Members and guests come together to celebrate God’s blessings
The Balakovo Adventist Church in Russia’s Saratov region held a special thanksgiving service on December 30 to end the year with parishioners and community guests. New Year’s is the time of summing up, when people look back and analyze the outgoing year and make plans for the future. The Balakovo community is grateful to God for all the blessings granted in 2018.
Every element of the New Year’s program centered on “thanksgiving,” from solos and choral performances to the general hymns accompanied by a children’s handbell choir. In all that sounded from the stage, there was the same basic idea: “We have something to thank the Lord for.” The pastor shared a spiritual message and prayed on behalf of the whole community, thanking the Lord for the blessings of the past year.
At the end of the program, all the guests received snowflakes with a biblical promise from John 3:16: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not die, but have eternal life” – wonderful words of inspiration for the new year of life.