionaries present was a man from an Iron Curtain ministry who presented Russia as a mission field. During that conference God called my wife and I to take up the burden of getting the Gospel into Communist Russia. In January of 1975 we became representatives of that particular Iron Curtain ministry and worked with them for four years.
In 1978 I had the opportunity to make my first mission trip to Communist Eastern Europe. On that trip, while I was in a church service in Cluj, Romania, God touched my heart and I promised Him that I would do all that I could to get the Pure Word of God to that part of the world. In 1979, after much prayer and counsel, we decided to start a local church ministry out of our home church, Wyldewood Baptist Church, and Couriers For Christ was born. Two key things separated us from other Iron Curtain missions that had sprung up: First, we believed that the King James Bible was and is, in fact, the Pure Word of God without error. Secondly, that the local church is the sending and governing agent for a missionary and the mission board. Our purpose was to locate the Pure Word of God in whatever language the various country used; such as, Russian, Hungarian, etc. Then publish that Scripture and by using secret methods deliver this precious cargo to local Baptist churches in Eastern Europe and Russia. When the wall came down in 1990, it opened the door for our ministry to work on a personal basis with the national Baptist pastors and their churches. We saw immediately a need for doctrinal literature and started getting such literature translated and printed. In 1992, the first American missionaries started arriving in Eastern Europe and Russia. As they did so, they saw the great hunger the national people had for Spiritual things. But unfortunately, missionaries could not meet that need because of the breech of language. So, until they could effectively learn the language, they could not communicate and thus needed the "silent witness" - the printed page. Many missionaries began to contact us and request tracts, John & Romans, New Testaments, Bibles and doctrinal literature. We found fundamental Baptist missionaries want to distribute like-minded literature so they entreat us for such material. Church planting and literature go hand in hand. Just how far has the "silent witness" of literature gone? Right after the wall came down, on one of our literature shipments to Russia, we included about 75,000 John & Romans with our return address in it. These went into the Ukraine. We started getting letters from the Ukraine, then Moldavia, Georgia, Belorussia, Russia, Baltic States, Kazakstan, border of China, Siberia - all over the former Soviet Union. About 1 1/2 years after that shipment we received a few letters from the area of Russia near the coast of Japan - 9,000 miles from where we dropped them off! What was said in these letters? Things like this, "I want to know more about this Jesus. Please send me a Bible or New Testament. I've taken Jesus as my Savior. Please send me Bible helps," and so forth. We are still getting letters years after that shipment went to Russia. How many were saved as a result? Only God knows. What do the American missionaries say? Here are a few excerpts from letters: David Mathew, Magadan, Russia "Thank you so much. I can't say that enough! No sooner than we had ours (the Bibles and Gospel literature) arranged, my doorbell started ringing. We had a stream of followers. It brings tears to my eyes as I write this. They are so grateful. I wish I could put their words in this letter with their faces, too." Jim Pranger, Palatka, Russia "As the Lord leads, guides and provides, we need Bibles, New Testaments desperately, and John & Romans and discipleship materials." Three months later Jim writes, "I want to thank you for everything that was sent in the containers." In my files I have many more requests and thank you's from missionaries and national pastors from all over Eastern Europe and Russia. While many former Iron Curtain missions have decreased their outreach, and some even cease to exist, Couriers For Christ, by the grace of God, has continued to launch out into the deep and capitalize on this great opportunity. We've seen the Gospel of John & Romans translated into Croatian and Serbian and a host of tracts and doctrinal literature translated as well. Since 1991, Couriers For Christ has been able to ship about 75 ton of Gospel literature each year to Eastern Europe and Russia. As we see these open doors slowly closing to religious influence, we'll continue by the grace of God to get His Word to those people. And if the doors should shut, Lord willing, Couriers For Christ will continue, by other means, to get the Gospel to Eastern Europe and Russia. |
