Young brother Bruce Ruotsala and I stood quietly together under the star filled Udmurtian night sky just outside the doors of the remote village church where we and our group had been given places to sleep. What drew us out and held us there in the deepening darkness was the most exotic liturgy of bird song that I have ever heard. Often I am asked by Russians if the Canadian landscape is very much different than the Russian one. I answer that our landscapes are very similar and that sometimes it’s difficult to see any difference at all. I tell them that what really reminds me that I am in a foreign country is not the landscape, but the songs of the birds.
One of the myriad lessons that foreign mission work teaches us is that we are not exclusive, that God is much bigger than the personal boxes we tend to place him in. Too often missionaries have stepped into foreign lands with the idea of conforming culture rather than working in that culture to present the gospel in ways that the local inhabitants can empathize with and grow thereby. There is a very good reason Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 that “I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.”
Encapsulated in this vast landscape of Russia are many cultures, and though in this modern age of global communication the cultural differences between us are perhaps lessening, there is still great need to present the unchanging gospel in a way that each person and people may grasp.
I hope that each of you who are able will continue to remember brothers Dennis Hilman, Bruce Ruotsala and I as we travel here in Russia for two more weeks. Pray the Lord of the Harvest that He will grant us His Spirit of wisdom and love and that we would recognize always that we are in a foreign land and that the songs are different here, and that we need to continually be sensitive to them.
In His love always,
Gregory
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