Peter Mitskevich, president of the Russia Baptist Union, said in his first Lausanne Congress, "Churches always need each other."
Mitskevich took his first participation in the Lausanne gathering in Incheon, South Korea in late September. He sat around with Christians who could speak Russian from former Soviet Union countries. Though living in different contexts, they prayed for each other and tried to help in their ministries.
More than 220 countries were represented at the large gathering. He loved the conference where there were evangelicals who love the Lord and would like to spread the gospel in all areas of society.
"It's so good and comforting to meet brothers who are working in their countries with challenges and barriers, they are faithful to the course and brave to preach about Jesus Christ," he said.
Regarding the challenge for evangelicals in Russia, the largest country across 11 time zones, he stated that the need is the same as that in Jesus' time: pray for new workers whom God can send as the field is great. "Missionaries are still the biggest need, as there is not an evangelical church in every city," he added.
Mitskevich leads roughly 1,660 Baptist churches in Russia. In 1884, the first Russian Baptist Congress was held in St. Petersburg. In the middle of the 19th century, the Bible was translated into the understandable Russian language.
"After that, people started to read, and a revival happened in Russia," he said. "Evangelical Christians, including Baptists, started to plant churches and worship the Lord."
Also serving as the president of Moscow Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Christian-Baptists, Mitskevich introduced that founded in 1993, the seminary has trained more than one thousand students to study from all over Russia and outside, onsite and online.
He introduced that the seminary is a training base for church leaders in all their areas of the ministry, such as how to be more effective, how to understand and preach the Bible, and how to present the message about Jesus Christ to children. "This is great joy and a blessing for to do the seminary for the local churches around Russia and beyond," the president said.
The Russian Baptist Union runs several seminaries, including the St. Peterburg Christian University.
The vision for Russian Baptists is to plant the churches everywhere, he said, so that "every person in Russia will hear the good news of Jesus Christ and have the Bible in their hands."
Having never been to China, the country leaves a "mystery" impression on him as one of the biggest countries where billions of people live. He would like to have connections with seminaries and leaders who are doing church ministry in China, sending out invitations to Christians in China to visit Russia.
Citing Romans 12:11-12 to encourage Christians in China, he said, "Be courageous and faithful. Encourage and pray for each other, and continue to do the ministry. We will pray for you, and please pray for us as we are in similar contexts."
