New Generation Mega-Church Pastor in the Former USSR Talks About Why He Makes Use Of The Internet

By Victoria Uzunova of the Christian Telegraph (www.christiantelegraph.com)
Special to ASSIST News Service


RIGA, LATVIA (ANS) -- Alexey Ledyaev, the leader of the international Christian movement called New Generation, has revealed his reasons for blogging, something that would never have been allowed in the dark days of the Soviet Union.

Alexey Ledyaev speaking

The pastor, who is credited by many as being the founder of the Charismatic movement in the former Soviet Union, told the international newspaper, New Generation, that it is "blessing" to have an opportunity to communicate with people, to present your world-view, and to share your revelations and feelings.
"Some watch sermons, but some don't," says Ledyaev, who leads a 5,000-strong non-denominational church in Riga, Latvia that he founded in 1989. "Some read books, some don't. I think everybody understands that the future is in Internet. A lot of people live in social networks. A blog is a wonderful opportunity to preach the Gospel in modern and optimal way. It is a personal column where the author allows reader to look into his soul."

The leader, who emigrated from his native Kazakhstan in 1985, notes that the main aim for the media and every journalist is to get to the truth, which, he says, "will help someone live."

"I don't want to participate in anything that holds solid critique, negative and charges against other Christians," says Ledyaev. "I want to take part in projects that will help people to find solutions for their specific situations. So I'm not going to argue with anyone. I just post my view. Whether you accept it or not, whether you agree with it or not - this is Alexey Ledyaev. This is his life philosophy. This is his life position."

In terms of modern youth he states that we should take life as it is.

"We should understand that people are different now," he says. "Yesterday the biggest sin was to smoke in school toilets, but now people of this age indulge in drugs and sex. The standards of freedom and immorality are not the same now. Divorce was once treated as a great sin, but now it's nothing to many.

"Yesterday we described abortions as a horrible blasphemy over human life, but unfortunately it is a usual thing now. Church must be more effective and modern today."

Ledyaev continued: "At first we must see real problems and offer real solutions from the point of the modern thought. If youth surf the web, we must do the same. Similarly, the church held key positions yesterday and had leverage; we must re-arm and have leverage in networks today. There is nothing we can do."

Alexey Ledyaev sees no difference in today's world between love and hate, compassion and cruelty in real world and in virtual world. He remarked that due to the Internet and social networks disabled persons can communicate with others. The leader stated that in his opinion that online communication has both minuses and pluses.

"We must realize that our place of missionary work or evangelism should become the area of social networks. Of one has contact with a half million people on the Internet, you can do work that is hard to do in the physical world."

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Victoria Uzunova is a correspondent for the Christian Telegraph [www.christiantelegraph.com], a unique Christian news service partnering with the largest Christian News Agency in Russian language InVictory News [www.invictory.org/news/] which is one of few news gateways of what is happening in Christianity in such former USSR countries as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia and others.