On March 29-31, 2019, there was the Third Congress of Slavic Youth of North America in Minnesota with a theme of “More Prayer, More Power!” This theme was expounded in the sermons of youth leaders of the association: Anton Babarykin, Oleg Artemov, Ivan Volosyuk, Oleg Trukhlinskiy, and others. The chairmen of the Slavic associations of America also participated in preaching: Vladimir Sharikov, Andrey Chumakin, Nicolay Gorobinskiy, and Ivan Mileyev. I had the privilege of speaking on: “How does God Answer”. While I was preparing this sermon, I was so gripped by the breadth and depth of this theme that it was difficult to fit the content under the restraints of time.
I really appreciated the choir performances with the accompaniment of symphony orchestras. Because of their variety of performance, the special masterpieces of wind instruments made an impression on me. Over the previous 10 years the churches of the Slavic Alliance both invested and guided the next generation, and encouraged them to learn to play on various musical instruments. Because of that investment, there were many opportunities for the churches to form their own church symphonies, which in turn allowed the possibility of not only the joint choir of youth, but also the unified performance of the symphonic orchestra during the congress. Seeing so many young people, participating in the joint choir (600-700 people), as well as the joint symphonic and wind orchestras during the concluding service that took place at Excel Energy Center at Saint Paul, I was rejoicing over the fact that the leadership of many Slavic churches did not fall to the cultural pressures of the times and decided on the more difficult but in the end, more rewarding musical training of the youth in the churches. This dedication bore their own fruit. It is not surprising that the congress performers were not allowed to use phonogram. Due to such an abundance of musicians on stage, there was no use for phonograms.
In terms of the spiritual program of the congress, there were themes such as: “Meaning of Prayer”, “Direction of Prayer”, “Genuine Prayer”, “Content of Prayer”, “Goal of Prayer”, “Essence of Prayer”, “Power of Prayer), and more. All of the preachers emphasized the necessity of prayer in the life of a Christian in order to have a spiritual growth, and victory over sin in the pursuit of the Lord. A well-prepared sermon of Pete Tkachuk from Bryte Church left a lasting impression. He spoke on the theme of “Goal of Prayer”.
The Holy Spirit acted and moved the youth to come forward in the prayer of repentance. Even during the first day of the congress, after a vivid performance of a youth program from WA State (In English), some people didn’t even wait for the call and the concluding sermon but came forth in repentance. Because of the lack of time, the last sermon had to be cancelled and the music program had to be shortened. God Himself brought adjustments to the program through His acts! Praise God!
Over the course of the congress about 600 people repented. There were prayers of not only repentance, but also of rededication to following God which sounded in Russian, Ukrainian, and English languages. God hears the language of the heart and the groans of repentance in any language and responds in renewing, forgiving, and restoring people to live for Him. That was the greatest result of the congress. High expenses in organization and preparation of such a huge event would have been worth it even if there was repentance of one sinner! Praise God for His work.
Konstantin Andreyevskiy did a great job in organizing the congress. Thanks to the many volunteers on so many levels of service during the congress over the course of three days I was reminded of the work of a well-oiled mechanism where each part was performing their unique role. Clearly, the experience of the previous congresses was useful in implementing improvements.
The youth from many states of the U.S. came for this congress with over four thousand people registering.
Having regular congresses of Slavic youth became “a movement” in its own right where the Christian youth continues to cherish their heritage and appreciation of ethnic roots of the last wave of immigration from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independents States (CIS). They have not lost their uniqueness and were not absorbed into the mold of the American life. The idea of the “melting pot” is outdated and was replaced by the new “multicultural” concept. We are faced with diversity every day. These representatives of the second generation of immigrants value their uniqueness and roots, as well as belonging to the “family” which is identified by the variety of cultures and the ability to speak not only in English, but also the language of their parents. Even though these young men and women did not have a lot of time, but they spent their free time to get to know each other. I believe that this time was instrumental in the forming of future Christian families where they will pass on not so much the traditions, but the knowledge of the living God.
In the concluding sermon of the last service of the congress, which was attended by about 6,000 people, the chairman of the Alliance of Slavic Churches of South America, Aleksandr Sipko, preached the sermon after which “the last call” to come forward was made. These young men and women continued to call upon the name of the Lord who is able to forgive, revive, restore, and give the power to live a victorious life of ministry to the resurrected Lord.
I had the privilege to pray with many of them. I listened to their individual prayers, saw their enlightened eyes full of joy of forgiveness. I was a witness of a special celebration of God’s presence in His moving, His continual work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of many of those who are humbled and contrite of heart who are ready to respond to God’s call!
The disciples going to the road to Emmaus recalled the feeling of speaking with the resurrected Lord and said: “Were our hearts not burning?”. May the experience of “the burning hearts” and His special presence remain in the memory of many participants of the congress!
Ivan Mileyev
Video recordings of the Congress are accessible on the YouTube channel – see the links below.
Please click on the first thumbnail to see pictures of bigger size in slide show format
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