08100
February 8, 2008

Unto the least of these

PC(USA) supports outreach to orphanages in Russia

by Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

SMOLENSK, Russia — When Pastor Viktor Vladimirovich Ignatenkov, his wife, Nadia, and the orphanage ministry team of First Baptist Church here walk into Kardymoro Orphanage, the children flock to them like moths to a flame.

Bringing guitars and song-leaders, Bible stories and lessons, games and crafts, and hugs and gentle conversation, the First Baptist members are like family … no, better than family, because they bring love rather than neglect.

One of the bathrooms in the orphanage at Dukhovschino that has not been renovated. Photo by Jerry Van Marter

An estimated 1 million Russian children live in orphanages. Some are parentless but many more are victims of abuse and neglect and have been institutionalized by the Russian government.

Conditions in many orphanages are quite good. Others , like many of the 32 around Smolensk — far from Moscow — are chronically underfunded. Staff members are paid a pittance and buildings are old and ramshackle.

But the greatest need of these kids is human kindness and the love that is absent from their homes, Ignatenkov says. “We want them to grow up knowing they’re living and working with Jesus Christ.”

Now involved with 16 orphanages, the First Baptist team visits each one weekly, bringing music, Bible lessons, games, arts and crafts, hugs, simple gifts — toothpaste, shampoo, school supplies — and most importantly, hope.

“A bond is going on that builds confidence and trust,” says Nina Shakurova, a psychologist who works with the most troubled kids. “The most difficult are often the brightest and drawing out their intelligence and creativity is important to them and to us. Meeting their physical, social and spiritual needs is a holistic ministry that’s not just for now but for their future as well.”

Meeting that enormous need would be a challenge for any church, but First Baptist is attempting it with a congregation of just 230 members. “We would not be able to do all this ministry without partners and everything we do is with partners.”

Ignatenkov particularly appreciates Presbyterians. First Baptist has a 10-year “twinning” partnership with White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC, part of the Russia Church Twinning Program — a PC(USA) program that was started by the Outreach Foundation and is now coordinated by Ellen Smith, a Moscow-based PC(USA) missionary.

A newly refurbished bathroom at Dukhovschino, funding by White Memorial Church in Raleigh, NC, and the Outreach Foundation, with labor furnished by Smolensk’s First Baptist Church. Photo by Jerry Van Marter

The First Baptist-White Memorial partnership is the longest-running in the program and “probably the most highly evolved,” Smith says. The Outreach Foundation is still heavily involved in the twinning program and “generously supports our ministries,” Ignatenkov says.

White Memorial has sent youth ministry teams to Smolensk to visit orphanages and help conduct summer camp programs for orphans. “We are so grateful for them because they make our ministry possible,” Ignatenkov says. “We want more Presbyterian partners because they always join us for the long haul and understand partnership.”

One of the orphanages in most need is in the small village of Dukhovschnio, about 30 miles outside Smolensk. Providing for 140 children ages 7-18 with learning disabilities, the three-building complex is in sad shape. “Not much attention is paid to this one,” says Director Vladimir Konstantinovich Burgusev. “Only First Baptist and PC(USA).”

With funding from the Outreach Foundation and White Memorial and labor supplied by First Baptist, the unspeakably filthy bathrooms in the Dukhovschnio orphanage are being replaced with clean, modern fixtures. Only through the First Baptist-Outreach  Foundation-White Memorial partnership is such a renovation possible. “There is a meager budget for maintenance or repairs,” notes Burgusev.

Such love and care is not going to be found in many of these kids’ homes. “Many times, when kids go home for the weekend, their parents sell their clothes,” Burgusev says, adding that relations between the orphanage and the village are good but villagers don’t come to the orphanage the way First Baptist team members do. “And the kids also love it when the friends from White Memorial come visit.”

First Baptist began visiting orphanages in 1988, starting with an orphanage for young children — the state-run Russian system of orphanages classifies orphans and assigns them according to ability or disability. “The orphanage had no program so we just went and figured out what to do — taking candy, toys, games and music,” Ignatenkov says. “Then we started going to an older kids’ orphanage, taking books and telling Bible stories.”

Other people started joining the ministry and other orphanages heard about the ministry and asked First Baptist to come to them, too. “We saw the importance of this ministry and the need for better planning and training, so seven years ago we started the orphanage ministry team,” he says.

Associate pastor Ivan Popkov and Orphanage Team Member Anna Sergeieva lead kids at the Kardymovo orphanage during Bible stories and songs. Photo by Jerry Van Marter

“Without the church, without God, these kids will fail,” says Ivan Popkov, associate pastor of First Baptist and leader of the orphanage ministry team. “If we don’t help them succeed, then the orphanages will overfill with their children.”

Constant encouragement and love are essential components of the orphanage ministry, says team member Irina Oleinik, who is also Ignatenkov’s daughter. “We show the kids that even when their lessons are not going well we love them and that we’re going to give them all the love we can,” she says, “so they’ll know that God loves them no matter what.”

Nadia Ignatenkov has a special ministry with the young women of the orphanages, Ellen Smith says. “It’s not cool to be good and these young women, just coming into their sexuality, have no positive models or healthy relationships to guide them. Nadia gives them the kind of non-judgmental but principled love that makes them want to make the right decisions. She has many ‘daughters’ in the orphanages.”

At Kardymoro, 200 kids ages 3-18 are cared for by a small paid staff. That’s why the presence of volunteers and visitors is so important. “They cannot take the place of parents, but together they do their best,” Ellen Smith says. “The effort of First Baptist is much appreciated and powerful, to share in and care for their struggles and victories.”

Here, too, the bathrooms are being renovated — the materials supplied by the Outreach Foundation and White Memorial and the labor furnished by First Baptist. “The day to day work has to be done by the local church, First Baptist,” Ellen Smith says. “But when groups like White Memorial come and do special activities, the kids love it and see that they are loved.

“The involvement of Presbyterians with First Baptist Church and these kids is a powerful demonstration of our unity in Christ,” she says.

“Nothing is inconsequential.”

For information about and letters from Ellen Smith and other PC(USA) missionaries around the world, visit the Mission Connections Web site. To financially support of the PC(USA)’s Russia Church Twinning Project, call PresbyTel at 1-800-872-3283 and ask for Extra Commitment Giving account #047954. To contribute to Russian and Belarusian orphanages related to the PC(USA), ask for Extra Commitment Giving account #051641. To support the work of the Outreach Foundation, a validated mission support group of the PC(USA), visit the 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.”