(Bishop Hans Vaxby of Moscow accepts a stole and cap after being made a member of the Rural Chaplains Association at the 12th consultation of the United Methodist Russia Initiative. The Rural Chaplains help to organize rural congregations in the US to provide assistance to rural churches in Russia and other countries in the Eurasia Area of the denomination.)
One of the real blessings of this job is the opportunity I get on occasion to see first hand where our church is in mission.
In 2001, before I was even in my job full-time, I was privileged to travel to Smolensk, Russia to see the work that had been done through the participation of the Conference in the General Board of Global Ministries Russia Initiative (Smolensk is one of the mission sites we support, the second is in Kerch, Ukraine). We flew from JFK to Moscow, then took an overnight, 8 hour train trip from Moscow to Smolensk (on a train where no one spoke english and all we knew how to say was "spasiba" or thank you). We were met in Smolensk by families who had been touched by our ministry there, and they took us to their homes and treated us like we were Kings (or maybe Czars!).
In the 1990's when we first heard about the Russia Initiative there were 15 United Methodist Churches in Russia. By 2001 when I went for the first time, there were 88! Presently, the number of congregations is 104 and growing!
The Russia Initiative is not just about churches sending money to churches over there. It is about building bridges to reach people who were once the "evil empire." Since the inception of the Initiative, 6000 United Methodists have made the trip to meet face to face those who were once the most feared enemy. For those who are old enough to remember hiding under their desk in the 1960's in drills that were suppose to prepare us for a Russian attack, this is a humbling experience. When I shared those grade school memories with people my age in Smolensk, they laughed at the silliness that they were doing the same ridiculous drill in their schools as well.
Don't take my word for it, though. Make the trip yourself.
Their are groups that go from our conference every summer: some involve work teams, some involve teaching a summer school project, some involve youth, some are focused on witness and teaching in Bible study groups that have been formed there.
Check out general information about the Russia Initiative at: http://gbgm-umc.org/programs/missioninitiatives/russia/
To find out about the groups going to Smolensk this summer, visit http://www.gnjumc.org/MissionOpportunity2006.html
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