wfn.org | Methodists in Russia

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3250 notes).

Note 3250 by UMNS on Oct. 22, 1996 at 15:35 Eastern (2822 characters).

SEARCH: Russia, Board of Global Ministries
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                            536(10-71B){3250}
          New York (212)870-3803                     Oct. 22, 1996

Mission board begins work
in new section of Russia

                 by United Methodist News Service

     A cooperative project with a children's music school and a
Lutheran program for street children will begin mission work in a
new section of Russia for the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries.
     At its October meeting, the board's Women's Division
allocated $6,000 of its "Hope and Wholeness for Children and
Youth" grants to the project in Kaliningrad.
     Formerly part of Germany, the Kaliningrad-Oblast area once
had a number of German Methodist and Evangelische Gemeinschaft
(Evangelical) churches -- a denomination that united with German
Methodists in 1968. After World War II, Russia permanently annexed
the region.
     The Rev. S.T. Kimbrough Jr., the board's associate general
secretary for mission evangelism, has made several trips there to
trace any surviving church buildings or members.
     "All of our churches of both denominations in Kaliningrad-
city were totally demolished," he said. And while the Lutheran
church has established 35 new congregations in the region, "I've
not discovered anyone from the [Methodist-related] congregations
living in that area."
     Kimbrough did find one Evangelische Gemeinschaft church
building still standing in the city of Melnikovo. It is being used
as a community center.
     The Kaliningrad project, in conjunction with E.T.A. Hoffmann
Children's Music School and a Lutheran program that provides food
and shelter for street children, is one way Kimbrough hopes to
recover Methodist history and start new ties in the region. The
$6,000 grant will provide a teacher for the music school and allow
some of the street children to attend its programs.
     Kimbrough also is working toward an agreement that would
allow the United Methodist Church to have two offices and a
meeting room at the school.
     "As I look at the possibility of mission there, our task
would be (to operate) as a Russian-speaking Methodist church," he
said.
     Kimbrough hopes to be allowed some space at the former
Methodist building in Melnikovo as well for church-related youth
and adult activities. He also is interested in arranging
assistance for the farming community there.
     United Methodist Bishop Ruediger R. Minor of Moscow is
considering assigning a young Russian pastor to build a
congregation from scratch in the town of Sovietsk, he added.
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