Psalm: 57:9-11
I will give thanks to Thee, O lord among the peoples; I will sing praises to Thee among the Nations For Thy lovingkindness is great to the Heavens, And Thy truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Thy glory be above all the earth.
To connect means to join, to fasten together. And that is exactly what God has done with my life, connecting and weaving the strands of my faith, my past alcoholism and my Russian heritage into my work with the Biblical Literacy, Inc in Russia.
In some ways this story begins with Faith at Work. In 1978, I attended a Faith at Work Conference at St. Simon's Island while I was still wading through the smoldering stench of my past alcoholism, and God spoke to me. Thanks to the small group process, the kindness of listeners, and the urging of one of the group leaders who persuaded me to give testimony, at that time and for that time, I received empowerment. I was still a long way from Russia but it was coming around the corner.
Stories for Children
Although I was born and raised in Los Angeles, my roots are Russian. My father was born in the city of Kars, Armenia (now in Turkey) and my mother was born in the small village of Guadalupe, Baja, Mexico. Their parents came from the Caucasus region of Armenia and were part of a religious sect called "Molokans" or "milk drinkers". In the early 1800s, the sect opposed the Russian Orthodox Church's abuses and were marched off from the area of Tambov, Russia, to Armenia. Shortly before the third genocide of Armenians by the Turks in 1915, most of the Molokans left for America and settled in the Los Angeles area. Others received a land grant from the Mexican government and settled in Guadalupe Valley in Lower California.
Some 75 years later, this heritage seemed as much a part of my past as my alcoholism. But God had other ideas. In 1990, the late Dr. Roger N. Carstensen, President of the Mission for Biblical Literacy, asked if I would be interested in going with him on a missions tour to Siberia the following October. He wanted me to tell Bible stories to Russian children. Although I had spoken the Russian language as a child and needed tutoring to brush up my language ability, I accepted his call as a challenge.
Nineteen of us made this first trip to Siberia. We traveled on Aeroflot,
stayed in the government Intourist hotels, and had a three-day journey on the
Siberian railway. In all, we visited four struggling congregations and shared
our witness with Russian believers. Our position was always the same: We are not
here to tell you what to do! We are here to ask, "How can we help you?"
At that time, congregations were badly in need of Sunday school curriculum especially for children. Dr. Carstensen had already worked a long time writing curriculum. In Irkutsk, site of the famous Lake Baikal, he asked for a translator to go with him into the city. Locating a Canon copier dealer, he arranged to purchase a copier, gave it to the church with plenty of paper and toner, and provided a manuscript that he had written for Sunday school lessons. There was one "catch": the material and copier were free but the church had to share the manuscript with other churches in the area!
Welcome Home
But these were not the only connections that God was creating. On that first tour, we stopped in Omsk. In the church there, I not only shared my witness, but my experience growing up in the Molokan church. I recalled that, as a little boy, I was placed on a small bench that served as a pew where I stood so that I could be at arms length for passing believers who came by, picked me up, and kissed me (the Holy kiss). It wasn't too bad when women kissed me but it was the men that turned me off. Why? Because they wore beards as a religious custom and it was not so much that they had a beard that turned me off, but that occasionally I would see strands of soup that was caught in the beard as they held me close. Ugh!
I told this story in that Baptist church and, to my great surprise, at the
end of the service about 12 men (some bearded) suddenly came forward through the
crowd. Before I knew it, they embraced with a bear hug and planted a kiss right
on my lips (customary male behavior in Russia)! These were some old Molokans who
were giving me a Molokan welcome right on the smacker! Yes, I was at home!
Shortly after that trip, Dr. Carstensen asked me to become a liaison to Russia. My job was to plan and coordinate mission trips to Russia, to introduce American Christians to the conditions in Russia, and to muster up support. After about three years, however, it seemed that interest in Russia waned. When I planned several trips and had people back out, I became very discouraged. I now wanted to resign and stay home. My wife, Margot, is afflicted with Cerebellum Ataxia -- a neurological disorder that resembles MS, but is a much more severe illness for which there is no known treatment. I am her primary care giver. Margot had always given her blessing to my travel, but the time came when I took what I considered to be my last trip to Russia as a volunteer Missionary from the Mission for Biblical Literacy. But God apparently had other ideas, including a new ministry and new connections.
AA in Russia
Of course I did not know that at the time. But during my "last" tour I was introduced to a woman named Natalia Branskaya. Natalia was the head of Women's work in the extensive Moscow Baptist Region. She had heard that I had been involved in the treatment of alcoholics and drug addicts in Savannah, Georgia, where I live. Although Dr. Carstensen was scheduled to deliver Bible lessons to about 30 women the following day, Natasha wanted me to provide an hour of orientation to the women who were struggling with addicted husbands and other family members. Dr. Carstensen ceded his time slot, and I gave some basic instruction on substance abuse. After the session, I provided personal counseling to three women desperately crying for help.
That was the beginning. Natasha invited me to return in the fall and I conducted a similar session at that time. Not long afterwards, I was joined by another woman who was familiar with Al-Anon and who would meet with the women to provide instruction on how to set up a self-help group.
Since then, we have been to three cities in Siberia and the Russian Far East to conduct seminars for not only groups of women, but also church leaders and missionaries who were in the field and encountering families and individuals with chemical dependency problems. In western Russia we have conducted at least nine seminars in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas. A psychologist, a Russian woman, also joined our team and we provided our seminars to interested churches.
All of these seminars followed the same pattern. I would provide Bible-based teaching on Substance Abuse prevention and instruction on beginning 12-step groups in the church or in the community; Galina would lecture and demonstrate a Family Systems Approach to Wholeness, and Nina would help those who wanted to start a 12-step self help group for families of the dependent person.
Making Connections
As you see, our God is definitely a God of connections. Working in Russia as a volunteer missionary provided a wonderful way for me to continue a meaningful faith ministry, witnessing what God had done in my own life and sharing with others that God can do that much and more in someone else's life through faith in Jesus Christ.
But those connections continue to spread far beyond my personal story. Today,
our Mission for Biblical Literacy in Moscow, known as the Center for Biblical
Literacy, is legally registered with the Russian government. Our primary study
material, People, Passages and Places, has been used extensively to train church
leaders. When the manual was revised and reprinted in 1998, the Bible League of
Russia purchased half of the available copies (about 1500) to train their
missionaries. Shortly afterwards, Rev. Vagan Frankyan in Erevan, Armenia offered
to translate the manual into Armenian free of charge if MBL would cover the cost
of printing. It was done and some 3000 copies later, the bin is empty and the
demand is for more. To bring this story full circle, I am happy to report that
people in the FAW network have also contributed to this work because of our
common heritage with Alcoholics Anonymous.
John M. Novikoff is the Sr. Project Minister for Russia/Armenia Mission for Biblical Literacy, Inc. John and Margot have been regular participants in the SouthEastern FAW Conference at St Simons Island GA.