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Russian Initiative
Our team: Karen Kline, Minoka Gunesekera, Minis Ridenour, Barbara Bonham, Peter Jones, Louise Ridenour, Hap Bonham and Gene Haugh
Update: Mission to Kiev.
On June 11, 2008 a team from BUMC will be leaving for Keiv, Ukraine. The team consists of Karen Kline, Minoka Gunesekera, Minis Ridenour, Barbara Bonham, Peter Jones, Louise Ridenour, Hap Bonham and Gene Haugh. After resting up from the flight and seeing parts of Keiv, the team will spend part of Saturday at the Center for Children with Cerebral Palsy. On Sunday we will worship at Istochinik UMC. Monday will be spent meeting with the local church leadership to hear about their programs and needs. Tuesday and Wednesday we will primarily be at the St. Luke's Children Center. We return home on Thursday, June 19. Most nights we will be eating with church families.
We all look forward to this busy week and ask for your prayers that we may be about God's will.
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Vladimir and Ludmila Khabryko
Visitors from Kiev strengthen ties
between Russian church and Virginia
Visitors from Kiev, Russia, are
strengthening the bonds between
Blacksburg United Methodist
Church and a small church in the
Ukraine.
Vladimir Khabryko, pastor of Spring
of Life Church in Kiev, and his wife,
Mila, recently spent time in Blacksburg
with their personal translator, Iryna
Volodarska. This is the second time the
Khabrykos have visited Blacksburg, and
members of the Blacksburg church have
visited the Ukraine twice as the partnership
has evolved.
“This partnership came out of something
the Methodist Church did when
the [Berlin] Wall came down,” said Dick
Arnold, a member of Blacksburg UMC
and a consultant for the General Board
of Global Ministries of The United Methodist
Church.
Arnold helped start the first Methodist
church in Russia. He now acts as a
liaison for churches across the United
States who want to partner with churches
in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
In 2001, a group of 10 church members
visited Kiev and in 2003, established an
official partnership with Spring of Life
Church, which has about 50 members.
The Blacksburg church supports
the Kiev church financially, funding
the pastor’s salary and rent payments
while the church works to establish a
permanent home. But the Blacksburg
congregation’s involvement in Kiev goes
deeper than a sisterhood with one small
church.
During the 2001 visit, the group from
Blacksburg discovered an outreach program
for the estimated 50,000-70,000
homeless children in Kiev. Spring of
Life Church also ministers to a men’s
prison and a center for children with
cerebral palsy.
While in Blacksburg the Khabrykos
had a taste of American life. They took
a tour of the Virginia Tech campus
and visited a preschool and elementary
school. They attended Sunday worship
services at Blacksburg UMC and met
with the church’s youth group and
other groups to share their ministry.
They also spoke to the Wesley Foundation
at Virginia Tech.
There are plans developing for future
trips to Kiev, as well as exchange programs
for Virginia Tech students.
“We’re committed to the congregation,”
said the Rev. Reggie Tuck, pastor
at Blacksburg UMC. “It’s helpful to have
them visit so we can learn about their
needs.” ❑
— Reprinted from The Roanoke
Be sure and check out the website/blog at www.umcumc.blogspot.com for the latest updates on our ministry in Ukraine.
Please note picture poster on the left from Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Email Dick
or call Dick Arnold at 540-961-1265
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