When I heard this tape my eyes
welled up with tears of joy in the realization that the books
we publish are being read and used in ways we had envisioned.
I was deeply encouraged by a sense that our books are reaching
the hearts of readers, carrying a message of hope to children.
Last week Narnia Center conducted children’s ministry leadership
training seminars in Kirovo-Chyepyetsk in the Kirov Region of
Russia and in Tyumen in western Siberia. Participants came from
Ioshkar-Ola, the capital of the Mari-El Republik, Kirov, Novovyatsk,
Tobolsk, Ishim as well as from the cities where we held the seminars.
The theme of the seminars was the use of the Bible and children’s
fiction in Christian education. For four years we have been conducting
children’s ministry training events twice a year just outside
Moscow. Last December we conducted our first seminar at a location
distant from Moscow when we traveled to Nalchik in the Caucasus
region of Russia. We have begun responding to the request expressed
by many to make these training seminars accessible to people who
cannot afford to make the long trip by airplane or train to Moscow
to participate in a five-day seminar.
Our teaching staff for these two seminars includes Ilya Grits,
founder of Heritage Bible College in Moscow, Svetlana Panich,
a specialist in children’s literature and Christian Education,
Larisa Zhukova, editor for Narnia’s children’s ministry
magazine, and Marina Kudasheva from Nalchik who is with us to
help teach and demonstrate craft ideas for children. You may remember
that last December after the terrorist attack on the school in
Beslan we conducted a children's ministry seminar the theme of
which was “Offering Hope to Children in Crisis." Marina
helped organize that seminar in Nalchik, which is located not
far from Beslan in the Caucasus region of Russia, a traditionally
Muslim area.
This year in October there was a terrorist attack in Nalchik
itself, in which a group of militant Muslims attacked police stations
and other government institutions. Marina has told us horrific
stories about that day. She and other members of her church were
busy organizing a training seminar for missionaries at their new
mission center when they heard the deafening report of gunfire,
just a few hundred yards away. Both regular and cell phone connections
in the city were immediately shut down. Children were whisked
out of their schools into hiding places.
The daughter of one of our Narnia center partners in Nalchik,
Anna Anokhina, another Christian educator who has taught at our
training seminars, was stowed away in an apartment near her school.
Anna and her husband lost contact with their daughter until late
that evening when the phones were again turned on, and their daughter
called to ask her parents to come fetch her.
Alina, a single mother of three boys, runs the church book store
where our Narnia Center books, among others, are sold. Two of
her sons were in a school near the shooting. When the teacher
told the children to run for their lives, Alina’s middle
son, instead of running away, ran over to the kindergarten to
find his little brother. He wrapped him in a jacket and carried
him to safety. Later that evening when the boys were safely home,
and told their story, Alina cried and asked forgiveness of her
middle son, whom she had often accused of being selfish and thinking
only of himself. Alina’s ex-husband is from Afghanistan,
and all three of the boys have Muslim names (the youngest is Ibragim,
the Muslim name for Abraham). He recently moved back to Nalchik
ostensibly to be closer to his sons, but now he has expressed
his desire to reunite with Alina. Alina has categorically told
him she will live with him only if he gives his life to Christ.
He has begun to attend their church, so please pray for this family
to be re-united in Christ.
One member of Marina’s church who comes from a Muslim ethnic
background had two cousins who were among the terrorists. Both
of them were killed in the gunfights, as the Russian military
left practically none of the terrorists alive. When she became
a Christian about four years ago, one of the cousins had threatened
to kill her one day. These young men prepared themselves with
ritual washings, dressed themselves in white under their military
camouflage fatigues, and devoted themselves to die for the glory
of Allah before attacking the government offices. Sadly, their
mother was in full support of their actions.
Throughout this terrorist attack Marina said she and the others
felt the support of friends around the world praying for them,
with a sense of God’s wonderful protection throughout these
dreadful events. Although many innocent people in the city died,
none of the believers they know were harmed in the fighting. A
sense of peace has returned to the city.
Nalchik is one of the places we plan to continue our work training
leaders in children’s ministry with the help of folks like
Marina, Anna Anokhina, and Alina. We have been invited to expand
our training seminars to other cities in Siberia. We have met
with an enthusiastic response in every place we have conducted
these seminars. Your support of Narnia Center makes these seminars
possible.
Finally, a prayer request. The government of the Russian Federation
is discussing legislation that would place the legal status of
Narnia Center, as of all non-profit organizations, into jeopardy.
Please join us in prayer that we will be able to continue the
ministry we have begun in the name of Jesus Christ. Your prayers
and support are greatly appreciated.
Grace and Peace,
Donald Marsden
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
188 |
