Russia | Building Relational Foundations for a Gospel Movement
Novo staff member Lyle was living and ministering in Russia for a long time—bringing counseling, training, coaching, and spiritual formation. It was all impactful, but whenever he’d try to bring Russian people together to form a team, things wouldn’t work long term. He eventually cried out to God, and got the idea for a new approach: instead of starting with training on community and mission, he needed to train on conversations and relationships. It was a “back to basics” approach, but sorely needed. Russians carried so much trauma from their long history of communism, and so much distrust and guardedness as a people, it made working in a team very challenging. They needed to understand how to listen to one another and what was happening in their own hearts.
Lyle adapted a curriculum, “Real Talk,” to fit the Russian context. It had a dual focus on communication skills and on the heart—how our relationship with God impacts our relationships with others. Real Talk took people through a process of relational and spiritual “heart surgery.” The growth people experienced through Real Talk not only opened the door for Lyle to build a thriving team to impact Russia with the gospel (now 20 national team members in 6 countries, plus another 20 volunteers touching 12 nations!), but provided something Russians were incredibly hungry for: Relationships. One Russian pastor told Lyle this curriculum has impacted his congregation more than anything else they’ve done, because now they have more capacity to do ministry.
At this point more than a thousand people have gone through Real Talk in the Russian speaking world, but that’s not the end goal. Rather, it’s the foundation for building a gospel movement in Russia. “It’s nothing but the cultural underpinnings…so that we become a body where we’re honoring each other and submitting to each other’s gifts,” Lyle says. Out of that place they can build teams and step into the vision of impacting each sphere of society, working together to transform the culture and bring the Kingdom of God there.
