120 Christian leaders gather as a family for three days of prayer in Latvia

By Chuck Kelley

    JURMALA, Latvia – "This is as good as possible in a sinful world," grinned Magnus, Lutheran missionary-pastor from Sweden, serving in Latvia. He was referring to the three previous days of Prayer Days 2003, held March 17 - 19, the fourth event of its kind since 1999.

    Despite a local flu epidemic that prevented about 30 from attending, 120 pastors and Christian leaders from the four corners of Latvia converged on the Soviet-built Hotel "Liesma" (flame) to worship, pray, fellowship, plan, play and seek God.

Under the leadership of the Latvian Evangelical Alliance and the logistical and financial undergirding of Bridge Builders International and its Latvian office, "Partners", Prayer Days 2003 was marvelous.

    Scripture declares, "God inhabits the praise of people." With this in mind, the days were marked by long periods of praise. Worship leaders from various backgrounds encouraged folks to sing in Latvian, Russian and English. It was beautiful to listen to the same song sung in several languages simultaneously.

    The format for the week was simple and practical, yet profound. Each session focused on a different prayer scope: Prayer for the Nation, Prayer for the Cities, Prayer for the Church, Prayer for the Family, and Prayer for the Heart.

    The "Prayer for the Nation" segment was led by Pentecostal pastor, Modris Ozolinkevich. He was ably assisted by Southern Baptist missionary, Gary Ramey, who had prepared a series of insightful slides from his church planting research. One could hear a pin drop as Modris and Gary illustrated where all of the evangelical churches were located nationwide. It was easy to see the places in each of the four major regions of Latvia where evangelical churches desperately need to be planted. For more than an hour, pastor after pastor prayed for each region, the current church planting efforts, and for the raising up of many new church planters.

    There was an especially powerful time of prayer for Latvia's darkest region - Latgale. This region, which is plagued by widespread unemployment, occultism, alcoholism and crime; has very few evangelical churches.

Making the situation more difficult are many Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches which often try to prohibit the establishment of Protestant churches. The prayer for Latgale was intense. A strong, specific question was asked, "Whom among us is the Lord calling to Latgale?"

    After another sustained period of worship, we narrowed our focus to the main cities of Latvia. It was unfortunate that Elijs Godins, pastor of Riga's Dome Cathedral, was ill for he was the scheduled segment leader. However, the Lord provided capable experts on urban ministry. Sam Williams and Eric Swanson, of CitiReach, gave Biblical challenges related to the importance of God's people not isolating themselves from the city. They spoke of intentionally ministering to the city through service followed by creative Gospel ministry. Their presentations sparked a deep interest in many participants. Their workshop on "city-reaching"

was well-attended and received high evaluation marks.

    We prayed for the seven major cities of Latvia which are home to universities. Leaders from each city shared unique needs and problems of each city. The small group prayer time was rich indeed.

    After a simple but tasty meal, our first evening focused our attention on prayer for specific churches and denominations. Janis Ozolinkevich, the Pentecostal Bishop, and then Janis Smits, the Baptist Bishop, each shared the importance that our unity be Biblically-based with practical expressions. also gave a passionate plea that we pray for the Middle East, which was on the verge of war. Six hours later, President George W. Bush announced to the world that Saddam Hussein had a 48-hour ultimatum to leave Iraq or face war.

    We then prayed fervently, in small groups and individually, for this most dangerous world situation. Of course, Latvians know very well what it is like to live under tyranny.

    After much praying came much playing. Latvians and Russians really like saunas and pools. It didn't take us long to change and take turns sitting in 180 degree saunas followed by refreshing dips in cool water. Some of the "warmest" conversations took place in this setting. Lots of fun.

    After a few hours of sleep, we resumed our fellowship and prayer. There was more worship, silence and small group prayer. The focus was on personal ministry. Russian Baptist pastor, Andrejs Sisenis, led a devotional from 2 Timothy and urged us to look at and pray for our personal ministries like Paul. In the quietness of these moments,

the Holy Spirit prompted us to examine our ministries in light of Biblical standards and seek fresh cleansing and direction.

    Prayer Days 2003 featured several high-quality workshops. Bob Perry, a Morningstar missionary-pastor in Latvia since the early 1990s, spoke on "The Prayer Ministry of the Local Church." His workshop was illustrated by multiple examples of how strategic prayer has been central to his ministries of outreach, church planting and discipleship. Much time was devoted to applying the principles in fresh prayer.

    Henrik Anderson, the Danish-born Salvation Army Major of Latvia, presented a most interesting overview of the "Natural Church Development" philosophy of church renewal. Reformed pastor, Maris Dupers, who also serves on our Latvian staff, led two sessions on small group development in the church, and strategies of

church planting. These sessions were also characterized by lots of personal sharing and prayer.

    The next combined session focused on the needs of Latvia's youth and the importance of youth ministry. Led by Igors Rautmanis, Latvia's national director of InterVarsity, and Partners' Lienite Bemere, the group was directed to pray for their own children and teenagers, youth in their church and troubled youth nationwide.

    During this session, I had a strong stirring within my own spirit. So I asked to take the microphone for a few minutes. I was surprised at my own passion. You see, a large percentage of churches in this nation have only a small handful of teenagers. They simply don't come. I shared that it is one thing to pray that kids won't take drugs, but it is another to create an environment in the church where troubled

kids feel welcomed and are individually ministered to by pastors and leaders who clearly love them. It is one thing to bemoan that there are not enough youth leaders in the church, but another to carefully select key young people and mentor them. If we are really concerned about the next generation, we must change the priorities of our churches ? indeed of our own lives.

    It was my privilege to lead the session on Tuesday evening. We invested two-and-a-half hours focusing our prayers on matters of the heart. Issues like personal devotions, Bible reading and praying with our spouses were addressed. Time was taken for folks to identify and pray for specific personal and family burdens. Long periods of silent prayer opened our hearts. After examining Jesus' teachings in

Matthew about the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation, more self-examination and silent prayer took place. Before closing the evening with beautiful praise, many in the crowd prayed again passionately regarding the war in Iraq.

    Fellowship continued and deepened late into the night. Some went for brisk walks on the icy beach. Groups gathered together over hot cups of tea, while still others returned to the heat of the sauna and the coolness of the pool.

    On the last morning, Almers Ludviks led a session that returned the focus to the nation. The theme was the Latvian Evangelical Alliance and its importance in touching multiple levels of society. Various working group leaders shared their vision for church planting, mission work in the Muslim world, and Baltic HOPE, a major future saturation evangelism effort with Franklin Graham and other Christian

leaders.

    But it is interesting that when Almers reflected on Prayer Days 2003, he didn't dwell on organizational unity or long-term plans, but rather on relational depth.

    Almers shared, "My feeling is that many of us are viewing one another as family. These Prayer Days are like a family reunion. We feel like we are at home with one another and we look forward to seeing each other again. This feeling is so strong that those who are here for the first time were able to quickly fit in. It was a lovely thing to be together again."

    Magnus is right. Prayer Days 2003 was "as good as possible in a sinful world."