The challenges of ministering
to a small river town

Photo: The alcoholism that has stricken this elderly Siberian woman is a major social problem in places like Bor
n The alcoholism that has stricken this elderly Siberian woman is a major social problem in places like Bor.
BOR, Krasnoyarsk Region — At the very heart of the Russian Federation, about 600 km (375 miles) north of Siberia’s second-largest city – Krasnoyarsk – lies the isolated town of Bor. Its 2,500 inhabitants rely heavily on fishing and hunting, and on the Yenisei River, which provides the only reliable access to the outside world, particularly during the long winter when roads often become impassable.

Although Bor has Baptist and Orthodox churches and a Pentecostal church, most of its inhabitants are not interested in religion. In fact, the remote river town is about as ‘unchurched’ as any you will find anywhere – a situation the Siberian Branch of the Bible Society in Russia (BSR) is trying to help change.
 n One of Bor’s main streets

Gratitude

Two years ago, Siberian Branch Director Alexei Bulatov made the first deliveries of Opportunity 21 (O-21) Scriptures to this community as part of the To the Ends of the Earth project, and on a recent follow-up visit was greeted with much gratitude by Pastor Vladimar Kolmakov and his small congregation of Pentecostal Christians. Mr Kolmakov said that the Scriptures had helped believers in their personal worship as well as in outreach among other townsfolk, and that the Faith Comes By Hearing New Testament audio cassettes had been particularly popular.

Outreach

But Mr Kolmakov says that outreach has been an ongoing challenge for his church, which is supported by the Siberian Christian Mission of Mercy.

“When we first started, we went directly to people and talked to them about God but that did not work very well,” he explains. “Now we are trying to witness through our lifestyle of service to God and to other people. Interest in the Scriptures is coming from that – in such a small town, everyone knows each other and I am praying that more people will come to the church.”

And the need for the Word of God among the people of Bor is great. Like many isolated towns and villages in Siberia, alcoholism is a major problem here, and delivery from its clutches is one of the signs most often cited when a person becomes a Christian.

But alcoholism is not the only obstacle stopping the people of Bor from being open to the Gospel.

“One of the reasons few come to this church is because they understand they will have to stop doing certain things – like illegal fishing,” Mr Kolmakov points out. “It is very common here because a lot of people make their living doing it.

“To accept their responsibility before God, they have to stop breaking the law. It is difficult to assure them that when they are in the church and among Christians it will be easy for them to stop these illegal activities. But those who do find out it is true.”

Complex

The issue of illegal fishing is complex. To prevent overfishing in the Yenisei, the government has limited the number of fishing licences it issues, but Bor has traditionally been a fishing village and many people are afraid they will go hungry during the long Siberian winter if they do not gather in enough fish.

Svetlana Silkina, a member of Mr Kolmakov’s church, explains:

“My husband asks me, ‘What will you eat? How can I provide for my family if I cannot fish?’ And there is some truth to that, because there are not good conditions for cattle or other animals here, so almost all of our dishes are made of fish. Even our meatballs are fishballs!”

Nevertheless, illegal fishing is not acceptable when a person becomes a member of Mr Kolmakov’s church. He hopes that the example set by the church will eventually draw more people to Christ. And progress has been made. When Mr Kolmakov first arrived in 1999, there was only one follower of his denomination in the area. Today, about a dozen people attend the almost daily services, and more come at Christmas and Easter.

Thriving

Growth among the Orthodox is more difficult to measure but a new church under construction along one of the town’s main streets indicates a thriving community of faith. The Bible Society distributes Scriptures to all local Orthodox congregations through the church hierarchy, so the Bor Orthodox church, like the Baptist and Pentecostal churches, is also being served through the To the Ends of the Earth project. (SR 28/3 -2.02) [PHOTOS].