The church in Samburg also expressed
thanks to churches for helping buy a snowmobile for their ministry
among the Nensi living in teepees removed from the settlement.
They were amazed and thrilled to hear that the children at Third
Presbyterian Church in Richmond had made offerings for snowmobiles.
In the absence of Harold we did our best to conduct the seminar
to address the needs of the missionaries of the area. Boris told
me that two big problems are the isolation of the missionaries
and the lack of literature. I took two hours at the seminar for
each of these themes. We discussed the problems and opportunities
associated with isolation—how to deal creatively with depression,
about the ways in which God uses isolation to refine us and deepen
us, and how we can protect ourselves from the negative effects
of isolation and depression. I also talked with them about the
role of literature in the life of ministry leaders, about difficulties
with reading for those who are poor readers, or who had negative
experiences in school.
The men who came from Salekhard reported on the progress of their
work. Salekhard is the intellectual center for the work of the
unreached peoples. Translation of the gospels, especially of the
Gospel of Luke, and other literature in the Tundra Nensi language
has progressed well. The Tundra Nensi are the largest of the native
peoples of the area, and the translation of the Bible has been
focused on that language. However, illiteracy is a big problem
among the Nensi as among all the unreached people groups. It seems
they read Russian better than they read their own language, for
two reasons: (1) literature in their own language hardly exists
and (2) the learning of their language in the literary form was
previously associated with Soviet ideology, which they largely
ignored. As a result, the gospels now being translated will be
difficult for people to read. Because of this, they are also making
audio cassettes to go with them. They asked for prayers because
one of the key people involved in this translation work, a South
Korean women who has been working on this project, was recently
robbed in St. Petersburg. Her passport and visa were stolen, as
well as the money for duplicating the cassettes. She is now trying
to get a new passport and new visa in South Korea and to find
the money for duplicating he cassettes.
One of the issues we discussed with those working among the unreached
peoples was the need for a literacy campaign among children and
adults up to middle age. They feel that the elderly cannot improve
their reading skills, but that middle-aged adults and younger
can. This is a theme we'll need to continue to explore with them.
Interestingly, Pyotr Khudi, who heads up the work among the unreached
in the Salekhard area, told me that what they need for this is
a simple illustrated coloring book with simple sentences in the
Nensi language. This is the very thing I have been talking about
since Harold and I went to Samburg a year and a half ago. We have
agreed we will continue exploring how best to do this. But there
is some work still to be done to make sure we get the right text
and the right illustrations.
Whereas Salekhard seems to be the intellectual center for this
work, I sense that on the practical side of the mission, the work
organized by Boris Malanchuk in the Urengoi area and north has
been more effective and is reaching out further. Boris is leaving
the field to move to Sacramento where most of his family already
lives, but he intends to continue to do what he can to help the
work develop. He has appointed a young man named Taras as his
successor, and I am confident that Taras is the right person to
carry on the work of coordinating the mission in the north.
We distributed a copy of the Russian translation of Harold Kurtz's
book on the de-Westernization of the gospel. Boris spoke very
highly of the book and recommended it to all the missionaries.
One of the woods Nensi, Volodya from Tarko Sale, told us that
he read Harold's book with great joy. It told him many things
he himself had experienced and particularly the Melchizidek principle
speaks to him very loudly.
Three days before the seminar Volodya took Taras, his pastor
Valeri, and me on sleds pulled by snowmobiles out to the teepee
village of Nensi near Kharampur, south of Tarko Sale. These are
the woods Nensi. They have few reindeer. For the most part, they
make their living by fishing. We spent only a couple hours there,
much too short a time, but we have agreed that next time we go,
we will stay over a couple nights in the teepees. This is what
the Nensi want anyway—to really have a good conversation
with visitors from the outside world. Volodya works in the culture
center for the Nensi in Tarko Sale. He is a talented musician
and has written songs about a lost reindeer (a variation on the
parable of the lost sheep) in the Nensi language.
About twenty-five people participated in the seminar. Boris and
Taras impressed on me the importance of getting these missionaries
together as often as possible. They suffer from isolation and
lack of fellowship with mature Christians who can mentor them.
Most of them are young and in their first years of ministries.
They try to get together for meetings every two months. Although
it is expensive, the local churches make offerings to help make
this possible. I hope that we will be able to continue helping
to organize and lead such teaching seminars with them. Taras and
I will work to arrange for the right kind of seminar leaders to
address issues the missionaries are struggling with and ought
to be thinking about.
At the end of our seminar we discussed the possible themes for
future seminars. These include:
- The community—social ministry of the church—how
to address problems of alcoholism, drug abuse, poverty, teen
pregnancy, and many other problems.
- Family issues: the challenges young married couples serving
among unreached peoples in isolated places face.
- Evangelism among Muslims: 25 percent of the people of the
north are of Muslim background. They have come to work in the
oil fields. A large group of Azerbaijani run stores and markets.
A few of them have become Christians, but the churches have
not really thought about a strategy for this work.
- Literacy among the people of oral cultures of the north.
- Occultism—it is widespread among the native peoples
as well as among Russians.
- Small-group Bible study.
- Depression, suicide, and family violence. A young missionary
named Oleg, from Tazovski, a settlement beyond the Arctic Circle,
told me the tragic story of how his neighbor and his wife got
in a drunken brawl. The wife died of injuries from the fight.
The children witnessed it all, and came out onto the street
telling Oleg not to go inside and look, but he did and called
the ambulance. The mother died in the hospital three days later.
The husband has been given a two-year, suspended sentence, since
she did not die immediately. We also hear that teenagers in
these areas have nothing to do but wander about in groups vandalizing
and beating people up.
- Understanding the native cultures. The Russian missionaries
report that the native peoples who become members of their churches
are more likely to backslide, fall into sins of drinking, unfaithfulness,
etc. I am sure they are telling the truth about this, but I
am also sure that they don't adequately understand the cultural
context of these native believers, and I fear that they are
missing opportunities to help these people.
- Language learning. None of the Russian missionaries put much
stock in the importance of learning the language of the local
peoples, but I think this needs to be explored in a teaching
seminar.
We tentatively chose as the dates for a next seminar, Thursday
and Friday, February 26-27.
It is a privilege to participate in this ministry. Thank you
for your support and prayers.
May the grace of Christ, who was, and is, and is to come be with
you during this Advent and Christmas season.
Donald Marsden
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
340 |
