IZHEVSK – On November 15 and 16, Philadelphia Church of Izhevsk hosted the 3rd Theological Conference “Spiritual Practices and the Bible”. The conference was organized by the Education Department of the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith on the initiative of the head of the department, Pavel Zhelnovakov.
Presentations were made at the conference:
Vitaly Nakul, “Fanaticism as a Challenge to the Church of the XXI Century” https://youtu.be/bbkc44g8cvI
Aelita Zhidyaeva, “The Transforming Power of the Holy Scripture” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwOD5wctMuA&feature=share
Pavel Zhelnovakov, “Spiritual practices in the light of the Holy Scripture” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BmPfActZlM&feature=share
Discussion round tables were included in the program:
“Spiritual practices and law”, moderated by Ilyas Mukhametdinov (Izhevsk)
“Spiritual practices and medicine” by Boris Dikidzhi (Moscow)
“Spiritual practices and youth environment” by Nikolai Sudakov (Pervouralsk)
According to Bishop Pavel Zhelnovakov, the theme of the conference is important because Christians face spiritual issues in everyday life. Ministers and participants were looking for answers to both their questions and those of the younger generation. As the head of the Education Department, Bishop Zhelnovakov prays that the practice of theological seminars and conferences will be expanded across Russia.
Youth pastor Vladimir Batalov of the Izhevsk Philadelphia Church agrees with the senior pastor that questions were important because Christians need to know what spiritual experiences are, and either “be guided by them or ignore them”. According to him, the participants of the conference listened with interest and the teachers answered questions with wisdom.
Nikolai Sudakov, pastor of the Evangelical Christians Church of Pervouralsk: “It was an amazing conference devoted to spiritual practices in the light of the Holy Scriptures. For two days, we have been discussing what practices we can experience, where we see the work of the Holy Ghost, and what we need to avoid in order to keep ourselves in the truth. We listened to academic teachers, heard testimonies, and gave master classes. I think it's a good experience and we have time to evaluate, contemplate [the conference results], experience the work of the Holy Spirit in our churches, in our hearts, in order to be witnesses in this world, to carry the gospel of Christ. Thank you to the organizers, Philadelphia Church.”
The Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith
