Monday, November 22, 2004
Russia's Rev. Valerij Khe Speaks: 11-22-04
TINNEY CHAPEL MEMBERS TURNED OUT (ABOVE) TO SUPPORT SENIOR PASTOR DUNCAN GRAHAM (standing at far left in second row) who is chair of the Paris-Sulphur Springs (PSS) UMC District Russia Initiative. Rev. Graham worked jointly with Rev. Henry Suche to arrange tonight's meeting at First UMC Winnsboro, where the speaker was Rev. Valerij Khe (kneeling at right in front row), a distinguished pastor in Moscow, Russia. Photo by Angela Wylie & Rev. Henry Suche.
DISTRICT RUSSIA INITIATIVE EVENT
AT WINNSBORO FIRST UMC
By Rev. Duncan Graham, Chair, PSS-UMC District Russia Initiative
Rev. Valerij Khe’s recent visit to several churches in our Paris-Sulphur Springs United Methodist Church (PSS UMC) District, including tonight's appearance in Winnsboro, was well received. He spoke for five to 10 minutes at each place, and then answered questions from the audience. The key things I gleaned out of his answers are that:
(1.) The Methodist Church in Russia now has about 100 congregations. Most of these congregations could not continue to survive without the ongoing support of the United Methodist Church in America. Many of the congregations in Russia are meeting in people’s apartments and have no church building of their own.
(2.) It is extremely difficult for young people to serve as pastors of churches because funds are so limited. They need about $250.00 per month to live on, and the young struggling churches cannot afford to pay that much. The young people must then go find other jobs to support themselves.
(3.) There is a need for more training of their pastors, and Rev. Khe requested that we provide seminars, with pastors and district superintendents, to come to Russia, and teach their pastors how to work at building and growing their churches.
(4) As always, they also need prayers, finances, and visits.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For background on the PSS-UMC Russia Initiative, see Rev. Graham’s recent report to North Texas Conference Bishop Rhymes Moncure Jr. at the link below:
http://tinneychapeltoday.blogspot.com/2004/11/pss-umc-russia-initiative-11-15-04.html
