wfn.org | 'Friends' working to complete United Methodist Baltic Mission

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Center

Aug. 7 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.     {469}

NOTE:  Suzi Early Hatcher, a political reporter for The Mountain Press,
Sevierville, Tenn., will accompany the "Friends of Estonia" group and
will be filing stories and photographs for United Methodist News
Service.  Hatcher has 20 years of experience as a writer, photographer
and English teacher.   A list of the individuals participating in the
trip, with hometowns, is at the end of this story.  If you have special
needs or questions in advance of the trip, contact Suzi at (423)
428-0746 or e-mail her at sehatch@juno.com.  John Trundle can be reached
through Friends of Estonia office (428) 453-1350. 

A photograph is available with this story.

By Suzi Early Hatcher*

Members of a U.S.-based group supporting the completion of a United
Methodist Baltic Mission Center in Tallinn, Estonia, will be in that
capital  city Sept. 1 to kick off a two-year fund-raising campaign and
celebrate the first graduating class of a  new five-year-old seminary
there.

"Friends of Estonia," headed by United Methodist clergyman John Trundle
of Gatlinburg, Tenn., is working to raise $2 million to complete the
mission center.

The campaign is the second phase in the revitalization of the Estonian
United Methodist Church which was virtually destroyed during 50 years of
Soviet occupation. Estonia is a vital link between East and West,
between democracy and communism, between freedom and oppression,
according to Trundle.  The Friends group is made up of volunteers from
14 of the church's annual (regional) conferences.

Eleven individuals from four states will be participating in the 10-day
visit to Estonia. They will leave Aug. 28 and return Sept. 8.   Among
participants in the Sept. 1 festivities in Tallinn will be United
Methodist Bishop Hans Vaxby of Finland who area of supervision includes
Estonia. The United Methodist Church  is committed to rebuilding the
church throughout the Baltic region and former Soviet controlled
nations, both as a spiritual outreach, and as a direct challenge from
Jesus Christ to teach all nations, he said.

Estonia, one of three Baltic states with long histories,  is bounded on
the north by the Gulf of
Finland, on the south by Latvia and on the east by Russia. The country
is generally low-lying plain with numerous streams and lakes. 

The Communists took control of  Estonia in 1940 and exploited the
country for 45 years.
When churches were closed, religion went underground. 

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were among the first Soviet republics to
push toward independence in  the late 1980s. Communist rule collapsed in
1991 and the Soviet government recognized the independence of the Baltic
republics Sept. 6, 1991.

The first Tallinn congregation of the Episcopal Methodist Church in
Estonia was established in 1922. Early members were converts from
Methodist revivals conducted in Kuressaare, Estonia and St. Petersburg,
Russia. 

The congregation occupied a beautiful, spacious building which was
destroyed by Soviet bombs March 9, 1944.  The only things salvaged was
one trumpet stop from a once magnificent 800-pipe organ.  The church
building, topped by a golden steeple,  had a sanctuary that seated
1,500.  A silver plate on the church facade proclaimed "Soli Deo
Gloria," (To God be the Glory.)

A second congregation, Bethlehem Methodist Church, was organized in
Tallinn in 1935. It was taken by the Soviets in 1950 and  used as an
army radio station.  Methodists rented another building and persevered
throughout the remainder of Soviet occupation.

Today, the Estonian United Methodist Church has 2,000 full members in 23
congregations, served by 23 pastors. Most of the pastors work at other
jobs to support themselves and their families. One of the largest
congregations is in Tallinn.  Despite the Soviet oppression, the
congregation has grown to nearly 900 members, 120 of them Russian
speaking. 

After regaining independence, the Estonian government gave the United
Methodist Church three acres of land in a prime downtown spot in Tallinn
as compensation for its loss.  Being constructed on tlhe site is the
Baltic Mission Center which will house a seminary to train pastors and
church leaders, an 800-seat sanctuary, 13 Sunday school classrooms, a
youth meeting room, library, choir room, nursery, fellowship center,
bookstore and publishing house.

The center will minister to both the spiritual and physical needs of
people.  A soup kitchen and outreach center is planned  to serve
thousands of  homeless in the city.

To date, $2.5 million has been spent on the Baltic Mission Center and
another $2 million is needed for completion. Inflation and rising costs
have slowed construction on the project and prompted the need for added
funding.

One of the earliest and largest contributions to the center -- $1
million -- was made by the Kwang Lim Methodist Church in Seoul, Korea,
largest Methodist congregation in the world.   Largely through the
efforts of the Rev. J. Eddie Fox , Nashville, Tenn., others throughout
Methodism have contributed money to match the Korean gift. Fox is
director of world evangelism for the World Methodist Council. 

The Rev. Robert Harman,  New York, an executive with the United
Methodist  Board of Global Ministries, recently announced the
cancellation of a $100,000 loan to the church in Estonia and a
contribution of  $250,000 to the Baltic Mission Center from the board's
New Millennium Fund.

Trundle is planning another "friends" trip to Estonia in the fall of
1999,.

# # #

*Hatcher, a United Methodist, is political reporter for The Mountain
Press, Sevierville,Tenn.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE SEPT. 28-AUG. 6 TRIP:

Irvin Otis and Barbara Jean Arnold, Rossville, Ga.
Philip and Elsie Myers, Dunedin, Fla.
Carolyn Henslee, Little Rock, Ark.
John and Laura Trundle, Gatlinburg, Tenn.
John and Phyllis Marius, Lenoir City, Tenn.
Suzie Hatcher, Sevierville, Tenn.
M. Terry DeLoach, Cochran Ga.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/