- Siberia - The Land of Ice & Chains  (other Mission Reports)

December, 2003

On December 8^th, 2003, I had the opportunity to travel to the Siberian region of Russia, an area almost twice the size of the country of Canada. Our journey began in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania where we were to obtain our Russian visas. We enjoyed ministering to the saints in the Vilnius Church before leaving early on Thursday morning.

We flew to Moscow and left for the city of Novokuznetsk after an 18-hour delay due to poor weather conditions in Siberia. We arrived late on the evening of Friday, Dec 12^th, where the brethren met us at the airport in temperatures near 0 degrees. The brethren who met us had made very nice arrangements in securing a hotel and a meeting room in which to hold the services.

Several saints came from other cities in the area and also from the Lake Baikal region. Some of the largest factories, foundries and mines in the world can be found in the city of Novokuznetsk (population 600,000). The city is literally built around these factories, and  spreads over an area covering almost 40 square miles.

In the days of Stalin, millions of students, dissidents and protesters of government policy were sent to Siberia, supplying labor for the factories and foundries keeping the great war machine in Russia supplied during World War II. Almost 90% of these exiles perished in the harsh Siberian environment. The foundries, mines and factories all still exist (without the slave labor) under the “indirect” influence of the KGB. To give you some idea of the size of these bigger factories, they are large enough to employ hundreds of thousands of people and the facilities are as large as any small American town.

I had the opportunity to interview two of the early leaders of the local church, who told how the Message took root in Siberia. Their testimony reflects the harshness of life under the former Soviet government and the KGB. (The video of the testimony is available on the order form that accompanies this newsletter.) Very early in the development of the Church, the saints endured persecution from both the government and the local church orthodoxy, mainly the Pentecostals.

The small group was influenced early as well by false doctrines imparted from the West. It is truly miraculous to see today how firm the Bride in Siberia stands. Many of the brothers knew each other from their former days as prisoners, drug addicts and petty criminals. Several received their early witness about Christianity while they shared the same jail cell. The testimony of Bro. Victor Fokin describes an attempt by 16 “secret police” (a division of the KGB) who were sent to kill him for a crime he committed. He was thrown into the river for dead which flows past his present home. He survived the attempt on his life by swimming across the river with a broken arm, crushed leg and 30 knife wounds. He was recaptured and imprisoned for 18 months until he was supernaturally released. This experience convinced him of the reality of the grace of God and he felt that God must desire to use him for some future role in the Church. Shortly after this experience, a brother handed him a Message sermon book in the Russian language!

While we were visiting Siberia, we held several services and a house meeting and were able to bring supplies and MP3 players to the saints. Since there is no pastor in this church, we encouraged the saints to nominate and elect three elders to administer the church since there are more than 40 Believers who worship there. These elders were voted to serve and we prayed for them in the final service.

While we were visiting we met a brother from the Vladivostok region of Russia on the very eastern coast of Russia. This brother had been given a Message sermon by someone who had received it by mail and passed it on. The next step from that coast would place us back in Alaska. The Message has truly been spread around the entire globe; north, south, east, and west. The brethren in Novokuznetsk are burdened to spread the Message throughout Siberia and the far east of Russia. They live only 150 miles from the northern border of Mongolia and China. The potential to reach into some of the most remote areas of the earth is very real to the saints who live there. We encouraged them to continue in the good work of spreading the gospel and reaching the millions of unsaved people who knew only the darkness of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Peter and I left the area and returned to Moscow where we held a service before returning home through the country of Holland. The saints in Moscow are worshipping in a very old and dilapidated building in the outskirts of Moscow; the price of real estate in Moscow (population of 14 million) is extremely high because of the rapid expansion of the city.

Please remember the saints in Russia in prayer, they stand as beacons of light in a very dark nation, witnessing the Word of Life in this end time.

Bro. Barry Coffey