Terry Harmon, my good friend and brother in Christ, has begun a new work with his family in Denver, Colorado. He has served more than 20 years in the mission fields of Russia and Ukraine, but in the last few years has been drawn back to the states where he worked as a pulpit minister. Just this year, however, Terry has returned to preach to the Russian speaking people, only this time on American soil. He and his family are involved in a work that specifically reaches out to the Russians living in Denver.
This article from Terry features a glimpse at the work that God is doing through him and his wife as they strive to serve the Lord and spread His word. Thanks to my brother and friend for his example of service and devotion as he shares THE story of salvation.
In the Russian language, like some others, there is no use of the articles ‘a,’ ‘an’ and ‘the.’ When you and I speak we find it necessary to specify an item as being general (a song we sang last week) or to be specific (the song we sang before the lesson). When the Russian speaks, they think about their sentences being specific or general, but their language doesn’t express it. As foreigners learn to speak English or enroll in an English class they take the time to discuss and explain the phraseology of the English sentences using these articles. Understanding the difference between ‘a’ or ‘an’ being non-specific while ‘the’ has a specific meaning is important to properly communicate with each other. Another example we might give is, “This is a dog” compared to “This is the dog.”
In all reality, this is what the ultimate goal is in teaching the difference about God’s Church to the Russian speaking people. It may be a bit of a surprise to Americans, but many Russians are very ‘religious,’ with some of them knowing the Bible quite well. They may be wondering why there is a need for another church. Our intent (the inner-city Russian ministry in Denver, Colorado) is to help people not to be part of a religious group, or to be associated with an organization that is following the Word of God in part, but to read the Scriptures and be completely convinced that we must be THE Church that we read about in the Bible. We must teach and preach how one becomes a Christian accurately, then how one is able to remain faithful, and finally how we must worship the Lord the way He intended.
It is critically important that all people (Russian & English speaking alike) understand that we do not get to decide how we want to worship Him. Rather, we have an obligation to respect and obey the ways God wants to be worshiped. No more and no less. While we can never be perfect, God’s Word is! And if we will simply read it and obey it, all people will respond as Peter did in John 6: 68, 69 “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (NAS) We long to share with the Russian people that they can be part of His church, the Church that Jesus died for and established (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:23). And just as Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos aside and taught him the way of the Lord more accurately (Acts 18:24-26), so we want to do the same, so that as many might be saved and have eternal life.
