BWC partners with Russia

BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Although the Baltimore-Washington Conference and the Black Soil District are separated by 5,728 miles, with the new Russian Partnership, the two places are now only a prayer apart.

In November 2008, Bishops John Schol of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and Hans Växby of the Eurasia Area signed a covenant for "mutual learning, support and mission development."

The covenant links the 680 area American churches with the 17 churches of the Black Soil District, which lies 350 miles south of Moscow, spans 400 miles and represents what Växby calls "the heartland of Russian Methodism."

The Black Soil District is one of two large districts in the Southern Russia Conference. The district is the size of Texas and includes major cities like Voronezh, with 1.2 million residents, and Volgargrad, formerly Stalingrad.

This international partnership is the third for the Baltimore-Washington Conference, which is also linked in ministry with Zimbabwe and the Nambu South Conference in South Korea. "The relationships formed with these partnerships take us outside our walls and expand our discipleship in exciting and innovative ways," Schol said. "We learn a great deal from our partners."

The next step, the bishop said, is for local churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference to begin to create relationships and ministries with the churches of the Black Soil District.

Initially, these partnerships will include financial support. "It is almost impossible for a United Methodist congregation in Russia to thrive without outside financial support," said the Rev. Charles Harrell of Trinity UMC in Prince Frederick who co-chairs the Russia Partnership.

Harrell also envisions members of the two congregations praying for one another in significant ways. He imagines cultural exchanges and learning as relationships develop, and perhaps even sharing common ministries and mission.

With today's technologies, the possibilities are broad -- almost limitless, said Harrell, who meets regularly via Skype with a joint ministry task force of seven others for faith sharing and to set a course for future shared projects.

Methodism's historic roots

For Harrell, who studied Russian in college and has an avid interest in Russian culture, watching The United Methodist Church be born anew in fresh and distinct ways is exciting and inspiring.

Methodism was rooted in Russia in the 1800s, he explained. In 1909, Czar Nicholas recognized the right of the denomination to exist in his empire. In the years leading up to the revolution in 1917, Methodism became known as a church that combined holiness with social action. Its members fed the poor, cared for the orphans, and gave all they had to a nation in need.

But with the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, it became dangerous to practice one's faith. Religious leaders were sent to gulags or killed by firing squads. In 1927, when Stalin seized power, the last Methodist missionary pulled away from the train station, historian ST Kimbrough Jr. wrote.

When communism fell in 1991, the new Russian government remembered the Methodists' mission-spirit. The United Methodist Committee on Relief was named as the lead agency for humanitarian aid.

In the new era of perestroika, there seemed to be a rush of the Holy Spirit as Protestant and evangelical churches poured into Russia. However in recent years the welcome they received has cooled as both the Russian Orthodox Church and secularism have claimed the culture.

In 1991 and soon afterwards in Russia, "people, who had been told for so long that religion is dead, were allowed to accept their own feelings and curiosity," said Växby. "They thought ‘maybe there is relevance in religion. Maybe God is there to help us live.'"

But for many, that curiosity has faded, Växby said. "Unfortunately a lot of people turned very soon to indifference and the mood today is more like it is in the rest of Western Europe. People do not care. People do not go to church. ... Unfortunately there is a lot of prejudice toward Protestant groups."

In Veronezh, which used to be a closed city with a lot of industry under the Soviet regime, the people are slow to embrace the often disappointing capitalist and democratic systems.

The Rev. Irina Mitina, pastor of Resurrection UMC in Veronezh, talked with the United Methodist News Service about many of her neighbors inhospitable feelings towards the church, which meets in a renovated factory building.

"They say they don't want to come to our church," she said. "They say that we are sects and cults and things like this; just prejudice, but what can we do?" Some churches have been victims of arson and some of their members have faced persecution.

Up from the ashes

But many United Methodist Russians are claiming the bold spirit of resurrection, said Bishop Schol. He remembers visiting Mitina in Russia and hearing her story. She was an atheist who worked as a translator and during a revival of a visiting pastor from the United States, the Spirit of God moved through her. At that moment, she accepted Christ and has not looked back, said the bishop, who finds her enthusiasm inspiring.

The Rev. Igor Volovodov, who pastors Peter and Paul UMC in Veronezh and serves as superintendent of the Black Soil District, shares this enthusiasm. A former Soviet factory boss, he told the United Methodist News Service that his 50-member congregation is alive with Christ. "We have big plans," he said. "We want to be a church that plants new churches. We want to be a church where there is a lot of youth. We want for our church to become a mother church of other churches."

"Russia today tends to be a secular society with an Orthodox veneer," Harrell said. But there's also something very soulful. "Their communities are tight. They rely on one another. The Russians have something to teach us when it comes to relationships. They also have something to teach us when it comes to the immediacy of their faith. They trust in God. We've gotten sophisticated and don't always live our faith. For them, to be Christian is to be counter-cultural. To see their heart for Christ is wonderful."

Methodism makes a difference

The United Methodist Church is contributing something special to Russian culture. It used to be that there wasn't even a word for volunteer in Russian, Harrell said. "Under the Soviet mentality, the government did it all. But today Russians have begun to catch sight of service and connectionalism."

Bishop Växby agreed about the United Methodist contribution to Russia. "We do not divide life into one spiritual part and then another practical or social part," he said. "It is a whole thing. We have a boldness in this emphasis. And I think that is a contribution."

Harrell and Växby also agree that while the cultures in the United States and Russia are wonderfully unique and distinct, there is a common bond of humanity between all people and United Methodism serves to make this bond even stronger.

Harrell feels it during worship, when people from both cultures sing the same praise songs to God, each in their own language.

For Växby, there is "something about the Methodist ethos that's the same. "I think it is our understanding of grace," he said. "Wherever we are in our life or in whatever phase a person is in during his or her life, God is always at work in that. ... I think that it is that trust in God's grace and activity that creates the generosity that so many people say they notice in the Methodist church.