wfn.org | Estonian pastor expresses gratitude for American support

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 20, 1999	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{030}

NASHVILLE (UMNS) - Gratitude and amazement were expressed by a United
Methodist pastor from Estonia as he met with about 85 people from across the
United States who have chosen  his country as the focus of their mission and
ministry. 

In a Jan. 15 address to a gathering of Friends of Estonia USA,  the Rev.
Ullas Tankler, pastor of the Agape Center in Parnu, Estonia, wondered aloud
what the United Methodist Church in Estonia had done to warrant friendship
from people in America and what it had done to "earn all this concern, care
toil and labor, and love and grace that you have shown to us in so many
ways." 

The Friends of Estonia was formally organized in 1997 and is led by the Rev.
John Trundle of  Gatlinburg, Tenn. The group's mission is to find the most
effective ways to support the ministry and mission of the United Methodist
Church in Estonia. The group is particularly interested in the completion of
the Baltic Mission Center in Tallinn, which houses the 5-year-old Baltic
Methodist Theological Seminary.  

The seminary expected to have 12 students when it opened in 1994 but ended
up with 52 crowded into a United Methodist office building in Tallinn.  Last
June, 19 students received degrees.

The Jan. 15-16 meeting was the third annual gathering of people from across
the United States who are supporting the ministries of the Baltic Mission
Center with prayer and contributions. Many of those attending had been to
Estonia at least once as part of a Volunteers In Mission team. They brought
excitement from their own churches, a desire to participate in meeting some
of the immediate needs and interest in the long-range plans of Estonia's
United Methodist community.

Tankler is in the Unites States for 10 months working on a doctoral degree
at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and serving as pastor in
residence at Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Okla He will return to
Estonia this summer to resume the pastorate of the Agape Center and to teach
at the Methodist seminary

As he opened his address, Tankler gave the group a lesson in demographics,
noting that Estonia is less than half the size of Tennessee or Kentucky and
has a population of only 1.5 million.  Given the size of Estonia, Tankler
expressed amazement that Friends of Estonia would care.  "You take care of
us as if we matter," he observed.  While noting that such support is
"difficult to comprehend," he said it was undoubtedly an answer to God's
call.

Methodism came to Estonia in 1907 and was driven underground 37 years later
during the communist occupation. A Soviet bombing raid destroyed the
Methodist church in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, in 1944. During the
occupation, the communist government confiscated all church property. The
United Methodist Church survived for 50 years by holding secret meetings.

Under the leadership of the Rev. Olav Parnamets, district superintendent,
United Methodists began dreaming of a new church home in 1989. Four years
later, after the fall of communism, Estonia's new government gave the
Methodist church the right to retrieve the property that had been
confiscated by the communists. 

The rebuilding process began with a $1 million gift from the Kwang Lim
Methodist Church of Seoul, South Korea, for the Baltic Mission Center.
During the construction, the congregation is worshipping in a Seventh Day
Adventist church.

The Estonian church appealed to the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries and the United Methodist Church in 1995 for help in completing
the center. The board gave a $160,000 loan to pay construction costs.
Estonian officials agreed the loan would be repaid using contributions
received  through the Advance, the denomination's second-mile mission giving
program.

In 1997, the board forgave the outstanding $86,000 loan balance of the
center and pledged to match donations up to $250,000. The first gift,
totaling $117,000, was sent last June. The matching grant was made available
through the board's Millennium Fund and was received by the Friends of
Estonia USA as a challenge gift to help complete the center.

Baltic Mission Center officials are looking to the entire denomination for
assistance in raising the nearly $1.5 million needed to complete the second
phase.  The $4 million, 51,500-square-foot center will house an 800-seat
sanctuary, a book store and a multipurpose area. It also will be home to the
first soup kitchen and outreach center in Tallinn, where thousands are
homeless and poverty is rife. 

At the end of 1998, the Friends of Estonia group raised $900,000 for the
Baltic Mission Center, reported Harry Turner of Kingsport, Tenn., finance
chairman for the group. Another $110,000 is needed to complete the seminary,
he said. The seminary will move from its current location just off Town
Square in Tallinn's Old City this month to its new modern facility with
innovative features to serve a student body that speaks three different
languages: Estonian, Russian and English.

In a letter to the Friends of Estonia, Andrus Norak, president of the
seminary, said about $18,000 is  needed monthly to keep the school
operating.   The seminary also needs $2,000 for moving expenses, $4,000 for
repair of the president's house, and $1,100 for computer equipment in the
library, he said.

During the meeting, Turner and other group members brainstormed ways to
raise the $1.5 million to complete the seminary and complete construction of
the sanctuary.  Conversations revolved around donor fatigue, pledges and
annual conference donations. 

"We all have the feeling that we are privileged to take part of the ongoing
miracle of God which you, our dear friends, have made possible with your
generosity and prayers," Norak told the group. 

United Methodist Bishop Hans Vaxby of Finland, who oversees United Methodist
work in Estonia, said "Building bridges is the vision behind the Baltic
Mission Center . . . God has a calling for his people called United
Methodists to build these connections, these bridges to others."

"The most important factor in the survival of the Estonian United Methodist
Church, said Vaxby,  has been the leadership of the people. "Indigenous
people stay with the people, they identify with the people. They don't
commute to ministry," he said.

United Methodists can send donations to the Baltic Mission Center through
the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, Advance Special #010923-5AN
(BMC), General Treasurer, Room 1439, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY
10115; or through the World Evangelism Office, Scarritt-Bennett Center, 1008
19th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn. 37212-2166. Designate Sanctuary, BMC, Estonia
with the contribution. 

The next meeting of Friends of Estonia USA will be Jan. 14-15, 2000 in
Lexington, Ky.
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