Grigori Komendant
With the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union, the former Communist empire split into many independent countries. As a result, separate national unions of Evangelical Christians-Baptists were formed in each republic. Although these national unions already existed on paper, they now have become functional, independent conventions with their own national flavor and character, such as ethnic languages and culture, national history, and distinctive traditions. Not to include these national characteristics and distinctives in areas of evangelism, missions, and church life is now impossible.
The Apostle Paul recognized these distinctives in his spiritual ministry to people of different nationalities and diverse religious and social views. In his commitment to reaching all people with the message of the gospel, Paul declared, "to the Jews I became like a Jew....To those under the law I became like one under the law....To those not having the law I became like one not having the law....To the weak I became weak.... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (I Corinthians 9:20-22, NIV).
The Apostle Paul not only demonstrated a deep insight into the life and character of the peoples to whom he ministered, but he also identified with them almost to the point of becoming as one of them so that he could "win some." To attain this success, Paul pointed out another important aspect of missionary service--that is the need to subject oneself--"to make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible" (I Corinthians 9:19, NIV). It seems that this important quality in the Apostle Paul was what contributed to his unusually successful missionary activity throughout his lifetime.
And what about today? We can now honestly say that we have "a great, open door for the proclamation of the gospel." Our churches have waited a long time for this moment. Foreign missionaries, who also have waited for this moment, came rushing to us, it must be said, with many different agendas. It is necessary to report here that there have been negative as well as positive results. Unfortunately, in coming to us, many foreign workers have not considered identifying with us and becoming "as one of us." There are those who may look very much like us outwardly, even to the point of learning our language, but they have not been able to "subject" themselves, "to enslave themselves" for Christ's sake. They seem to have more success in "enslaving" others: some they entice with dollars, some they buy with humanitarian aid, and some they seduce with free-wheeling church services or a loose lifestyle.
But, praise God, there are those who came to us, sought out our churches and our brothers and sisters, and stayed to labor together with us as partners in the work of spreading the gospel message. To some degree, they too cannot become "as one of us," yet their lack of language ability or knowledge of our culture, history, and traditions have been beautifully overcome by their willingness to "subject self" to the Lord, His work, and to our Russian and Ukrainian fellowships. They labor not to plant American-style churches, but churches in the spirit and tradition of our fellowships and our people.
Observing their committed experience and humble dedication, our national workers were challenged and encouraged. As a result, many of our lay preachers were willing to trust the Lord, leave their secular jobs, and commit themselves to full-time Christian service. When they saw that American missionaries were willing to leave a comfortable life to win souls for Christ in Russia, many of our young people were deeply touched and responded to God's call with courage and faith.
What was an impossibility before under an atheistic government is now a reality. Missions and evangelism on a national scale are now possible. Our young people saw their responsibility and historic opportunity to reach their own people for Christ. And they are responding by the thousands. For the last three years, this army of evangelists and preachers has been planting more than 100 new churches per year in Ukraine alone. Our country has never seen anything like this in all its history. It is of utmost importance and urgency that we encourage and support this holy endeavor.
Our national missionaries, the brothers and sisters of our local churches, have many important advantages. The first is a knowledge of the language, something that the foreign missionary must spend years to learn. Secondly, they know the culture, traditions, character, and mentality of our people, their history, and peculiarities. Then, if we add to these advantages training in evangelism, church-planting, preaching, and discipling, the results of their ministry are most effective. Already, experience has shown that those of our workers who have received even short-term training through seminars and extension courses have won many people to Christ and started many new churches.
We have a great God! After years of prayer and expectation, He has opened the door for preaching and evangelizing our people! But the door was thrown open so quickly and so broadly that we were not prepared. So God graciously sent to us through these open doors many loving and dedicated workers from other lands. In an amazingly short time, God has also raised up an army of our own national workers.
Today, because of our desperate economic situation, we need Western churches and denominations to partner with us and help support the missionaries and church-planters that we are training together. A missionary family can be supported for as little as $185 a month, and this includes ministry expenses! This is a fraction of what it would cost to send us a foreign missionary. It may be some years before we will be able to support all our missionary candidates responding to God's call. We have no assurance of how long this door of opportunity will stay open and how much time we have to evangelize our nation.
Seventy years of persecution have produced a strong evangelical church that has been tested and tried by fire. We had been forced to depend greatly upon lay church leaders and preachers to survive. Now we need help in giving these experienced workers Bible-training and financial support. So we ask our brothers and sisters in the West--come and help us! We need "a few good men and women"--specialists in their field--to help train our eager workers who need ministry tools to do the job of evangelism.
We are deeply grateful for the support that we currently are receiving for our national workers and for the good training they are receiving in church-planting from Western specialists. We feel that the most effective and successful methods to quickly reach the peoples of the former Soviet Union for Christ are to plant new churches and open new fields. We call upon our sister churches around the world to join us in building up the church in the former Soviet Union, against which the gates of hell have not prevailed. 
Dr. Grigori Komendant is president of the Evangelical Christian-Baptist Union of Ukraine and the Euro-Asiatic Federation of Unions of Evangelical Christians-Baptists
Grigori Komendant, "Western Funding for National Workers: Certainly," East-West Church & Ministry Report, 4 (Winter 1996), 2, 4.
