As many of you know, Worldwide Communion Sunday was Sunday, Oct 1.  Helen and I had the privilege of celebrating communion, by telephone from Kiev, with the Asbury United Methodist Church in Columbia S.C. Both Rev. Ed McWilliams and I read parts of the liturgy, some of which I read in Russian.  Unfortunately, the 7 hour time difference did not allow for our two churches to celebrate together, but Helen and I were able to celebrate with Asbury at home.  It was a wonderful reminder of the connection we have with the global United Methodist Church.  And here is some news from Ukraine to update our connection:

Annual Conference

The Ukraine and Moldova Provisional Annual Conference was held in Kiev from May 9-11, 2006 in Kiev.  Attending the conference were the pastors and lay leaders. One of the highlights of the conference was the attendance of the representatives of a church in Kishinev, Moldova who wish to become United Methodist.  Under current guidelines of the Annual Conference, existing churches who wish to become United Methodist must first declare their intent to the district superintendent through a church conference under the church’s existing rules, participate in the Annual Conferences’ activities and events for one year. During this year, the members of the church become members of the closest United Methodist church and the pastor of that UM church is the mentor of the applying church’s pastor.  At the end of the year, another church conference is held with a vote to see if the church still wants to become United Methodist.  If they do and the report of the district superintendent and pastoral mentor is favorable, the applying church is recommended to the next Annual Conference for acceptance as United Methodist and inclusion in the Annual Conference.

            In the last few weeks I was able to meet with the Leonard Chyorni, pastor of the Moldovan church in the city of Chernivtsi, the mentoring church UMC for Leonard and his church in Moldova.   Pastor Alexander Pinchuk of Chernivtsi UMC, Leonard and I sat down for a meeting to discuss the mentoring year.  Chernvitsi is a great church to engage in the mentoring process as they have more than doubled their attendance over the past year.  They now have three services on Sunday, with activities most everyday of the week. 

How did this extraordinary growth come about?  Due to a shortage of seats in the morning worship service, the church leadership decided to add an evening service so all could seat in both services.  But the result was that the morning service continued to be the same size with even with the addition of the new service.   A third praise service (no sermon)  between the morning and evening services was also added.  It has attracted a lot of people who have been intrigued by this different sort of service.   Pastor Alexander Pinchuk commented, “We really did not do anything special, but God added people as we have provided the opportunity for worship and praise.” 

            In addition, the Chernivtsi church has a theater group which has written, financed and put on a play entitled “Job”. The group sews their own costumes and creates their own stage sets.  Helen and I were able to see this play which is quite professionally done, based on the premise of an old servant which survived the first set of tragedies Job encountered telling the story to a newly hired servant.  Innovative ways of sharing the Good News has attracted many to the church.

            This past year has not been without it’s hard times for the Ukraine and Moldova Annual Conference.  Our church in Kiev and our Street Children Ministry both lost our lease on the premises we were renting and now have no place to meet.  The Kiev Istochnik, or Spring of Live, church is temporarily renting space in a movie theater while the Street Children Ministry has returned to ministry on the streets as was done in the beginning. 

Street Children Ministry

The lease dispute for the Street Children Ministry lasted over a 7 month period.  When Helen and I returned from last year’s itineration in the US, we discovered that the local city government had declined to extend our lease.  After lengthy discussions over several months which were complicated by the fact of the Ukrainian elections which drew the attention of the city officials we needed to speak with, we thought we had been making progress and we were going to have a meeting which would discuss the terms of the new lease.  But, when we arrived at the meeting, we were abruptly told that we must vacate the premises at the beginning of the month, which was less than a week away.  Though short notice, we found a place to store our equipment and were able to continue our program, though now outside, at a local stadium where we met the children earlier.

            After all the prayers we had lifted about this situation, how could God abandon us like this?  After all the successes in the ministry, why were we being put out of a place to meet?  During the last two weeks I have been encountering references to Job: the play in Chernivtsi, the lectionary readings during this week and our in our daily devotional.   In one of these daily devotions, I came across a quote of Abraham Heschel, the Jewish theologian who said “Job’s faith was unshakeable because it was the result of being shaken”.  God tells us that the rain and the sun will fall and shine on the godly and the ungodly.  Peter in his letter reminds us that we will suffer while on the path to the Kingdom with Christ.  But the daily devotion I read also reminded me we have the promise of the prophet Jeremiah: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  In Christ, the homeless children of Kiev always have a hope, the promise of a future and we try to be faithful to be the one of the instruments Christ uses to make sure that future and hope are fulfilled.  When the road ahead looks dark and uncertain, we are promised Christ is there with us.  It is our obligation to be faithful to continue along with him.

            But not all is dark and uncertain.  The director of another Christian organization in Kiev which has a day center for street children like our own has just been named by the mayor of Kiev to head the city Department for Juvenile Affairs.  They have responsibility for all city programs dealing with children. We had already become friends with him during meetings of our Kiev Children in Crisis Ministries association, so we rejoiced at having a sympathetic ear in the city government.  We had a meeting with him recently with the result that he will take up our case and help us find a new place to rent temporarily in anticipation of buying our own building in the future.

This summer we had our first joint camp with our street children and a short term mission team from Norway, consisting of 4 adults and 8 teens.  We were a little nervous at first, because for some of our kids, it has been a long time since they were in such a “controlled” environment, meaning a set time for meals, to get up, go to bed, have certain activities at certain times.  There were a few unexpected happenings, such as several boys fell out of the upper bunk beds simply because they were not used to sleeping in a bed.  And simple joys, like our children loving having their own room (shared with 2-4 others) and their own keys.  They decorated their rooms and as we discovered when camp was over, hoarded food from the cafeteria in various places around the room.  One of the boys, due to go on our trip to the Black Sea for them right after the camp, said he would gladly give up going to the Black Sea if only the camp would continue.

            Another “unexpected” discovery was that with a European mission team, (all our others have been American), they all know how to play soccer and more importantly, can play it well!  So soccer became the great connector between the Norwegian teens and our teens when spoken language was not in common.  The Bible studies went well, as did the games and activities.  When the camp was over, the Norwegians stayed an extra night at the camp site in anticipation of their plane the next morning.  Several of  street kids on their own managed to come back to the camp site that evening, (30 miles outside of Kiev)  bringing with them candy to give to the Norwegians for their trip back home.  We all were truly blessed by the connections made and the growth in the relationships between each other and with God. 

            We also have been blessed by Ivan, one of our “hard” cases, a 15 year old boy who looks 11 because of malnutrition and substance abuse.  Ivan has lived on the streets since he was nine.  If Ivan was put into an orphanage, he would run away in a couple of days.  If he went “home” to a distant relative, an aunt, in order to live, he would leave again within a week.  He never wanted to study with our teacher and was reluctant to speak of himself.

            This month, however, Ivan came to Svetlana, our daily director, and asked her to help him get into an orphanage where he could study. Ivan had a determination about him he never had before.  I believe it is because he realizes that if God loves him and we love him, then he could have a future and there is something better than life on the streets.  Many of the kids don’t think there can be a future, that a normal life is, as they say often, “not for kids like us”.  But a normal life is especially for kids like our homeless children, it is God’s plan for all of us.  Four years is a long time, but it is a blessing to see the fruit of patient love.

            It was with mixed feelings of joy and sadness that we sent Ivan off on the train to Rovno, a city where he is “officially” from and therefore, the place where he can live in an orphanage.  Joy for this new step in his life, but sadness that we won’t be seeing him on a regular basis anymore. He has stayed there now since early August, a record for him.  Ivan says he enjoys studying, he likes the living conditions, but wants us to visit him.  The staff will be visiting him in the near future.

Fall District Events

            This November, Helen will be hosting the United Methodist European Committee for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Concerns.  The committee, where Helen and I met, has been working for 14 years now starting with a special grant from the 1992 General Conference for Northern Europe.  The committee has now expanded its work to include all of the European Central Conferences.  Delegates from all the European countries, plus our Bishop Hans Vaxby and a guest Bishop from Uganda, Daniel Wandabula will be attending the conference. The purpose of the conference is to review the work of the committee over the last 14 years and plan for the future. 

            Also in November will be our bi-annual Pastors meeting to discuss organization in the Annual Conference.   The United Methodist Church in Ukraine has finally embarked on the course of establishing official work contracts for our pastors under Ukrainian law.  Now, our pastors will be able to participate in the state pension fund and years worked as a pastor will count towards participant years for pension calculation purposes.  Pastors will also be eligible for unemployment insurance, disability compensation and other such state benefits.  Our guest speaker will be Jeremy Basset, the VIM coordinator for the Oklahoma Conference who will give a seminar on being a mission site which receives VIM teams.

Prayer Requests:

1)      Both the Kiev Spring of Live Church and the Dosvitok Street Children ministry need a place to meet.  Pray for the funds to buy us a permanent place, but also the funds to rent temporary housing.

2)      One of our pastors, Ilya Boroxov in Sevastopol has problems with his kidneys.  Pray for a proper diagnosis and solution to this illness.

3)      Pray for the continuing growth of all of our churches.  We especially thank God for the excitement and exceptional growth we have seen in the Chernivtsi UMC, Uzhgorod parish, the Lviv Student Ministry and the Lugansk UMC. 

4)      Pray for the mentoring relationship between the Moldovan church and Chernivtsi UMC.

5)      Pray for the good weather to continue in Chernivtsi as the church hopes to continue with a construction project on the church building before bad weather sets in.

We thank all of you, our supporting churches for your continued interest in the Ukrainian church.  May God bless you as we have been blessed through you.