Kirk in the Hills

On October 5, 2009, Pastor Sergey Zolotarevsky and Dr. Alexander Kozynko arrived from Central Baptist Church in Moscow to spend a week visiting the Kirk. Their visit culminated the first five years of a partnership between our two churches that began in 2004. The plans allowed them to experience as much of our church
and congregation as possible. This included attending committee meetings, mid-week worship, choir practices, and of course, worship on Sunday. Together, they delivered a memorable children's message and sermon on Sunday, October 11. Both of these men have amazing stories to tell about their faith and what they endured to be Christians in Russia. For a photo gallery of their visit, click here.


Sergey grew up in a Russian Orthodox family. He spent time in the Soviet military
and then joined the Baptist Church. Throughout his time as a youth leader, he lived under the threat of persecution from the governmental authorities. He has been Senior Pastor at the Central Baptist Church in Moscow since 2000. Sergey and his wife, Anna, have three children: Pavel, Igor and Marina.


Alexander accepted Christ as a boy of 13 and has eagerly shared his faith ever since. During the Soviet years he attended seminary in Germany. In 1993 he founded the
first-ever Baptist Seminary in Moscow. His wife, Vera, and he recently began a marriage counseling ministry for new couples at the Central Baptist Church. The Kozynkos also have three children: Peter, Andrei and Tatiana.


These photos (below) show glimpses of church life at Central Baptist Church in Moscow, including their choir and a Sunday School Class. You can also visit their website at www.mbchurch.ru.




The pastors’ visit to the Kirk was certainly about celebrating
the first five years of our twinning partnership. However, our goal was to also develop some plans for the future of our relationship with Central Baptist Church in Moscow. As
part of our dialog, we developed opportunities for shared mission work in the future – be it more exchange visits in coming years, individual correspondence, shared prayer requests or Bible study.