On Sabbath, December 17th, the Grace Seventh-day Adventist Russian congregation in Troutdale celebrated its official organization into “company” status––the final step before being organized as a “church.” The history of the Grace church, according to a pamphlet provided at the service, intertwines with the latest wave of Slavic emigration to the United States in 2020. The growing Slavic church, Living Word, in the Portland/Vancouver area had reached over 400 members, and a group of 49 adults, nine youth, and 13 children from the Gresham/Troutdale area offered to organize a church closer to home.
 
The group began meeting together just one month before the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions began, holding their first service on February 23rd, 2020. But although the pandemic delayed many of their plans, members of the Grace church found ways to navigate their new circumstances. Thanks, in part, to the involvement of their youth, online services were developed and organized, and the congregation continued to move forward. Church services were recorded and released online, and in the first weeks of quarantine an online prayer group was organized. Early on, the congregation collected funds for several mission projects together including purchasing food and assisting in mission relief efforts for six projects in Moldova and three projects in Ukraine.
 
When several members of the congregation learned that one of their neighbors, a disabled widower who had lost his wife to lung cancer, was living alone, and needed help, they went to investigate. They learned that the man’s property had become so overgrown with grass that his dog had nowhere to walk––and that he could not afford the $500 it would cost him to have the issue taken care of. Several of the men brought their tools to his home immediately and cleaned the man’s lawn in just two hours free of charge. According to the story, the man walked out on his clean lawn for a long time repeating, “Is this even possible?”
 
Over the past two years the Grace church has developed children’s programming and several hands-on learning experiences such as baking and music classes, as well as several revival programs. As turmoil and suffering began to escalate in Ukraine in 2022, the Grace church assisted in eight different refugee projects, and is currently striving to help many who have come to the United States.
 
We are excited to welcome Grace Seventh-day Adventist Russian Company into the Oregon Conference and look forward to all of the ways God will continue to work through them in the coming years!

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