India

Lithuania Project

Since 1993

Back in Lithuania

Travel with us back to Lithuania! Laymen Ministries pioneered the Adventist work in the cold little country located in Northern Europe. We first went there in 1993, when there was roughly only 102 Adventists in the whole country! Emerging out of Communism, church work started to flourish. We set up a publishing work, sponsored Bible Workers, sent over youth to train people how to sell books door to door, and now publish a paper entitled "The Source of Hope." We now print 50,000 copies of each quarter! On this episode we share our current activities, show you some traditional Lithuanian cooking, and we even have some of our old Student Missionaries with used who use to work there years ago!

Back in 1993 a very unusual circumstance happened. Jeff Reich, the Director of Laymen Ministries was praying that God would expand the work of this Ministry. He was awakened in the middle of the night by a voice that said, "Go to Lithuania." Startled by this, first thing the next morning he got out a world map, as he had never heard of a country called Lithuania! To his surprise, he found it on the map! What happened in the next 24 hours was an absolute miracle. If you want to know more about this amazing experience, watch this TV program we produced several years ago entitled Lithuania: The Dream.

When we first arrived in this little country in 1993, there were about 102 Adventists. Our ministry started the Adventist publishing work there, promoted door-to-door book sales, a youth missions program and even an annual camp meeting. Again, much of the history of our work here can be seen in our 2009 TV program, Lithuania: The Dream.

We currently have 9 full-time Bible workers who have been responsible for most of the baptisms in this small country bordering on the Baltic Sea. We also sponsor pastors, such as Pastor Arunas, along with his wife Neringa, who oversee our work.

One challenge our Bible workers face in this increasingly secular country, is how to find people interested in Bible studies. A creative idea has been implemented — lending libraries. Each of our workers has an extensive collection of Christian books, many that we have published in Lithuania, that may be loaned to interested people. Bible workers visit door-to-door, offering one of these books on a lending library plan, at no cost to the reader. There are books on a wide variety of topics available. A week later, the Bible worker returns to check on the progress being made in reading that book and to answer any questions that might have come up. This program has been a real success, and often results in Bible studies.

In 2011, God inspired us with an idea — something that would spread the message about God, His love, His Word, His church, and promote a deep, fulfilling, and lasting relationship with Christ. Something that would promote health of mind and body. We decided to start publishing a small newspaper — not so much for church people, but an outreach paper that could be shared outside of the church and throughout the community. We called our outreach paper The Source of Hope (Vilties Saltinis).

Laymen Ministries quickly embraced this very first outreach paper! 1,500 copies of our first issue were printed in 2001. It became apparent that 1,500 copies were not nearly enough, so we stepped out in faith and printed 6,000 copies of the next issue. Each issue was a lot of hard work, but very popular and helpful, and we could easily use even more. We printed 7,000 copies. But we were just getting started!! In 2014 we printed 15,000; in 2016 18,000; in 2017 50,000 copies; in 2018 we were at 52,000 copies; and in 2019 it was 53,000!!! This paper is extremely popular and is seen all over the country, from the shopping malls to the hospitals!

We have published and distributed 1000s of books and Bible lessons in Lithuania over the years. Our Bible workers enjoy using such materials which we have translated into Lithuanian, like the Amazing Facts Storacles of Prophecy Bible lessons and books like Mary Magdalene by Doug Batchelor. There are also a number of volumes by Ellen White, including The Desire of Ages, The Great Controversy, Steps to Christ, and other essential titles. All over Lithuania, thousands of books and pamphlets are being spread door-to-door through the efforts of our Bible workers and their lending libraries. Please pray for this ministry, that the Gospel Message will reach many.

Every summer, Laymen Ministries also sponsors youth camps. Bible worker Robertas and Pastor Julius are passionate about reaching youth, and both offer multiple summer camp sessions at their own homes in the countryside. Youth come from all walks of life, some orphans, other come from cities and others from the country. Aside from the usual fun camp activities outdoors, the youth learn about handling peer pressure, how to think for themselves, and most importantly, about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus and to study the Bible. They actively participate in community service and go door-to-door or on the streets sharing our outreach paper, The Source of Hope (Vilties Saltinis).

We want to thank you for your prayers and support of this project.


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Jim & Moni Webb Every year Laymen Ministries Bible workers bring people to Christ and a public commitment through baptism.

Katatubo Tribe Pastor Arunas, Laymen Ministries Lithuania Director, holds up one of our newspapers, of which we print 52,000 copies each quarter.

remote vilage school Jeff Reich, Director of Laymen Ministries, shares with a youth group.

recently acuired land Pastor Arunas and his wife Neringa fill an empty newspaper stand with our paper The Source of Hope, in the entry way of a shopping mall.

jeepney Youth from primary school through high school age attend one of several summer camps hosted by two of our Laymen Ministries Bible workers.