March 2002

Dear Friends,

After a week in Belarus with a delegation to explore this new area, I return trying to digest all that I saw and heard and what the implications are as we move ahead. Al and I have been in Russia for a full year now and have learned a great deal as we have moved about this country and communicated with partners on both sides of the globe. I return from Belarus committed to expanding the twinning program there as well. Early in the trip, I was asked by someone outside of our group if we didn’t think we should just walk away because the churches in Belarus are small. My response to the question was and is no. In Belarus, as in Russia, the churches are struggling under difficult circumstances and trying to meet the needs of the people around them. They haven’t given up and they are the ones carrying the burden.

The churches of Belarus, like the churches in Russia, work within a very poor country, and resources are sadly limited when the needs are great. The Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Belarus sees their most urgent call
to minister to children. One of their outreaches is a camp each summer in Brest, near the Polish border. During the three months, they are able to minister to about 900 children, providing good nutrition, medical care, and activities. Only about 40 percent of the children that come to the camp are from the ECB churches, the rest are from the streets of Belarus and the area around Gomel. This region still suffers the effects of the massive radiation it sustained from the Chernobyl disaster. The environmental damage here was the worst. After 16 years, foreign interest in and aid for the children of Chernobyl has dropped off significantly. The problem continues. Furthermore, there are unscrupulous people capitalizing on the region’s plight. They are
good at raising funds, but not so good at making sure the funds get to those in need.

For the young people in many rural areas, there is nothing to do. Boredom and despair lead some to turn to drugs and other unhealthy avenues. A concerned teacher in a village outside of Minsk turned to the Belarussian Round Table, an ecumenical organization that works to raise funds and support diaconal projects, for help in her community. Working together, they
have established a peer support program that has given young people vision and sense of their own role in facing community problems. It is a program that focuses on drug prevention and AIDS education through games. The young people are excited about teaching and supporting one another in a new way.

In Grodno, the Lutheran Church strives to renovate a church neglected during 60 years of communism, attend to the needs of their members, and work within their community. The church itself is the only surviving Lutheran church building built prior to the revolution. The congregation is made up largely of Belarussians of German heritage. They have struggled to find their place in a society that acknowledges Polish, Russian, and Belarussian ancestry, but
not German. There are other challenges in their church life as well. They have been without a pastor for the last ten years. A pastor generally visits once a month to serve communion. Otherwise, they lead themselves. Furthermore, in the winter, the church has no heat. For these months the oldest members and the youngest members cannot come. Their Sunday school program must stop. Three of our delegation visited and worshiped with the church in
Grodno. As I felt the cold seep into my bones, I realized what an additional burden this was for the congregation. In the face of all these challenges, they endure.

If you are interested in learning more about the church that continues to develop after the fall of the Soviet Union, our colleague in twinning in the U.S., Gary Payton, will be conducting a seminar this summer at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico from July 8 to 15. His workshop is called "After the Fall: The Church in Russia Today," and here’s how it’s described in the catalogue:

Eleven years ago, the U.S.S.R. dramatically ended. Revitalization of the
Christian church in Russia and the Ukraine today is exciting. It is also
challenging. What is life like in Russia today for a new Christian? How do
Russian Orthodox, Baptist, and Lutheran churches respond to their newfound
religious freedom? How is the PC(USA) involved in mission partnership with
these Russian churches? Join Gary Payton, our Presbyterian Regional
Facilitator for Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine to explore life in contemporary
Russia, the challenge and hope of the church in Russia, and Presbyterian
mission in this new society.

We ask for your prayers as we move forward. We ask for your prayers for the people of Russia and Belarus as they move forward. May all of our work be to His glory

Yours in Christ

Ellen & Al

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 94