wfn.org | ELCA Global Staff at Work in Russia

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 11, 1997

ELCA GLOBAL STAFF AT WORK IN RUSSIA
97-32-093-AH

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two missionaries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America work
providing food to the hungry in Russia through the
Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy.  The Revs. Twila K.
Schock and William P. Swanson arrived in Moscow in
October to work in the ecumenical and
intercultural congregation of Protestant
Christians.
         The Board of the ELCA's Division for
Global Mission, meeting here Oct. 23-25, heard a
report and viewed a video of the Soup Kitchen
Ministry and the Food Sharing Ministry of the
congregation.  Schock and Swanson, serving as
pastors for the congregation, succeed two
Presbyterian missionaries.
         Hunger among the aged is a serious
problem in Moscow, according to Andrea
Vedanayagam, who assists with the division's work
in Europe.  The Soup Kitchen Ministry provides a
hot midday meal for needy Russian senior citizens,
refugees and invalids, she told the board.
         Volunteers who help prepare and serve the
meals are young people, mostly refugees themselves
from countries affected by war, stranded in
Russia with no way of going back home.  They too
receive a hot meal.
         The congregation initiated the feeding
program in 1991, "seeing no hope of help from the
government," Vedanayagam reported.  The elderly
people who benefit receive a monthly government
pension, but it only covers the cost of groceries
for about two weeks because of ever-rising
inflation.
"The Soup Kitchen Ministry meets a vital need in
supplementing their diet," Vedanayagam said.
         Russian staff and student volunteers use
three cafes to prepare and serve about 5,000 hot
meals each week at a cost of about $3,000 per
week, or 61 cents per meal.  The ELCA World Hunger
Fund provides support as do funds from the
Reformed Church in America, Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), United Methodist Church and American
Baptist Church.
     The board voted to ask the ELCA Church
Council to grant formal "Recognition of
Relationship" to Sister Parish Incorporated.
Sister Parish, based in West Fargo, N.D., links
congregations in North America with congregations
in Central America, allowing them to experience
and encounter each other's lives and cultures.
     Sister Parish "relates to numerous ELCA
congregations in assisting them to travel and
relate with congregations in Latin America," the
board affirmed.  Sister Parish and the Division
for Global Mission's Companion Synod program can
mutually benefit from the relationship, according
to the board's action.
     The first delegation from Sister Parish
visited Mezquital, Guatemala, in 1989, beginning a
relationship that continues to today.  Sister
Parish reports about 40 linkages between Catholic,
Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ,
Episcopal and other congregations in the United
States with faith communities in Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador and
Mexico.
         The Rev. Winston D. Persaud, Wartburg
Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, was elected chairperson
of the board.
     The board accepted the retirement of two
long-term missionaries. Eileen Murray, an educator
and school administrator, served in India
beginning in 1965 and since 1995 in Namibia.
Murray has relocated to Punta Gorda, Fla.  The
Rev. Paul and Marie Senff worked in Papua New
Guinea since 1965.  Paul Senff was a missionary
pastor and seminary professor; Marie Senff worked
in the area of women's development and
administration.  They are living in Austin, Texas.
     The appointment of two new staff members was
announced to the board.
Kathy J. Magnus, Chicago, will be associate
director for international personnel; she succeeds
Joyce Bowers who is staffing a global mission
story project in the ELCA archives.  Thomas F.
Schaeffer will be program director for East Asia,
succeeding the Rev. Delbert E. Anderson who is
retiring.  Magnus served for six years as vice
president of the ELCA; she also was on the staff
of the church's Rocky Mountain Synod.  Schaeffer
has been a missionary pastor and administrator in
Malaysia and Singapore for the past ten years.  He
will move to Chicago from Singapore.
     Two representatives from the missionary staff
addressed the board: Karen Anderson, nurse and
organizer of Popular Education for Health
(Educacion Popular En Salud) in Chile; and the
Rev. Thomas P. Olson, pastor and agriculturalist
in the Central African Republic.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or
NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html