wfn.org | Plan to Finish Tallinn Mission Center

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 454 by UMNS on Nov. 13, 1997 at 16:37 Eastern (2464 characters).

CONTACT:	Ralph E. Baker						  643(10-71B){455}
		Nashville, Tenn.  (615) 742-5470			Nov. 13, 1997

United Methodists to work out plan
to complete mission center in Estonia

by United Methodist News Service*

Representatives of groups constructing a major new Methodist facility in
Tallinn, Estonia, will gather Jan. 9-11 at First United Methodist Church,
Marietta, Ga., to develop a plan to complete the work.
Under construction for three years, the Baltic Mission Center is about half
completed, according to the Rev. John Trundle of the Holston Conference and
convener of Friends of Estonia, an ad hoc group interested in mission work in
the former Soviet Union.
"We’re within striking distance of completing the facility," said the Rev. Wes
Griffin of Carrollton, Ga., associate director of World Evangelism, an arm of
the World Methodist Council, who served on the founding team of Baltic
Theological Seminary, to be housed at the center.
Other groups involved in the center’s construction include United Methodist
Volunteers in Mission (VIM) and the churchwide Board of Global Ministries. 
The First Church congregation also has a long-standing relationship with
United Methodists in Estonia.
The completed center will house an 800-seat sanctuary at one end and the
seminary at the other.  The building also will include a dormitory, a
publishing house, a soup kitchen and bookstore. Currently two offices are the
only rooms of the building being used.
According to Trundle, the first priority is raising $500,000 to $600,000 by
May 1 to underwrite VIM construction teams from May to September.
About half of the $5 million total cost of the building has been raised and
spent on construction of the exterior. A major contribution, $1 million came
from Kwang Lim Methodist Church in Korea and another $1.5 million was donated
by people from Europe, Asia and the United States.
Teams from Holston Conference have installed windows and all that is needed to
winterize the center is installing the doors, Trundle said.
The Marietta meeting will be a "gathering to develop strategies for
cooperation among all interested groups . . . how we can work together to
complete the job," he said.  "We will develop a plan for national fundraising
and a timetable for completion."
#  #  #

* This story is based on information provided by Alice Smith, executive
director of Georgia United Methodist Communications Council.

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