Drollinger Addresses Evangelical Leaders from Across Russia

The Scriptures teach that political leaders should be first in priority when it comes to sharing God’s Word with the world, CapMin’s Ralph Drollinger said to Russian Baptist Union Leaders at a presentation at the Moscow Theological Seminary.

At the invitation of his friend Peter Mitskevich, executive director of the Russia Baptist Union and president of Moscow Theological Seminary, Drollinger spoke to Baptist Union leaders who had traveled from all eleven time zones across Russia for the regularly scheduled meetings.

Drollinger’s teachings concentrated on the Scriptures that formed the foundation for Capitol Ministries which he and his wife Danielle established in 1996 with a mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the political arena throughout the world.

A major theological education institution, The Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary is located within the grounds of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in Serguiev Possad, Moskovskaya Oblast, north of the city of Moscow, Russia.

Speaking through an interpreter, Drollinger taught that the book of Acts records how a small band of men – the Apostles – turned the world upside down in a short amount of time during the first century.

They were not elite leaders, they were common, mostly uneducated men who reached the world with the Gospel in a matter of decades without the use of a printing press, newspapers, or the internet.

“How were they able to saturate the world with the Gospel?” Drollinger asked.

“How did they change lives, change the culture, and eventually change the Roman Empire?

“Scripture provides the answer. Not only did they do it one soul at a time through a ministry of geometric evangelism and discipleship, but they did it by concentrating on and impacting a particular genre of society – political leaders.”

First Timothy 2:1-4 reads: First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all people, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Drollinger taught that in this Scripture, the Apostle Paul is urging his disciple Timothy, who is now pastoring the Church in Ephesus, to pray evangelistically and to evangelize not just all men, but specifically kings and all who are in authority.

In verse 1, the words “First of all, then…” is translated parakalo (proton) in the Greek.

Parakalo is a compound word comprised of the preposition para and the verb kaleo. Para means “to come alongside” while kaleo means “to call.” Used together, parakalo is an emphatic verb that means (in its first-person tense) “I call you alongside.”

The Apostle Paul then makes what he just said a priority by including the word proton, which means “first of all,” to stress the priority of what he is about to say. Importantly, proton is used in the Greek language to signify first in importance versus first in sequence.

“Concern for political leaders was not an afterthought in Paul’s missional strategy to fulfill the Great Commission; rather, his burden was a top priority and passion that ran the length and course of his life after his conversion,” Drollinger said.

Scripture in both the Old and New Testament teach that the responsibility for reaching political leaders belongs to the church, Drollinger said.

“While the first-century church fulfilled the Great Commission and changed the world in their generation, today’s church has not.”

Drollinger taught that reaching kings and all who are in authority is important because political leaders are among the most influential people in a society. The fulfillment of the Great Commission is more efficiently accomplished when these leaders use their platforms through their office to reach many other people.

The Apostle Paul took his calling seriously, he said. In his mission journeys, Paul traveled almost exclusively to capital cities—the cities of greatest influence. He converted people in great numbers, but individual conversions were also recorded. At least seven of Paul’s thirteen individual conversions are politically related.

The address comes shortly after Drollinger and the Capitol Ministries Board of Directors appointed Slavik Rimski of Ukraine, as the Global Director for Western and Eastern Europe.  In this part-time, volunteer position, Rimski is charged with growing CapMin ministries in nations within his geographic area. He is one among six CapMin Global Directors.

Rimski has served as a city council member and recently as Foreign Affairs Director for the Ukraine Conservative Movement Sobor. He continues to work closely with Pavel Unguryan, an Evangelical Christian and former member of the Ukrainian Parliament who has been helping Capitol Ministries create discipleship ministries to political leaders at all levels in his nation and other European countries since 2019.

Capitol Ministries will tell you more about Rimski in future stories.

By speaking to the large gathering of faith leaders at the Seminary, Drollinger is hoping to further the understanding across the world about the church’s biblical calling to reach political leaders with the Word of God.

To accomplish its mission and help fulfill the Great Commission, Capitol Ministries establishes weekly Bible studies inside the halls of government in the U.S. and in foreign nations. We pair Bible teaching evangelists with Christian political leaders who sponsor the studies and invite their colleagues to attend.

If you wish to support the mission of Capitol Ministries to teach the Bible weekly to political leaders, click here.