Gospel grows as Latvia opens to the world

My Spring trip to Latvia coincided with the Ice Hockey World Championships. Ice Hockey is a big deal in Latvia, so we readjusted our lunch break in our School of Preachers seminar to fit in watching the first quarter of Latvia’s semi-final against Canada.

We saw Latvia score once, but after that they suffered a heavy defeat. The next day sadness turned to joy when tiny Latvia beat the mighty USA in the bronze medal play-offs. The Latvian Parliament met in special session on that Sunday evening and agreed, a few minutes before midnight, to declare the following day a bank holiday! The next morning tens of thousands of people gathered around the Freedom Monument in the centre of Riga to greet the national team. The last time I witnessed crowds like that in Riga was when President Bill Clinton visited in June 1994. When he said ‘Brivibas’ (Freedom) there was a huge cheer, and another when he said: ‘Never again will hostile foreign troops occupy Baltic soil’!

'Many evangelistic opportunities'

One of the ways that freedom has become a feature in Latvian society is the opening of its borders to international students from the four corners of the earth. This has brought many evangelistic opportunities. It was a great joy to be invited to an open-air baptism service by Andis Miezitis, the pastor of Grace Church in Riga. It was encouraging to stand on the riverbank and witness the clear and joyful testimony of a mature student from Afghanistan, who had recently come to faith.