Designated Giving Initiative

Russia and Ukraine: Building Places of Peace

From now through January 2009, individuals, families, and congregations have the remarkable opportunity to help build places of peace in Russia and Ukraine where members and friends can come and experience the peace of Jesus Christ. Places of Peace: Russia to Ukraine, a designated-giving project with a goal of $330,000, will help provide sacred spaces for worship, social ministry, and to experience the peace of Jesus Christ in three cities in Russia (Novosibirsk, Moscow, and Voronezh) and two in Ukraine (Odessa and Kiev). Buildings will be purchased and converted into sacred spaces. Russia and Ukraine church members will provide much of the labor to renovate the interiors. Contributions received above the $330,000 goal will be used for additional Russia and Ukraine congregations and to provide peacemaking ministries in those countries.

Apostle Leonard Young, assigned to the North Atlantic (Europe/USA) Mission Field, recently shared his thoughts about the tremendous faith and vibrant witness of the Saints in Russia and Ukraine with Sandra Ferguson, Funding for Mission specialist.

Sandra: What will it mean to Community of Christ members and friends in Russia and Ukraine to know that their international church family is helping to raise the money needed to purchase and renovate buildings into sacred spaces?

Leonard: At the present time we have nowhere to meet on a regular basis. Generally members and friends crowd into small apartments to meet for prayer and sharing. In some places in Russia we have been forbidden to rent any public places. This makes it essential that we find a place of our own for the church to meet.

Our members have caught the spirit of peacemaking and want desperately to bring the witness of the peace of Jesus Christ to their communities. The message of the gospel finds warm reception in Ukraine and Russia because we preach the message of Zionic transformation. In cultures affected by Orthodoxy, the prevailing outlook is pessimistic and tends to see this world as a world of suffering to be endured. The Community of Christ shares a message of present hope as we seek to transform this world into God’s kingdom. This gets a hearing everywhere we pro-claim the hope of Zion. In nations that looked for several generations at transforming the world through military force and intimidation, our witness of the transforming power of Christ’s peace is powerful and lifts the hearts and minds of many.

How will having renovated facilities contribute to a more vibrant ministry in Russia and Ukraine?

Right now in Russia and Ukraine we can generally only baptize people in the summer, when the rivers are warm enough to use. If we can renovate facilities and include baptismal fonts, we will be capable of baptizing year-round. When people are ready for baptism, we have to be ready and able to accept them.

In most areas in Russia and Ukraine there is also some form of community outreach and service that is taking place as a ministry of the community of Christ. We have International Friendship Clubs for youth and young adults; a Christian Self-assistance Education Program; classes in English language and intercultural studies; and outreach through leadership education and physical training classes. Using these multiple “fishing pools” provides for unlimited growth potential in Russia and Ukraine. But that potential is being capped now by our inability to find suitable places for the church to gather for worship and to offer service and ministry to local communities.

Describe the programs and activities of the Friendship Clubs. What ages participate?

Seventy Stan Gladysh was looking for a way to match the skills he had to the needs of his community. Borisoglebsk, Russia, is a small city of 80,000 people in southwestern Russia, not far from the Ukraine border. There, young people have little to occupy them except for their schoolwork. The Borisoglebsk Friendship Club now has 200 young people participating in classes on peacemaking and cultural understanding. A camp is held once every two years, usually with about a hundred youths participating.

I see young lives completely turned around by the message and ministry of the Friendship Clubs. Elena Bezgina grew up in Borisoglebsk and came in contact with the Friendship Club in 2001, when she was about sixteen years old. She moved to Voronezh, Russia, in 2007 and began a Friendship Club there. Within the first year, about fifty young people participated weekly. She baptized two this year and is now an elder. The great majority of church members in Russia and Ukraine are young adults between the ages of eighteen and thirty. This is the direct result of ministries like the Friendship Club, where people are valued and made to feel special and important and where they learn the principles of the gospel of peace.

Describe the effect of the musical group “Oasis of Peace” on those who hear their music.

Oasis of Peace is the musical group from Kiev, Ukraine, who shared their musical ministry at the 2007 World Conference. The group regularly visits schools, kindergartens, and public places in and around Kiev to sing and share the gospel. I was with this group last summer in Odessa, Ukraine. We were trying to plant the church there. We would go to a place in the city where people gathered and the kids would begin to sing. Soon there was a crowd, and Elder Anatoliy Huralskyy, Priest Jenny Proctor from England, and I would begin to talk about the gospel of peace. By the end of the week we had baptized eight, ordained a priest, and organized a congregation. That group baptized a few more and there will be
eight more baptisms shortly. Oasis of Peace inspires people and helps to enliven our missionary witness.

How will having these sacred spaces impact the Community of Christ in Russia and Ukraine during the next decade?

The churches in Russia and Ukraine do much more than just meet for worship. Worship without witness and service is, according to an old Russian proverb, like “feeding the horse, but never riding him to the market.” Our hoped-for church meeting places in Ukraine and Russia will provide outposts for mission.

Alcoholism is a huge problem in Ukraine and Russia. The Yashinovata, Ukraine, congregation of about twenty has ambitiously undertaken outreach and ministry to alcoholics. As part of the “vodka culture,” many people turn from hopelessness to the bottle. They need a place to meet, talk, and have support from counselors and those who can help them get some perspective in their lives. This need also includes job training and motivation. The church there serves as such a center.

The church in Russia and Ukraine can, we hope, become separate mission centers in the next ten years. We already have inquiries for a half dozen other cities where we would like to plant the church. As outreach centers, we need to provide the infrastructure that will allow them to grow, and missionaries to move their attention to other areas of these countries where the gospel needs to go. The churches in Ukraine and Russia are ready to support growth in other places.

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