Richard Pratt: The most effective way to spread the Gospel is to do it in every way imaginable!

Richard, in your opinion, what are the main differences between ministries before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and after?

It would be wrong to generalize while answering that question. Because I’m sure that there are different ways and different pastors, with similar and different things now, before and after the Soviet Union. Ministers are always hopefully trying to be faithful to Christ, trying to lead their churches to Christ. In that way they are similar to each other. But at the same time, I think that it’s really obvious, that being a pastor now in many circles is different than it was before the fall of the Soviet Union. What I fear is that the influences of Western missions, like myself and others – we have brought with us many of the negative features of American Christianity. And the negative features of American expectations of pastors. As a someone who taught in seminary for 22 years in America, I have seen what these negative dimensions are. And I fear that they’re beginning to come to Ukraine as well.


Were these negative things transmitted to the pastors of Ukraine?
Yes, they were. But I don’t think that this problem has been identified clearly enough yet,  or that there is enough agreement, that this is a problem. But let me describe what the kinds of problems are. Because Christianity is more acceptable in  Ukraine than it was 50 years ago, this means that it doesn’t take so much of the radical commitment to Christ to be a pastor. You don’t have to sacrifice as much, to lose as much to be a pastor. In the past you had to be willing not to go to university, you had to be willing for your children not to go to university. Also not to have a pension. All kinds of things if you wanted to be a pastor. But now your children can still go to university. They are not discriminated against. That takes a different level of commitment to Christ. In reality, when you are living in a culture like Ukraine has become after the Soviet Union, where it’s much friendlier to Christianity than it was before, it takes even more commitment from a pastor to Jesus to withstand the temptations of the world. Now the pastors of Ukraine must volunteer to be different. In the past they didn’t have to. Because they can be pastors and be as worldly as anyone can imagine. And everyone will still think that they teach the Bible. To resist the temptation of the world, when there is much freedom of religion and acceptance of religion in our culture, takes even stronger pastors than in the past.

In your opinion, what is the most effective means of spreading the Gospel in Ukraine?
The most effective way is every way imaginable. Every single way. It’s not just one person to one person. Or bring people to church or to the youth camp or bring them to the Black Sea. Or put them on television, or have a concert. Rather than competing with each other as Christians, and taking our resources and use them against each other, we need to be doing is pooling our human and financial resources. And to saturate Ukraine with the Gospel. It’s true that you have more religious freedom now in Ukraine. And the Orthodox Church has strong influence in this country. But most people living in Ukraine (as in America) do not even understand the basic Gospel of Jesus. Everybody in America is heard of Jesus too, but if you ask the average person in America “what do you have to do to be saved?” The average answer is going to be:”If there is a God, I hope that he will agree with me, that I was better than I was bad, I was more good than bad. And he lets me in heaven”. And I guarantee you, that what’s the majority of Ukrainian people believe too. “If there is a God, I hope that he will agree with me, that I did more good than bad and let me into heaven”. The basic Gospel is that people are brought into heaven, because they believe in Jesus, not because they are good. So we have to use every means possible from television satellite down to having parties at your home for your neighborhood, talking to people in the park, all these things to bring the basic message to them.

If the Christian falls and he/she is in desperation, without strength to continue his/her marathon, what is the best way to find inspiration in God?
Usually Christians answer this question in two ways: we talk about what we called “the ordinary means of grace”. That means the regular things, the normal things, that God offers to believers to give them strength in their Christian day. What are they? Go to church, listen to the Word of God preached, read the Bible, pray regularly, participate in the Lord’s Supper, a fellowship with Christians. But sometimes, when the Christian people become very discouraged, they need more than ordinary, they need extraordinary. That will mean things like going to counseling (there are a lot of different Christian counseling centers even in Kiev). It will mean going to your pastor, if you trust your pastor. And asking for the special help in the family situation or whatever may be. Another extraordinary way is to fast and to spend lot of time in fasting and praying, rather than just making simple prayers on the daily basis.  If we keep ourselves in the ordinary means, the big crisis is usually not so big. And if you are caught in crisis and if you don’t have the strength to make it through, then don’t try to make it on your own. Go to someone that you trust and say “I need help” and get the kind of help that you need.

Do you have a testimony about the obvious work of God in your life?
I’m the president of  Third Millennium ministry. And it’s a ministry that was started in the back bedroom of my house 15 years ago. It was started by me buying a computer and learning how to make videos on it. Now, 15 years later, God has blessed so much our efforts, that we are producing seminary curriculum in 25 different languages. And we are distributing those materials in 158. And we’re on national television in some countries, like Mongolia. We are on the satellite television, in Egypt, Yemen, South Arabia, Libya. And Christians all over the world now are using our materials. Now you ask me: ”Can I tell how God works in my life?” The answer is “Yes”, because it would be impossible for me to have done these things on my own. I started from making videos on the computer in 1998. And now we have 34 people that distribute the material in 158 different countries. That it’s impossible for me to have done myself.