08084
February 4, 2008
Readers’ right
Narnia Center leads Russia in publishing Christian literature for kids
 Alexei Markevich, director of the Narnia Center and Don Marsden, the PC(USA) missionary who is the founder and president, peruse one the Narnia Center’s books. Photo by Jerry Van Marter MOSCOW — American filmmakers didn’t know when they released “Bridge to Terabithia” here last year that the movie version of Presbyterian writer Katherine Paterson’s novel for young people would help put the Narnia Center on the Russian publishing map.
The principle mission of the Narnia Center, founded in 2000 by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionary Donald Marsden, is the publication of Christian fiction for children and youth. “I am convinced that there’s a tremendous need for Christian fiction for children,” Marsden explains, “to help them better understand God’s word through a larger literary world.”
Narnia’s best sellers over the years have been the Russian translations of Paterson’s novels for young people, to which Narnia has exclusive Russian rights. But with the movie release of Bridge to Terabithia, not only did Narnia see “a big bump in sales,” Marsden, Narnia’s president, said the secular book market in Russia opened up to the niche publisher.
“Secular bookstores, as well as school and public libraries now represent 50 percent of our sales,” he says.
The Narnia Center’s ministries have expanded over the seven years of its existence. The center conducts Christian education and children’s ministry leadership training for pastors and Christian educators, publishes Christian education curriculum and other resources, and works with Russian congregations that are developing ministries with special needs kids.
Marsden says he’s always been a Christian educator at heart. He began coming to Russia in 1993, when as associate pastor of Third Presbyterian Church in Richmond, VA, he brought groups from his church to conduct Vacation Bible Schools in the summers.
In 1997 he accepted a PC(USA) missionary assignment to run the denomination’s “twinning” project here that matches PC(USA) and Russian (primarily Baptist) congregations for mutual mission. “They knew I was an educator, that that was my life,” he smiles, “and they said ‘fine.’”
By 1999, Marsden knew that Narnia was his real calling in Russia and the PC(USA) agreed to find someone else to do the twinning project so that he could devote full time to the Narnia Center. In 2000, Ellen Smith arrived to assume responsibility for the twinning project.
 Some of the Christian literature for children and young adults published by Moscow's Narnia Center. Photo by Jerry Van Marter Like most small publishers, the Narnia Center struggles financially — “we operate on faith, not a shoestring,” Marsden says. That’s why Bridge to Terabithia’s success was so important. “We need about 100 titles in print to break even and right now we have about 40,” Marsden says, “but we’ve grown to the point where we can bring out 10 to 15 new titles a year.”
Marketing books in Russia, particularly for small publishers like Narnia, is by word-of-mouth, Marsden says. “We work primarily with secular distributors because they reach beyond the churches.”
With only about 1 percent of Russians attending church, that market is too small, and is not the market Narnia is trying to reach. Marsden describes Narnia’s fiction as “sermons hidden inside the books — what I call ‘back-door evangelism.’”
“We are on the edge of religion and culture here,” says the Rev. Alexei Markevich, a Baptist pastor and the Narnia Center’s director. “Though we are criticized on both sides, we are trying to connect religion and culture in this country.”
One way the Narnia Center is doing that is by encouraging Russian authors to write Christian fiction for kids. “When we started out we saw that very little was available and for 70 years (during the communist era) Christian literature was not allowed.”
The most popular Russian author in the Narnia stable is Viktor Krotov, who has written a series of books featuring a character named Ignatius the Worm that have been positively reviewed in the country’s media.
Such successes have led the Narnia Center to be featured at a number of prestigious book fairs and expositions, including a recent one in hallowed Red Square hosted by Russian President Putin’s wife. “We’ve even been interviewed on national radio broadcasts,” Markevich notes.
The Narnia Center is about to go through a major transition, as Marsden departs this month to join the staff of the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship to evangelize two unreached people groups in northern Siberia — the Nenets and Khant.
“The Nenets are nomadic reindeer herders, the Khant are semi-nomadic fishers,” Marsden explains. The initial effort involves traveling 500 miles north by all-terrain vehicle from village to village along the Ob River all the way to the Arctic Ocean, beginning Feb. 14. “The best time to go is winter,” Marsden says, “because there are no roads but we can drive on the frozen river.”
Marsden has full confidence in the Narnia Center’s future. “A large part of our budget comes from PC(USA) congregations,” he says, “and they take their commitments very seriously. After 9/11 a lot of attention shifted away from Russia to the Middle East, but not the Presbyterians’. I am confident that support for Narnia will continue if we keep getting the word out to Presbyterians.”
An advisory board, established last fall, and an experienced staff — Markevich, for instance, has been with Narnia since its inception — ensure that the Narnia Center will continue to grow. Foundations are being approached for grants and Marsden has recently submitted a proposal to Presbyterian Women for funding from the Thank Offering.
Contributions for the Narnia Center may be sent through normal mission-giving channels by designating gifts for ECO # 051800 - Narnia Center. Gifts by credit card can be made by calling PresbyTel at (800) 872-3283, or checks payable to the PC(USA) can be mailed to: Presbyterian Church (USA), Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Designate the check to ECO #051800 - Narnia Center. Contributions may also be made by check payable to “The Outreach Foundation of the Presbyterian Church” and mailed to The Outreach Foundation, attention Linda Patrick, 318 Seaboard Lane, Suite 205, Franklin, TN 37067, or by calling the foundation at (800)791-5023. The memo on the check should read “Narnia Center.” For further information contact Donald Marsden.
Information about and correspondence from Don Marsden and other PC(USA) mission workers around the world is available at the Mission Connections Web site.
Presbyterian News Service Coordinator Jerry Van Marter is sharing personal reflections of his 12-day assignment in Russia on a blog called “From Russia With Love.” |
