Children and Youth

Russian and Belarussian Orphanages

Tens of thousands of children, orphaned or abandoned, exist in private and state-sponsored orphanages across Russia and Belarus. The orphanages are characterized by poor food and facilities, inadequate medical care, and an underpaid staff. Gifts to this fund will enable partner churches to provide Christian love, material support and enhanced outreach to orphanages in the communities where PC(USA) congregation "twins" are located.

Church Development/Redevelopment

Russia Church Twinning Project

The Russia Church twinning project links PC(USA) congregations with Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Reformed and other congregations across the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The relationships strengthen the spiritual bonds that unite two congregations and create the opportunity for PC(USA) congregations to live out their mission in the world. Gifts support the administration of congregational relationships, travel to sister churches in Russia, and camps for Russian pastors and families who come together for spiritual renewal.

Education

ELCROS Theological Seminary Student Scholarship

Gifts to this fund will help support one student at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) seminary in St. Petersburg. The seminary trains young men and women for pastoral leadership positions in Lutheran churches across the former Soviet Union. Following over 70 years of Communism, seminary graduates are an integral part of revitalizing the historic Lutheran church in Russia.

Kargel and Badaeker School

The Kargel and Badaeker School in St. Petersburg is one of only two Christian schools in a metropolis of 4.5 million. The school was founded and is directed by Garth Moller, a PC(USA) minister from the Presbytery of San Gabriel. Supporting 100 students, the school seeks to educate students to know God as revealed in Scripture, to develop character, and to develop their full educational potential. Gifts will be used to purchase textbooks and equipment.

Narnia Educational Center

The Narnia Educational Center, based in Moscow, exists to provide discerning Russian-language literature for the ministry of Christian education to children, youth, and adults. Additionally the Center provides practical workbooks for the development of Christian teachers and leaders.

Russian Bible Institutes  

Russian Bible Institutes make available the opportunity for basic theological training for pastors and missionaries of many emerging churches in Russia. Offering four-weeks-per-year resident training followed by home assignments and practical work, the five-year program is designed for Christian workers who are employed full-time but unable to leave their ministry or workplace to study at an established seminary.

St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological College, Russia

St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological College appeals to laity and openness to inter-confessional dialogue and free discussions. The college has 150 students and 40 specialists who give lectures on 60 subjects and conduct 17 seminars. The library needs books, and the college is seeking to purchase a building of its own.

Seminary Professors in Russia

Gifts to this ECO will support mission personnel serving as missionary seminary professors in Russia.

Evangelism

Bering Witness Mission to the Russian Far East

The Yukon Presbytery, in ecumenical partnership with four other denominations, is preparing and sending Yupik (Eskimo) evangelists to the native peoples of Siberia. New believers from Siberia have come for training and encouragement to serve as house church leaders and Bible study leaders in their home villages. The goal is to establish an indigenous, self-sustaining church among the native peoples of the Chukotka Peninsula of Siberia.

Siberian Unreached People Initiative in Russia PFF (Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship)

It is estimated that there are 156 separate ethnic groups in Russia and that 120 of them are without a viable church. Russian Baptists are committed to planting churches among these unreached peoples. In fact, Baptists in Siberia are already involved in an outreach among those who are closest to established congregations. There is an opportunity for the PC(USA) to work in partnership with the Baptist Church to reach out to the unreached peoples of Siberia.

Joe and Hannah Kang  serve with the theological seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) near St. Petersburg. Joe, an ordained PC(USA) minister, is a professor, and Hannah is studying Russian and doing ministry through the home.

Jin Kim, an ordained PC(USA) minister, is a professor of practical theology at the Canaan Theological Seminary in St. Petersburg. He also serves as pastor of the Light of Christ Church.

The Rev. Garth Moller — Director, Kargel and Badaeker School

Garth Moller, an ordained PC(USA) minister, serves in St. Petersburg as the director of the Kargel and Baedeker School, which includes two schools—a Russian and international Christian day school and a Russian-language school for foreign workers. Garth also works with Sluzhenia, a charitable organization that provides a common platform for a variety of mission and charitable organizations while concentrating on work with children in crisis, especially street children.

Gary Payton — Regional Liaison for Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine

Based in his home in Idaho, Gary Payton is the PC(USA) regional liaison for Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. He serves as a “bridge” between partner churches and other mission co-workers in the region and PC(USA) entities and individuals engaged in mission in the four countries.

Alan and Ellen Smith —Coordinator for Congregational Twinning

Al and Ellen Smith are coordinators of the congregational twinning project in Russia and Belarus. This is a program that matches interested congregations in the United States with congregations in Russia and Belarus for friendship and mission. Al also teaches mathematics at Hinkson Christian Academy in Moscow.

Other Support

Boots for Children Russia

It all started with a television news program. A small child in the Russian far north was asked what he'd like more than anything for Christmas. He replied, "warm boots." Russia's economy is broken, but problems are amplified many times over in the northern reaches of Siberia and remote areas of Russia. Food, clothing and other supplies are more difficult to come by. Gifts to this project will provide warm boots and other clothing for the children and adults in the frozen extremes of Russia.

Russian Institute for Missiology

The Orthodox Institute of Ecumenism and Missiology is a research, education and publishing organization dedicated to improving interdenominational cooperation and understanding. The Institute includes the Irenicon Center for Peace and Reconciliation, promoting peacemaking education; the Apostolic City publishing house, developing mission materials for theological institutions; and the Center for Social Initiatives, working with orphanages.

Regional Liaison for Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland

Support to this ECO will enable the regional liaison for Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland to work with churches and organizations in the Slavic-speaking portion of the former Soviet Union. Funds will be used to defray travel and telephone expenses. The regional liaison’s responsibilities include support to missionaries on the field, congregational twinning relationships, support to theological education, support to Russian partner churches spreading the Good News to people who do not know Christ, and facilitating a variety of faith-based humanitarian projects.

The Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy Programs, Russia

The Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy (MPC) is a multinational, interdenominational, English-speaking Protestant congregation organized in 1962 by the National Council of Churches of Christ of the U.S.A., based on a 1933 agreement between the U.S. and Soviet governments to ensure religious freedom for foreigners in the U.S.S.R. After the collapse of Communism the ministry grew to include students and refugees from Africa and Asia, as well as diplomats, businesspeople and others from around the world. As part of the mission MPC operates a number of social ministry programs: two soup kitchens, a food pantry and sharing ministry that distributes food each month to international refugees and students, cooperation with a local interracial children's charity and other services to those living on the margins of Russian society.