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BY SARAH ALSGAARD
SPECIAL TO THE UMCONNECTION

Bishop Hans V?xby stood in the pulpit of Metropolitan Memorial UMC in Washington, D.C., on a cold February Sunday and quietly told a story of a church in an even colder clime: St. Petersburg, Russia.

He said that the church was a center for children, unusual in that city; a place where they could go to escape whatever difficulties lay in their homes.

People told Bishop V?xby that it wasn?t a 'real church' because it didn?t fit into the norm of that culture.

Bishop V?xby himself went to the center on a Sunday morning, he told the congregation at Metropolitan Memorial. He said that he was moved by their time of prayer, which lasted nearly 30 minutes. He was also touched by their ministry to the youth, who made up the majority of the congregation.

'How is this not a church?' Bishop V?xby asked. 'The church is saving the children. They know who they are. They know who they want to be as a church.'

The Bishop of Eurasia leads 104 churches and 112 pastors that are located in Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova; countries that consider The United Methodist Church to be a sect.

'We are looked upon as peculiar, foreign and most people do not know what difference there is between Mormons and Methodists,' Bishop V?xby said.

'Some (churches) use rented facilities ... so it?s not uncommon that some of these churches will move from place to place and sometimes suffer membership attrition in the process,' said the Rev. W. James Athearn, coordinator for the Russia Initiative, who was with the bishop when he spoke Feb. 26.

The Russia Initiative?s goal is to find United Methodist churches in the United States who are willing to support, both financially and spiritually, the relatively new churches in Eurasia as they grow and mature, he said.

'They?re all young Christians,' Athearn said. 'Even the pastors are young Christians.'

'It?s so important that we have role models to see what it means to be a Christian and to show what it means to be a United Methodist pastor,' Bishop V?xby said. 'It?s so important for us in Russia to see people who are examples of what being United Methodist means.'

Both the bishop and Athearn spoke of the importance of churches in the United States becoming involved in Eurasia, whether through mission trips, donations or prayer.

'Without that support from church to church, we would have been in real big trouble and maybe been forced to close several churches,' the bishop said.

Athearn said that the average amount of funds a Eurasian church requires is approximately $7,000 per year. The money provides for the pastoral salary, program ministry and funds for renting space. The Russia Initiative often clusters several donating churches together in order to provide the financial support.

'Half a dozen churches, a thousand dollars each, puts together a nice cluster of support,' Athearn said. 'You don?t have to be a big church in order to take part.'

Make the Connection

Six congregations in the Baltimore-Washington Conference actively support the Russia Initiative:

• Chevy Chase UMC
• Calvary UMC in Annapolis
• Bel Air UMC
• Faith UMC in Rockville
• Liberty Grove UMC
• Towson UMC

If your church?s name has been omitted from this list, or if you?d like more information, contact the Rev. Jim Athearn at , or call (540) 662-2066. More information is also on the Web at http://gbgm-umc.org/programs /missioninitiatives/russia/index.cfm.