Gospel Expedition

The church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Cheremkhovo, where our Expedition arrived, was founded in the 1920s. Then, it was a small group consisting of 20 members that had meetings at home. In 1937, the church was officially registered by the local government, but later in that same year all the church members were arrested. Twelve years later, the Cheremkhovo church bought a building and obtained registration again. By then there were 150 members. In 1979, the church building was removed, but in 1980 the church bought a piece of land on Dmitrova Street, built a church house, and dedicated it.

Today . . . Acceptance Instead of Opposition

The Expedition’s evangelistic worship service took place in a gymnasium at 6 p.m. On behalf of the town administration, 93-year-old war veteran Vasily Zhilkin greeted the cyclists and made them honorary citizens of Cheremkhovo. “What you do is worthy of a State award. You really love people by propagating a really healthy way of life. Thank you so much for visiting out small Siberian town of Cheremkhovo.”

We rejoiced that another day — granted to us by God — was not spent in vain. It was good to see people, including Vasily, with New Testaments in their hands. The Cheremkhovo church works the soil and sows the Word of God. We, the members of the Expedition, tried to fill the soil with living water. But only God will cause the growth in due time. “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”

A Little About Cheremkhovo

In 1772 on the bank of the Cheremkhovka (Cheremshana) River, by a postal station on the Moscow highway, the village of Cheremkhovo was founded. The town was given its name due to the abundance of cherry trees. In 1917, Cheremkhovo became a town. Presently Cheremkhovo is one of the coal mining centres in the Irkutsk region, in addition to agriculture where wheat, oats, barley and buckwheat are grown. People also ranch dairy cattle.