“All the pain, all of the differences, all the different cultures, different approaches, and the language, all of that is there, but the love of Jesus kind of unites us in such a special way,” Pastor Victor Akhterov said, describing how Russians and Ukrainians worship together in his church.
Akhterov, speaking to attendees of a Wednesday evening Bible study at First Baptist Church Plano, Sept. 24, is a pastor of River of Life Dallas-Church, serving alongside pastor Leonid Regheta and pastor Vasily Dmitrievsky. All three are bivocational.
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Akhterov and Regheta were born and raised in Ukraine. Dmitrievsky was born and raised in Russia. Together, they serve a church composed of Ukrainians, Russians, and people from across the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.
When the Dallas Morning News showed up at one of the church’s events after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, reporters asked how Ukrainians and Russians could coexist in the same church.
“Probably because we are building bridges, not borders,” Regheta told them, referring to the posture of his church since its beginning.
‘An accidental church plant’
Regheta described River of Life Dallas-Church as “an accidental church plant.”
“I didn’t mean to plant the church. I didn’t plan to plant the church when I came to the Plano area. That was not part of my plan, my life. In fact, I resisted that. I protested that, and I call it an accidental church plant,” Regheta said.
Regheta and his wife were missionaries in Russia but were kicked out along with their four children when “Putin started making things more difficult for evangelical churches,” especially missionaries from America, which the Regheta’s were at that time, he recounted.
The Reghetas ended up in North Texas at the encouragement of his two sisters. Once settled and part of a Ukrainian community there, they were invited to a birthday party, which led to another larger gathering, followed by another even larger gathering.
Seeing what was happening, Regheta and his friends wondered if God was telling them they needed to do something with all these people coming together. Regheta thought the people needed to hear about Jesus but not from him since he was busy with his mission work.
Eventually, Regheta noted, the Holy Spirit made it clear they were to be the ones to start a church for this gathering.
One of the problems they faced was what kind of church to be. The gathering seemed to be equal parts Baptist, Pentecostal and “who knows what — including non-Christians,” he said.
“God, what kind of church are we supposed to have, and what does that mean? Could you make it a little more clear by sending more people of a particular denomination?” Regheta said.
Then people from Moldova, Uzbekistan, Russia and elsewhere joined the gathering in the backyard of someone’s house north of Frisco.
As the number of people continued to grow and the weather turned colder, they looked for another place to meet. A contact at the Baptist General Convention of Texas connected them to Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano, where River of Life-Dallas Church has met for the last 15 years.
Facing unique challenges
New challenges arose for River of Life-Dallas Church following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The ethnic, linguistic and national complexities of the war there found expression in the church here.
For example, some Russian families left the church in protest of the church’s support for Ukraine.
At the same time, some Ukrainians will not attend the church because the three pastors preach in Russian, which they consider “the language of the aggressor … the enemy,” Regheta explained.
Other Ukrainians carry the pain of a loved one killed in the war and are not ready to hear Russian spoken, he added.
Akhterov pointed to positive things happening in the church, citing individual Russian and Ukrainian members he sees worshiping together.
While all the pain and differences are present, “the love of Jesus kind of unites us in such a special way,” he said.
The three pastors are not new to such challenges, however. They’ve known them their entire lives.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Eric Black and originally published by Baptist Standard.
