February 7, 2004

Dear Friends,

Yesterday morning during rush hour a man and a woman riding the Moscow underground metro trains detonated explosives, killing themselves, murdering 30 fellow passengers and injuring more than 100 others. The southern leg of the “Green” line of the metro system was shut down, as emergency medical workers evacuated survivors and special teams were sent in to evaluate the damage, analyze the evidence, and remove the wrecked trains. Such tragic events have become dishearteningly frequent in Moscow over the last few years.

The shutting down of just one part of a single line of the metro really locks up the already overcrowded Moscow streets, since additional buses are sent out to pick up the flow of passengers being rerouted above ground. Rather than try to drive into the office through the jammed streets, I decided to walk and catch any passing buses that seemed to be moving. I walked or slipped on icy sidewalks past several bus stops where people had been waiting a long time. At one bus stop I saw an elderly man standing with crutches waiting in the slush. And finally I saw a crowded bus arriving. Somehow all of us managed to climb on.

But we broke free of the traffic jams and started to move quickly. Arriving at the office, I heard Olga Rozhnikova, who works on production of Narnia Center’s books, calling her friends and acquaintances to make sure all were safe, and thank God, they all were. She received a call from a friend in St. Petersburg checking to see whether she was safe and well.

How should one live in a city of 10 million people where terrorist attacks in public places are taking place every three to six months? At the end of the day you thank God for his protection as you gather with your family around the dinner table and you lift up a prayer for those homes where a person is missing, a person who will never return. But in the meantime, you take a deep breath, pray that none of your fellow passengers are planning to blow themselves up, and get on the bus or train to go about your business.

Yesterday my business was to finish getting ready for next week’s children’s ministry leadership training seminar where 30 children’s ministry leaders from churches and orphanages in Russia, Siberia, and Belarus will come to be trained on using children’s fictional books as a means of Christian nurture. We have a wonderful group of teachers coming to speak about how to work with children who say they hate reading, how to help children who have learning difficulties, how to organize books and resources to make them more appealing to children, the value of reading in families, how to begin a library ministry in churches, the message of the gospel in Russian classics and much more.

Yesterday we received from the printer the first copy of our new magazine on children’s ministry entitled “Narnia—Children’s Ministry.” Formerly we called it an information bulletin with the title, “Chronicle on Children’s Ministry.” Now we have added a beautiful color cover and additional pages. I am delighted with it! We will distribute it at the seminar next week.

Please join in prayer for God to have his way in this seminar. Ask first of all that participants will have no trouble finding and reaching the center where it is being held when they arrive Monday morning. Some have received word that the Moscow police will not allow any one to enter Moscow without a registration stamp in their passports. Pray also that the teaching our seminar leaders bring will shape the minds and hearts of the participants, that they will develop new habits and skills that they can put to work with children in churches and orphanages.

I do not know how I would respond to terrorist attacks if I were a government leader charged with the responsibility of a nation’s security, but being a follower of Jesus entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation between God and humanity, news of each terrorist attack convinces me more deeply that the world cannot be saved by political control and military power. It can only be saved by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Please pray that next week’s children’s ministry leadership seminar we are conducting will contribute to that end, to the glory of God and for the healing of the nations.

I am grateful for the privilege of serving God with my family in Russia and for your partnership in this ministry.

Grace and Peace,

Donald Marsden

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 340