On April 15, 2021, Bishop Ivan Laptev and Bishop Emeritus Arri Kugappi participated in the 12th Prayer Breakfast of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast entitled “Time to Do Good. Charity in Christian Churches during the Pandemic.” The meeting’s biblical motto was “He has told you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to do justice, to love the works of mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, our translation)Bishop Laptev presented a report, “The Contribution of the Christian Community to the Development of Charity and Social Ministry in Society” where he discussed the following matters:
– the origins of social ministry in the early Christian community, the beginning of diaconia
– the contribution of the Reformation and Protestantism to the development of mercy ministry
– church charity in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg
– the prospects of cooperation between religious organizations and government authorities in the area of social-diaconal ministry
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The Prayer Breakfast is a civic event conducted by evangelical churches. Its national status is based on the participation of the top leaders of the main evangelical churches and the status of guests who represent the federal centers of power in Russia and St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in particular. Such events have been conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Uralic region, and Siberia for about 20 years. The Prayer Breakfast on April 15 was also attended by academics and Russian Orthodox clergy.