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History
of the
Church of the Nazarene in Russia
Brief History
of the CIS
Russia is one of 12 countries referred to as the Commonwealth
of Independent States - countries that were
once under the rule of the former Soviet Union. These
nations represent a wide variety of landscape, climate,
inhabited by at least 60 ethnic people groups, as well
as a diversity of religions, from atheism to Islam and
even to various tribal religions. The Church of the
Nazarene has been able to start work in several of the
former Soviet republics, including Russia, Ukraine,
Kazakhstan, and Armenia since 1991 when the Soviet Union
collapsed.
Brief History of the Russia
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. While some progress has been made on the economic front, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and an erosion in nascent democratic institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya. (Source: The World Factbook)
History of the Church of the Nazarene in Russia
Russia North District Chuck and Carla Sunberg and their two daughters arrived in Moscow in 1992 to begin leading the establishment and growth of the Church of the Nazarene in the former Soviet Union. They served in this capacity until 2005. Nazarenes in the CIS and around the world are indebted to the Sunbergs for their faithful service to our God.
Moscow is a city of 9,000,000 (closer to 12,000,000 with the influx of workers from around the former Soviet Union), which has inspired awe and mystery in the minds of Europeans and Americans for hundreds of years. The bustling, brightly lit Moscow of today is a far cry from the drab and dispirited city the Sunbergs first saw in 1992.
Russia South District Lonnie and Connie Norris and their children came to Volgograd, Russia in August of 1993 as Nazarenes in Volunteer Service and were commissioned as missionaries in 1995. They were used mightily of the Lord in the establishment and growth of the Church of the Nazarene in this area.
Volgograd is a city of more than 1,000,000 which stretches for over 40 miles along the west bank of the mighty Volga River. The city was the site of one of the key battles of World War II, in which Soviet troops surrounded and captured the besieging German army, and began a long victorious march across Russia and Ukraine, and eventually to Berlin.
Churches
in Russia >>
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