Planting Seeds in Young Hearts

Vyacheslav Rodnev - Svisloch, Belarus

As he serves Christ in Belarus’ Grodno region, SGA-sponsored church planter Vyacheslav Rodnev spends much time in ministry to young people. It is truly wonderful to see how God is using Vyacheslav in their lives.

“There are many examples. Last October during our Harvest Celebration, youth from another church came to celebrate with us. Together with our youth, they worked hard and decorated our sanctuary and the communion table with fruit. In the center of the table were water, bread and the Bible. The children of our Sunday school prepared a program and sang. Our sanctuary could not hold everyone, but we still shared the joy of worshipping our God, and later went to a local park for recreation. Later in the fall, we had four sessions for young preachers bringing together about 20 brothers from our region, including two from our church. I am praying that God will motivate them to work zealously for His glory.”

Remembering the Love of Christian Fellowship

Later in the fall, Vyacheslav met a 27-year-old young man named Ivan, who had quite a story to tell. When Ivan was 12, he attended his first Christian service and was invited to Sunday school. He began attending and really liked to read Christian books — in time even enrolling in a Bible correspondence course. Sadly, Ivan’s mother began opposing his involvement and no longer allowed him to attend church.

Under the pressure of his family, Ivan left and then entered the university in another town. According to Vyacheslav, for Ivan it was the start of a downhill slide. “At the university, he fell. He began drinking and couldn’t graduate. He went to a small village as a teacher, and then to the army and farther and farther from God. After his military service, Ivan found a job but could not break his alcohol addiction. By now, Ivan’s mother was desperate to help her son, and that is where we met. While I talked to Ivan, I shared the Gospel with him from beginning to end, and invited him to pray. He said that he understood everything, expressing his desire to meet with our youth, and that he had a lot to think over alone with God. And not only Ivan. His mother also expressed her desire to come to the church. Please pray that this seed planted years ago will bear fruit in the lives of Ivan and his family.”

Vyacheslav’s church concluded the year with yet another youth meeting, this time at a church in Volkovysk where young people from five churches gathered for teaching and fellowship. As always, Vyacheslav’s emphasis is evangelism and discipleship. “Pray with us that every member of our church can be successful in reaching people for Christ!”