The other presidential election

It's pretty hard not to know more than you need to know about the ups and downs of the upcoming US presidential election. At least this year's edition has a little more unpredictability than some. But Russia is also holding a presidential election, which of course has significance for the whole world, because their policy of late is to more or less re-create the tensions of the Cold War for the sake of nationalist fervor at home. President Putin concludes his term with high approval ratings, unlike his American counterpart. He had the good fortune of ruling during a period of rising energy prices, and Russia is a net exporter of energy. Royalties and taxes have poured into government coffers. Some, but not enough, has trickled down to the populace. But more billionaires were made than anything else!

Since the main policy of Putin's regime was to consolidate power in the president's hand, there was much speculation that Putin would find some way around the two-term limit. He surprised everyone when he picked his successor, who seems a shoe-in, and then agreed to serve as prime minister. As far as the election goes, the only question seems to be the degree of voter turn-out and the percentage of the popular vote. Anemic numbers there will be an implied dissatisfaction, but will not, of course, change the result. It has yet to be seen how power will be shared between the new president and the new prime minister. Some speculate that after a short interval, the president will resign, thus allowing Putin to run again (the constitution prevents a third consecutive term, not a third term per se).

The majority of Russians seem content with these arrangements. But it does not bode well for democracy, unlike Ukraine, which has had three consecutive national elections, with ambiguous results, but were at least pretty fair. Russia is eroding whatever democracy they had. That is a concern for the whole world, even if Russians themselves acquiesce in it.

The election takes place this Sunday. Pray for Russia!

How to change everything in two weeks

Clicking on the title above will take you to an article by Peter Bush, published in Faith Today, entitled 'Two Weeks Overseas.' There he points out that something like $300 million dollars are spent yearly by Canadians participating on short term missions trips. That's a lot of money! That much money spent on anything is bound to raise questions. In this case, the main one is, 'Is it worth it?'

MPI believes it is, if the short term mission experience is well planned and actually engages in meaningful ministry. As the article points out, although building-project teams are popular because they leave the participants with the sense of having achieved something, even more important is relationship building. Last year MPI helped a church based team go to a restricted country. Their feedback: 'the people there are starving for fellowship; they just want us.' What price can you put on a relationship?

The article also makes another point that MPI likes to emphasize. Missions is not simply one program among a church's many others. Done properly, it will propel all other ministry. For example, as a result of doing short term missions, members of one church came home and started asking, 'Who has the same needs in our own community.' Focus and drive for local ministry comes from missions and one of the best ways to get those is by going on a short term team.

It is not too late for this year's teams. MPI has one going to Kiev in June and another to St. Petersburg in October. Information, including application forms is on the website. I encourage you to read the full article, think and pray about it, and then get involved. If you can't go yourself, help someone else to go. There is nothing else like two weeks overseas!

This week's prayer requests

Plans are going forward for this year's leadership seminar to be held in Crimea in mid-April. MPI facilitates this conference for about 120 pastors, workers and spouses and take a Canadian pastor or two along. Please pray for everything to fit together and for an effective conference.

• Continue to pray for our containers - one on the ocean and one in the final process of clearing customs in Ukraine.

• Please continue to pray for MPI's finances over these winter months.
  

Only the Christians care

A couple of weeks ago, Wayde and Doug attended MissionFest Manitoba, where we were repeatedly asked, 'So, what does Mission Partners do?' Good question. We do a lot of things - help support a drug rehab centre, an orphanage, a prison outreach ministry, collect and send humanitarian aid, assist with leadership development and work with a camping ministry. Its a mouthful! But at the basis of it all, the core of what MPI does is expressed on the sign outside our office in London - 'A Christian Humanitarian Aid Agency.'

Seventy years of communism eroded family life and any remaining social civilities were shattered by its collapse as people tried to adjust to new realities without any preparation. There is almost no middle class in some countries, although some, like Ukraine, have hopeful signs. The weakest are always most vulnerable - the elderly, the infirm, children, single mothers. Even with all the resources we have in Canada, we struggle to keep these people from falling into destructive cycles of poverty, addiction and abuse. There is almost no safety net in the former Soviet Union.

Consequently, there are many suffering people, and it is those people churches focus on to demonstrate that evangelical Christianity is not some foreign cult trying to steal the Slavic soul. Rather, real love and compassion is demonstrated as needy, hurting people are cared for. Go there and you will hear the repeated refrain, 'No one cared for me, only Christians.'

For a long time in our affluent Western church, we thought the business of the church was simply evangelism and we frowned on more holistic approaches to ministry that attempted to meet physical as well as spiritual needs. To be sure, it can be difficult to maintain a balance between the two approaches, but recently Western Christians have become more aware that the Bible says true religion visits the widow and that a cup of water given in Jesus name is received by Jesus himself. God created bodies as well as souls and we are to love both. So, MPI reaches out to people, through our national ministry partners, by attempting to meet physical needs so that the Gospel can not only be shared, but heard.

If we judge by how many people knit and sew and quilt for the poor, many folks understand this. A good article in Mission Frontiers magazine by Steve Saint, expressed his change in understanding. If you love people in tangible ways, they will receive it as from God. Click the title of this blog entry to go read the article (then click on 'Social Action and Evangelism: They don't compete'). Then do something!

This week's prayer requests

This week Ron and Heather head to Florida for a few days in the sun, to visit friends and contacts and to preach in a church or two. Please pray for safe journeys, a good rest and successful ministry.

• Please continue to pray for the infant daughter of Chad, the interim director of Children's Hope Orphanage in Kiev, who is continuing to recover from heart surgery. Chad has returned to Kiev, leaving his family in the USA for now.

• Anya, who assists Dr. Irina with the Mercy Ministry in Kiev has suffered a stoke. Please pray for her recovery.
  

In the News

MPI works with a Canadian church to sponsor a new church plant in Crimea, and in April, will be facilitating a Leadership Conference in Crimea for about 120 Ukrainian pastors and workers. Crimea is an autonomous republic in Ukraine and is quite different than the rest of the country. Now its population is predominately of Russian background. It has a remarkable number of Jews and prior to WWII had even more. It is also the area in which many Tatars settled. As the following article from this week's Kiev Post indicates, there are tensions around this largely Muslim group. Pastors there have told MPI that they feel that unless the Gospel makes significant inroads quickly, Crimea could become the next Chechnya, ie. site of open ethnic and political violence.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Unidentified assailants have vandalized a Tatar cemetery on Ukraine's Black Sea Crimea peninsula, destroying more than 200 grave stones and raising new tensions in the multiethnic region, authorities said Monday.

The vandalism happened in the early hours of Sunday in Nyzhnyohirsky, a village in the center of the peninsula, Crimean police spokesman Olexander Dombrovsky said.

The attackers killed a dog that was guarding the graves, and smashed the memorial stones with what appeared to be a giant hammer, Dombrovsky said.

Tensions between Muslim Tatars - a Turkic ethnic group - and ethnic Ukrainians and Russians persist in the Crimea.

The deputy head of the Tatar community organization urged authorities to investigate the cemetery's desecration, saying it could have been an attempt to stir up ethnic tensions. "The situation is very tense here," Remzi Ilyasov said. "It seems that someone is deliberately trying to destabilize the situation in the Crimea."

In 1944, the Tatar population of Crimea was deported en masse on the orders of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who accused them of collaborating with the Nazis. Many have returned since the 1991 Soviet collapse, seeking to regain ownership of their property and sometimes clashing with other residents over land and housing rights.

You can see a video from a pastor in Crimea on our Video Page

This week's prayer requests

The Russian presidental election takes place next month. It appears that President Putin's choice as his successor is almost certain of election, and if so, then Putin has agreed to serve as Prime Minister. This consolidation of power is of great concern to the world at large. Pray for this situation and for the Christians in Russia.

• The infant daughter of the American interim director of Children's Hope Orphanage in Kiev had heart surgery last week. Pray for this family and the baby's recovery.

• Please continue to pray for MPI's finances over these winter months.

Life and death for $5

The following report was written by John Norquay, who coordinates the Mercy Ministry in Kyrgyzstan. It shows the realities missionaries face and raises the question of what would we be like if our comfortable circumstances changed.

Shopping in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan certainly isn't like it is back home in Canada. In the bazaar in Tokmok, it is really quite unpleasant in mid December. The cold, the wind, the icy pathways make shopping something to be avoided as much as possible during winter months. However work doesn't go on hold for the winter, in fact it is a more desperate endeavor than other times of the year. The needs of some of our clients can become life threatening and with a limited budget and prices much higher, it is critical to make sure that everything is purchased as inexpensively as possible.

With this in mind, I sure didn't appreciate the rude attendant who apparently couldn't activate my phone card. So, while trudging through the bazaar, I was surprised to hear the phone chiming to tell me that time had been deposited on account.

Knowing how far I had to return to pay for the card, how unpleasant the attendant had been, how cold it was, I was sorely tempted not to bother returning. This, though tempting, wasn't really an option as I was raised to live by Christian values and one of them is honesty.
When I returned and showed the young girl my phone and handed her the money, I was rewarded by a smile that was worth so much more than the 215 som (about $5) that the card cost me.

On reflection, I thought that the value of the card could well have been the girl's salary for the day, and with the hand to mouth existence of so many here, most would not have returned to pay for the time. This is not meant as a critique on the honesty of the people here, as even in Canada so many people would not have returned. The big difference is that here, that money could be the question of survival. It is a sad reflection that here honesty can be a decision between values and survival. It is my hope that the work that we do here, and that is supported by kind donors in Canada, can help to reduce the suffering and make it easier for people to chose morals without need to worry about their existence.

This week's prayer requests

Please continue to pray for the container we shipped last week to Kiev - that it would arrive safely and clear customs without difficulty.

• Pray for Shaheeda and her family in Kyrgyzstan, featured in our newsletter some time ago. Her invalid father, has passed away, leaving her as an orphan.

• The winter is very cold in Kyrgyzstan so pray that our mercy workers are able help those who would suffer and perhaps die without intervention.