Dear Friends,

With the tensions rising once again in Ukraine’s Eastern Region, we are reminded that the kingdom of Jesus does not wage war with coercive, carnal weaponry. Our Creator comes inconspicuously, as a child, to an oppressed people, without an agenda to dominate, but to divest and serve humanity by taking on the form of a servant.

In our Spring Update, I hope you are encouraged by some of the ways our families and mission is engaging Slavic culture, creating Jesus culture, and taking on the form of our most glorious Servant King!

Thank you once again for your continued care and support 🙂

Bruce & Deb Crowe
Mir Ministries | Ukraine | Belarus | Russia

What do we do? Each month, we are posting Widows Care ministry stories from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Click here to visit our Widows Stories page for the most recent stories of redemption and love at work! Our Vision Our vision is to train and mobilize Slavic believers to join the Father’s heart in reaching desperate widows in need through monthly food packages, visitation, and soul care. Most of our ministry takes place in remote villages where the need is the greatest and many grandmothers have no family or outside help and rely on a government stipend of $50/mo or less.

80% of our ministry budget goes directly to material products for the widow, including food and medicine. We have a team of 3 part time staff, and a growing base of volunteers and partner Slavic churches. Once we train how to operate a food pantry and reach the widow, we encourage the local church to take up the ministry on their own, and slowly decrease dependencies on our program.

Present-Future

We are now focused on deepening the volunteer network through online prayer, and Lord willing resuming in person conferences for further mentoring and soul care resources. As a next phase, we hope to empower the healthier, younger widows with missional resources to create jobs, and participate in God’s missional heart too! We did this in Belarus last year when some widows were given funds to purchase material and sew winter clothing for local orphanges.

Serving Now

• 350 Widows
• 45 Volunteers
• 30 Villages
  • Belarus (14)
  • Ukraine (12)
  • Russia (3)

Our crowdfunding platform is designed to provide educational and technical resources for emerging Slavic believers to turn their business and ministry ideas into reality.

Culture Making

We believe that the only way to change culture is to make more of it!

Crowdfunding in the Russian and Ukrainian speaking world is still relatively new and is taking some time to both educate and train concepts of risk-taking, business plans and team development. However, we’re slowly growing and now providing services for the Baptist Union, the Assemblies of God, and Mission Eurasia.

Check out some of our active projects!

• Youth Bicycle Club (Lighthouse Team!)
• Kids Creativity & Innovation Week
• Driver’s License Aid for Domestically Abused
• Children with Disabilities Drama Program
• Ukrainian Cancer Institute (Counseling Pilot)

Please allow me to highlight our own Lighthouse Ukraine team’s summer project: Youth Bike Club!

I’m so proud of them. They dreamed up the idea to take our youth on area bike rides and have produced all the fundraising content themselves. They’ve already started this and been borrowing our own kids’ bikes, but they would like to go too!

Most of our students are very poor and don’t own a bike, and some have never ridden one. This mission is simple.. to take groups of youth on weekend rides, sharing lunch and the love of Christ. But first, they need a few bikes and safety equipment! You can view this project and the details of their $1,500 goal here on our RazomGO site – (Click Here)

If you’d like to try to give through our RazomGo Website please do, we need some testers from the US! If you’d prefer to give through our Mir Site (Click here), that works too!

So we have more exciting news! Through a series of interesting events, we are hosting our cities first running race – we’re calling it “Life Givers Marathon” (logo above, by Tucker our son!).  It will take place on Sunday, June 6, 2021.

We’ve met with local officials, and also hosted our first regional meeting among some running reps, marketing minds and had a wonderful time dreaming up and planning together!

We’ll be promoting local at-risk families, and raising support for a few local families with disabilities. More soon!

The following untranslated and unpolished testimony is from Aliona. I asked her to share how God worked in her life over the 90 day bible project and our Zoom meetings:

Three months of immersion in my soul and looking to God had a miraculous effect on me. It was as if I looked at my life and what and who surrounds me. I felt incredible joy from what I have in my life. And also I felt the comfort and strength that I have long tried to find in my heart. I felt a constant and uninterrupted love.

The most impressive thing is that even when it was hard and painful for me, and when I didn’t want to notice it – God was always and is with me, He did not disappear anywhere, but was always near. This thought gives me extraordinary strength and inspiration. I read the New Testament for the first time and I was so impressed by the simplicity and at the same time the depth of its content. I looked from the other side at the church as a social structure in our country and began to review my life in parts.

The weekly meetings added inspiration for the development of spirituality and the study of life. The atmosphere that prevailed at the meetings was filled with trust and love. It was nice to feel united with the whole world, because the participants were in different parts of our planet. I enjoyed discussing interesting topics about leadership, development, the spiritual path of each of the participants, as well as common prayers. I plan to continue studying the Bible and start reading the Old Testament. And also, I continue and try to put into my life the things that are said in the Bible. And easierly, I try to love more.

Thank you for these wonderful days together!  ~ Aliona

Prayer For:
– Eastern Ukraine, tensions and peace!
– Belarus and opportunities despite opposition.
– Widows staff, volunteers, and the widows!
– Funds for Bike Club, Marathon Event.
– Lighthouse challenges with Covid, currently in lockdown again.
– Bruce’s continued improved health.. 75% there!

I am learning that the Eastern Christian faith approaches its worship, theology and preservation of the Apostolic faith from a particular perspective that differentiates itself from their Western counterpart. I have categorized some of these varying perspectives, in typical Aristotilian fashion! 

1. Orthodox Definitions 

To understand the role and interplay of worship, theology and Apostolic tradition in the Orthodox faith, I’m learning that definitions are very important. The term orthodox, for example, is an important starting point. “In Eastern Christianity, orthodox is used for that which gives proper glory to God” (Payton 2007, Loc. 636). To give proper glory to God is to remain true to the practices handed down through Apostolic tradition. In the West, the term orthodoxy usually connotes doctrinal precision (Loc. 635). 

2. True Theology is True Worship

In the West, worship often pertains to the originating personal, or corporate act of exalting or declaring worth to God. However, in the Orthodox tradition, “the way of worship is the way of belief” (Orandi, Week 1, Video 1.2). One important distinction is that for the orthodox, thinking and feeling, or the head and heart, are not mutually exclusive categories as found predominantly in the West. Having bypassed the trappings of scholasticism, the enlightenment, the reformation, and other uniquely Western cultural experiences, the Orthodox Church has had little issue approaching worship as theology, and theology as worship. This means that when an Eastern believer approaches worship, it doesn’t segregate intellectual understanding with experiencing truth because, “True theology must be integrated with praise and contemplation” (Tibbs, Week 1, Video 1.1). Worship and Theology are therefore two sides of the same coin. 

Worship for the Orthodox embodies theologia, which cannot be taught, but “comes from an encounter with God” (Tibbs). Unlike in the West, where cognitive knowledge of a subject might substitute for a relational or experiential knowledge, “Orthodoxy manifests a deep desire to know God, but in the biblical sense of what it means to know someone” (Payton 2007, Loc. 664). This pursuit of holistic knowledge, with both head and heart simultaneously engaged at all times, has shaped the Orthodox faith through the ages in its worship and theology. 

While the western Christian understands theology in general as a set of knowable, and important truths about God, the Orthodox believe, “the christian tradition is not an abstract message, but a practice. It is not a body of doctrine that can be taught, but a way of life” (Louth). “True theology is really true worship” (Tibbs, Week 1, Video 1.2). For the Orthodox, there is no separation of head and heart. What someone practices is a reflection of the beliefs they hold. “Show me your worship and I will understand what you believe” (Tibbs, Week 1, Video 1.2). This demotion of intellectual trust in the DNA of Orthodox Christianity sets itself against the Western elevation of human capacity to fully understand and know something, or someone. “The emphasis for Eastern Christianity is not on explanation but on mystery-on adoration of truth rather than its clarification.” (Payton 2007, Loc. 751). 

3. Meditation over Intellection 

While the West elevates intellectual knowledge as an essential factor in the Church’s capacity to know God, the Eastern Christian doesn’t fully discount intellection, but reframes it as only part of the human experience. “Orthodox theology values the intellect, for intellectual capacity is a gift from God, but it seeks to go beyond concepts toward the mystical reality that cannot be enclosed in the sphere of human thought” (Tibbs, Eastern Orthodoxy PDF).  For eastern believers, the foundation of a relationship with God “was not the product of intellectual mastery of appropriate revelatory data” (Payton, Loc 314). 

One of the reasons the Orthodox hold a lesser place for intellectual theological primacy in the Christian faith, is their “distrust in the capacities of mere human reason to understand the most profound truth” (Payton 2007, Loc 296). Unlike the west’s affinity for Aristotelian neo-platonic categories and their “fixation on definitions and static categories of analysis” (Loc. 324), the Byantian Christians “commonly affirmed that the part of the theologian was to pray, not to explain” (Loc. 301). Because Eastern faith was “nurtured in meditation rather than intellection” (Loc. 312), the leadership of the Church itself was given not to building upon systems of thought, but a life spent in faithful communion with God, “speaking out of the richness of his experienced grace and mercy; not the result of a process of academic instruction” (Loc. 314). Because of the limitations and distrust of human intellect in general, the Orthodox view talking about God as a “hazardous enterprise” (Loc. 655) and believe that “human language cannot transcend its created capacities” (Loc. 660). For this reason, “Orthodox emphasis falls not on speech about but on silence before God and his revelation” (Loc. 675).  

While Orthodox believers “confess the truth” handed down through Holy Scripture and Tradition, they “do not attempt to explain it’ (Loc. 751). Through the divine liturgy, the emphasis for Eastern Christianity “is not on explanation but on mystery-on adoration of truth rather than its clarification” (Loc. 751).  Through ecclesial worship, the believer moves beyond intellection as they participate in the Trinity’s inner life, “toward the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit” (Bobrinksoy 1999, 148). “Ecclesial worship is equally trinitarian in its content as in its dynamic” (p. 148), in this way we can see why mystery is embraced far and above the western comforts of limited intellection. 

4. Apostolic Heritage

Western Protestants in particular claim apostolic heritage through adhering to doctrinal claims and creeds, but the Orthodox find their apostilic heritage not just in doctrine, but in the succession of practiced tradition. Through the tradition of the liturgy, the Orthodox Church “serves to protect the apostolic heritage, not to prepare for future doctrinal developments arising from it” (Payton 2007, 756). This tradition is not focused on sanctioned academic study or beliefs as much as “a life given to meditation and contemplation” (678). 

The Orthodox believe that the nature of the Church is like Christ, who was both visible and invisible, temporary and eternal, and in its continuing physical existence on earth by God’s providence it continues a “historical and unbroken connection” (Tibbs, Week 2, Video 2.1) with the apostolic church. This means that being in Christ is both mystical and integrative, accomplished through the sacramental life of the church (Tibbs, Eastern Orthodoxy PDF). 

The Orthodox hold that the ecumenical councils are infallible, up to the council of Nicea II, 767 AD.  Participating in the seven sacraments (Hagia Mysteria) which include baptism, holy orders, matrimony, chrismation, reconciliation, Holy Eucharist and unction enable the believers to participate in Christ’s deified human nature (Tibbs, Eastern Orthodoxy PDF). 

Christian Orthodox communities have continued through the ages, often within averse dominant cultures, for centuries, preserving the sacraments. The Orthodox Church believes God has ordained this ongoing succession through the infallible Church which is governed “through the bishop, and the presbyters, and the deacons, who have been appointed by the will of God the Father” (Ignatious, Epistle to the Philladelphians). The Orthodox faith claims not only historical rights through a preserved and practiced tradition, but a prophetic one as well as it shares forward the message of the gospel for creation. “Eastern Christianity offers a ringing affirmation of what that message is – namely, the apostolic message enshrined in the ancient creeds of the church, celebrated in the liturgy, defended in the tradition and proclaimed in the preaching” (Payton 2007, 49). 

Pointing to early church fathers such as St. Basil the Great, the Orthodox Church claims that the traditions practiced today are none other than directly inherited Apostilic practices. Payton describes the Orthodox relationship with tradition as both “process and package” (194). To put it another way, “the church’s worship serves as the living framework for understanding Scripture” (202). As the process, the Church in its traditions, which have no intrinsic life in themselves, provide the context for the invisible Church to become visible, where heaven indeed touches earth and material conjoins immaterial. The package, being the presence of the Triune God, through the Spirit’s indwelling through the various sacraments. In this way, “Scripture and tradition work together to preserve, shape and transmit the apostolic message” (Payton 2007, Loc. 199) as “the Church interprets Scripture by way of tradition” (Loc. 202). 

Summary

The Orthodox Church synthesizes worship as theology, and theology as worship with an emphasis on experiencing God’s indwelling through the received traditions of the Apostles. In this way, the Orthodox Church lives up to its name, bringing proper glory to God. Scripture is a product of the Church’s tradition. “Tradition allows the faithful of the past to speak to the contemporary church and, through it, to the world in every generation” (Loc. 203). 

References: 

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians- PDF LINK

Payton, James R. 2007. Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition. IVP.  Kindle & Hard Copy Editions 

Tibbs – Fuller Seminary ST557 Videos and Lectures, PDF. 

Bobrinskoy, Boris. 1999. The Mystery of the Trinity: Trinitarian Experience and Vision in the Biblical and Patristic Traditions. Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Press.

We just finished our 10th Sunday Zoom this past weekend. We had around 30 regulars attend our pilot program over the 10 weeks. The Zooms were a mixture of mentoring material, guest speakers, and theological (missional) themes sprinkled in each week. Guests, ranged from several countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, US, Canada, New Zealand, Poland, Lithuania, and even Ethiopia!

As we journeyed together, it became clear that the uniting cultural ‘glue’ that kept everyone coming back, was a hunger for genuine, vulnerable space to process together what the Spirit is doing in each of our lives, and learn from one another. There was a growing trust emerging from the time together, no arguing, but respect, fellow sojourners simply wanting to learn and grow in their faith. So refreshing!

As the dust settles on this little exploratory project, I wanted to jot down the things still fresh in my mind. We finished our final Zoom with a unique and meaningful moment where we each were able to reflect and share what had been a blessing over the past 10 weeks, and our individual hopes moving forward, if any.

So, here’s what I learned:

1. Most from our group, though coming from a variety of church backgrounds, are currently going through significant transitions. The world is reshaping, and what it means to be ‘be’ the church in our day is definitely causing many to rethink, and re-calibrate their faith journey. Specifically, most of our group is in process, or has already left local church structures in search for something more engaging with others and the world God loves. This is a global trend, the Christendom structures are no longer relevant in a post-Christendom, post-modern world. This is exciting, unless you are clinging to old structures and believing them to be timeless reflections or your faith is unhealthily synthesized to certain cultural religious models.
   
2. Spiritual formation is a genuine longing in each of our hearts that transcends language, culture, age, and gender. We’re all longing to be growing, surrendering into deeper forms of faith, and the mystery of relationship with God and our fellow humanity. When we each see Jesus, there’s a cross-cultural hunger to be formed into His image of love.
   
3. Safety is a lacking ingredient in many religious and public spheres. Having an opinion, or raising certain questions in our current world is a risky endeavor. This secular humanistic and now dominant culture in the west is not loving, it’s self-righteous, unforgiving and mean. Being ‘right’ instead of being ‘kind’ dominates so much of the worldly spheres, including religion. Having a space where believers are accepted in their weakness, allowed to be wrong, is a genuine hunger among our group. Where there’s safe space, learning takes place. To put it another way, where there’s laughing, there’s learning. To be a true ‘disciple’ is an ongoing process right? That means unlearning in many cases, as we re-learn forward. Safe space in dialogue, a unifying hunger of our group.
   
4. God is so surprising. I had a certain trajectory in mind for these zooms, and I began to feel a little discouraged when things didn’t line up with my vision. This became a blessing in disguise however as the Lord brought in several friends and connected hearts in some really cool ways. The networking for mission, and areas of interest has begun and I’m really blessed to think of the ways the Spirit is moving in some new relationships that were sparked by the Zoom meetings. Sometimes we are asked simply to do our part, and entrust the rest to God.
   
5. You can do multi-language, simultaneous online meetings, but it’s not easy! It was really cool to merge several cultures, but it does have its limitations. Everyone loved the interactive small groups, but could only do those in their own language, thus prohibiting deeper connections cross-culturally. Also, the spiritual practices of listening, and various lectio divina/imago practices had to be done, because Deborah was the only one familiar with leading them, in english with translation which isn’t optimum.

As a group, there’s a bond definitely formed, and forming. It became obvious that everyone was keen to continue meeting, but just how that will look and when, is something we are taking to prayer this week. We’ve discussed for example hosting specific Zoom’s, like for spiritual listening only, or innovation and startup discussions, so that those truly inspired or interested by certain themes can connect and go deeper in learning together. I hold this all loosely, the Lord will have to provide some more facilitators as it was a lot of work, and I’m about to dive into two more courses at Fuller, finishing my degree this summer!

I believe God will, and we’ll continue to explore our way forward as a little tribe of international Jesus followers, on mission inside His, from every tribe, tongue and nation! We invite you to join us. We won’t be promoting the events and meetings as we have on social media however, you’ll have to join our Whatsapp Group to learn what’s coming down the pipe.

Click Here to join!

Nothing will ever replace in-person, face-to-face interaction. We love our local missional community, God’s people will forever gather in local spaces. The global church, however, is reshaping to meet a new global reality. It’s a joy to explore the leading of the Spirit together and break out of old patterns from an old world. To live is to adapt.

As part of a little study this week with my cohort, we were each assigned some passages and symbols in John’s Revelation to study historically and culturally. I reviewed the dragon, serpent in eagle’s wings. A short commentary below, on the conclusion of an incredible course at Fuller on the New Testament for which I will be forever grateful. The lamb that what slain, rules over all the kingdoms of this earth! Completely new perspective on what was an extremely, mysterious final book in the canon. So much more to learn!

The red dragon (12:3) who is made synonymous with the serpent (12:9) is revealed to be Satan. Set against the good in this cosmic battle, these evil archetypes “are found in virtually every ancient religion, such as Egyptian red dragon Set, Ugartitic serpent Leviathan, and Graeco-Roman dragon Python” (Osborne 2002, loc 3250). John’s use of the pagan symbols “is an astonishing example of communicating the Christian faith through an internationally known symbol” (The New Century Bible Commentary, 192). By revealing the dragon and serpent are in fact Satan from the Old Testament, John is synthesizing the Jewish creation story. “By using this vehicle of expression John has at a stroke claimed the fulfillment of pagan hope and Old Testament promise in the Christ of the Gospel” (Aune 1998, 196). 

Regarding the Eagle’s wings which were given to the woman (12:14), this seems to reference the active protection and delivering work of God over Israel, particularly alluding to the Exodus. Jewish readers would easily recognize the eagles’ wings as God’s protection in connection with the provision of a wilderness (Ex 19:4, Dt 1:31, 32:11-12). “The faithful are told they will soar on wings like eagles” (Osborne 2002, loc 3502). Like the serpent and dragon however, the pagan world would be familiar with the concept of a woman-bird creature, known as a Harpy in Greek literature. 

Using the language of serpent, dragon, and eagles’ wings, we see the author appealing to both pagan and Jewish history. In this way, “the symbols do not conceal; they reveal” (Achtemeire 2001, 561) and would be contextually understood meanings within the overall ancient cosmic battle myth.

This past week I learned that selected imagery in Revelation is rooted in either Old Testament or pagan world stories, and in some cases both simultaneously! Because of this, much more emphasis for a modern reader should be placed on becoming familiar with what the original reader would recognize by default. Revelation is intended to be a consoling book for believers under the persecution and oppression under Rome during AD 60-80AD. John roots the reader in the present struggles with what is reverberating through the unseen principalities and powers. The “power political, social and economic forces” (Achtemeire 2001, 586) aren’t taking place in a vacuum. The colorful allegories and metaphors, warnings and instructions work together “wake up its readers” (587) both in John’s day, but also believers throughout history, reminding us that though the ongoing battle may results in temporary suffering in this life, the Lamb is ultimately victorious, and we may trust fully in Him who sits on the throne!

References

Aune, David E. 1998. Revelation 6-16. Grand Rapids: Zondervan 
Osborne, Grant. Revelation. BECNT. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.