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Please meet Light to the World church

Light to the World church is situated in Tyumen, Siberia and serves an area of approximately the size of Texas. There are only about ten other Christian churches of different denominations in the area, most of them consisting of 70–100 members. Church Light to the World has approximately 1000 members, many of them actively serving their church and community.

Sergey Lavrenov is the Senior Pastor of the church Light to the World. He is recognized by the Russian government as the Bishop of the Tyumen Region (large territory in central Siberia) and was listed among 1000 most influential people of Russia. Pastor Sergey and his wife Tatyana have two children Pavel and Lisa.

The church Light to the World has many ministries:

Evangelism: church members participate in tent evangelization trips around the Tyumen Region (territory of more than twice the size of Texas). There are about 20 branch churches.

Prison ministry

— Work with adult prisoners.
— Work with juvenile criminals on probation.
— Evangelistic meetings for prison staff.
— Meetings at schools and colleges.
— Helping former prisoners to get back on track.

Rehabilitation center Salt of the Earth

— Rrehabilitation of substance-dependant people in a specially designed settlement, where the former addicts can participate in a business and earn money, which enables them later to join society as sober individuals.
— Anti-substance abuse work in public schools and orphanages.
— Help given to the families of the substance abusers.

Helping the homeless

It is difficult to be homeless anywhere in the world, but it is even more challenging when the outside temperatures dip into minus thirties and forties in the winter. The Light to the World church is one of the very few organizations in the area which provide services to the homeless.

— Feeding the homeless.
— Cleaning/clothes distribution stations.
— Medical evaluations/first aid.
— Church opened a homeless shelter for the homeless to receive food, shelter, medical aid; to help them to obtain documents for becoming legal residents and be able to find work and become independent.

Helping the poor and the elderly

— Elderly people get help in their everyday needs, such as: house cleaning, household repairs, taking care of the sick.
— The church gives out food and clothes to the needy. Financial aid is given out for funerals and in cases of incapacitating accidents.
— Every year the church conducts A Day of the Elderly dinner-and-a-concert for about 100 elderly people.

 

Children’s center Road of Life

Ministry works with children and teenagers from slum areas, those from «at risk» families. The children are able to come to a «safe house» provided by the church in the slum part of the city. The Children’s center is open every day for kids to have a meal, do their homework, to be helped with their studies, and for healthy entertainment.

Other ministries provided by the Light to the World church are: Children’s ministry: children’s celebrations, summer camps, visiting orphanages; Counseling ministry: 10 week Bible-based counseling program; Alpha Course: beginning Christian training for anybody who wants to know more about the Bible; Life group ministry: meetings in small worship groups for development of individual relationships, Youth club Achievement ministry to young people, Women’s ministry: prayer, meetings, conferences, seminars for women; Music ministry: main worship team, youth worship team, folk choir, 2 rock groups and a rap group. Every year the church holds music festivals attended by many people; Christian camps: tent and stationary camps for various age groups, yearly tours and meetings; Media ministry developing rapidly in spite of the lack of technological advancements available in some parts of Russia, specifically in such remote places as Western Siberia.

Pastor conferences

The church Light to the World hosts 4–5 conferences a year, one of them is designed specifically for pastors and church leaders. Average attendance of the usual conferences is 500–800 people. Last pastor conferences were attended by up to 1000 church leaders from all over Siberia, which stretched the church capacity to the very limit.

Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy

The need for Christian education in Russia is very high, because Russian Christians understand that education opens more doors for preaching the Gospel.

The only Christian University in West Siberia, Tyumen branch of the Academy has Divinity and Psychology departments. There are about 90 students studying at the Academy right now. Some time in the future the Academy is planning to add Culture and Art department.

Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy (RCHA) was founded in 1989 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

— Tyumen church Light to the World hosts Siberian branch of the Russian Christian Academy. The Academy is the only Russian Christian University, accredited by the Russian Department of Education. Its graduates receive government-approved diplomas, which are accepted by all other educational establishments and places of employment.
— During the last 15 years the RCHA graduates have become active in both religious and social spheres. RCHA is considered the most elite Christian establishment in Russia.
— Books published by the Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy are well known and distributed both in Russia and abroad.
— Academy graduates obtain ability to communicate on a new level with politicians and government officials, scientists and cultural leaders. Education provided by the Christian Academy definitely allows its students to reach radically higher potential in society, which leads to open doors to much more diverse social groups.
— Right now the Tyumen branch of RCHA has about 90 students from 20 different regions of Russia and from different Christian denominations.
— The facility the Academy has now is becoming too small to accommodate all Christian students opting for higher Christian education as opposed to secular education. The RCHA branch in Tyumen is definitely raising new level of Christian leaders, who are going to affect the future of their country.
— The new Russian Christian leaders, trained by the Academy, are highly educated, adapted to all socio-economical structures, familiar with government and politics as opposed to old-school Christians who shunned education and were often labeled as illiterate. Their mission is to allow God to penetrate all spheres of Russian life, from politics to government, to economical and cultural leadership of the country in order to bring God’s message to every part of Russian life.