Christ Presbyterian Church

Vladivostok, Russia

Many of our future CREC churches will have to be planted through a church planting pastor who gives up his present church to start a new one because his present church realistically cannot become Reformed without major conflict. Reflection Presbyterian Church is one of two ministries in the far east of Russia that, Lord willing could become more and more Reformed, and already is reforming.

History

Reflection of Christ Church is the outgrowth of a ministry that was started in early 1990’s by South Korean pastor Li. They own their own floor of a small three level building. (Property ownership in Russia is one of the key factors in planting a viable church.)

The pastor in training at our seminary is Yuri Levchenko. (See Biography of Yuri under Candidate Pastor section.) Above college that pastor Li taught at.

In 2009, pastor Li asked Yuri to become the head pastor after a transition period, and to combine Reflection with a small church that Yuri had planted. We counseled Yuri to take the co-pastorate because Pastor Li wanted the new combined church to become more biblical and Presbyterian and has given Yuri a free hand in that process.

Yuri has begun to baptize infants in the church, and to move the worship toward Psalm singing, and using the Apostles Creed and Nicean creed in worship.

Yuri has also begun to teach the fathers in the church that their children need to be in worship, and how to train their children to behave properly in worship. It is a work in progress as this is probably the only church in that region with lots of children in it that is moving in this direction so there is no support network for what they are doing except Yuri, and our movement.

Plan A and B

Yuri and the Eurasian elders advice to Yuri is to keep Reforming his church. At the same time, Pastor Li is hesitant to have his church join the CREC as it is associated with Korean Presbyterians from whom he gets support. (Again, these Korean Presbyterians he is associated with appear to practice no historic Presbyterian traditions such as having presbyters, elders, in the church.) We suggest an adopting North American church send a delegation to Vladivostok and get to know both pastor Li and pastor Yuri.

After or before this we suggest that the interested church invite both pastor Yuri and pastor Li to visit your church and presbytery meeting in the USA.

If in getting to know them both, and the church, pastor Li and the church remain resistant to joining the CREC, Yuri wants to be supported to start a CREC church in Vladivostok.

An adopting church needs to be sensitive to the fact that their involvement with a candidate pastor like Yuri can cost him his pastorate in his current church, so they need to be prepared to support him in starting a new church from the beginning of a tangible partnership with Yuri.