Strategic Summary of our Russian Focus
What we are doing:
Helping college-age orphans run the race marked out for them, through You Are Not Alone Club, a Young-Life style ministry, Camp Ministries, a school for adoptive parents, and advocacy.
Our Mission:
To bring a message of hope to Russian orphans, that though abandonded by earthly parents, they would come to know a Heavenly Father who wants to adopt them as His very own, having redeemed them by the price of His own Son's life.
Orphan Ministry Core Values:
That a personal, persistent pursuit of Jesus is absolutely essential to survival in ministry.
That people are only truly transformed when they are transformed by a work of God through His Holy Spirit.
That orphans are highly valued by God as reflected in Scripture and therefore, a commitment to care for orphans should mark the life of the Christian and Christ's Bride, the Church.
That the chief end of mankind is to worship God, and gather more worshippers, who together with people of every nation, will enjoy Him forever.
Ministry Strategic Summary
A significant strategic shift in the ministry has taken place as the need for the residential aspect of housing young men in transition has diminished. After ten years of Hope House ministry, we shifted some of our resources to helping Russian families who are adopting and fostering children from the orphanage system. This is one of several compounded reasons for the diminished role of the Hope House ministry. The team offers a school for adoptive parents, and each summer hosts a camp for these families. Members of the team are also helping facilitate a wood-working workshop ministry, primarily offereing opportunity for relational engagement for members of the team to come alongside young men emerging from the orpahanages, in addition to providing them new life skills. The same is being done also with a couple of the ladies on the team, teaching skills in working with clay on the spinning wheels of a ceramics studio.
Since returning to the states, Ann and I continue to administer and develop support for this work in Voronezh, as well as support and encourage the leadership team, as they lead a team of 40 volunteers in various facets of ministry in the region, including visits to the orphanages, Young Life style ministries like the "You Are Not Alone Club", as well as many camps throughout the year.
Last summer the team served in various orphan camps throughout the summer, and the same is now being planned for this coming summer, including a camp for children with Down Syndrome and their parents, and the camp mentioned above for families who are adopting or fostering orphans. Videos featuring the team's ministry at these camps, most of which were done by Sasha Meshkov of our MOCT Digital video ministry, give a great perspective on the ministry team at work! You can find many of these videos at this link, "MINISTRY VIDEOS".
This video ministry we call MOCT Digital is becoming more and more established as a self-sustaining small business. This allows several of the older guys with whom we walk to engage in ministry opportunities, both in their local churches as well as with local and major national ministries for whom we provide video/AV services. And, these guys are gaining valuable skills that can serve them in the marketplace. They currently serve local churches, local ministries, camps, ministry to families with Down Syndrome children, as well as involvement on a national scope supporting ministries throughout Russia. One of the things I find most exciting about our guys work with these national ministries is the opportunities they've had to be exposed to Christianity on a much broader scale than they'll ever get in Voronezh.
In Summary
Major Target
Developing Russian ministry leadership, walking with young orphanage graduates in the context of the local church community.
Major Strategies
1. Training & resourcing our local team leaders
2. School for Adoptive Parents
3. You Are Not Alone Club
4. Orphan Camps
5. Advocacy work, helping give voice to the voiceless, and life skills projects like MOCT Digital, the wood-working shop, and ceramics studio.