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Friends of Latvia, Lithuania, to give pastors living wage
LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Mary Levack Quick

Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh hosts the Friends of Latvia and Lithuania Initiative.
May 9, 2006

PITTSBURGH (UMNS) — New pastoral leadership is emerging in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania, but help is needed in paying clergy salaries, according to supporters.

The 11th Friends of Latvia and Lithuania Initiative meeting, held April 28-30 at Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, highlighted the growing influence of young, seminary-trained pastors in their native land and the issue of low pastoral salaries in the two countries. Pastors are paid US$250 in Latvia and US$270 in Lithuania.

“In no way is this a livable wage,” said the Rev. William K. Quick, the partner church coordinator for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and an adjunct professor at United Methodist-related Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

Three Latvian and three Lithuanian indigenous leaders represented the “rebirth of United Methodism” following a half-century of Soviet occupation of the two countries, and a Lithuanian seminary student witnessed to the country’s continued growth.

These representatives to the meeting were selected by Bishop Oystein Olsen, episcopal leader of the Nordic and Baltic Area, which includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Estonia, as well as Latvia and Lithuania.

The bishop’s selection of these pastors for the annual gathering of the board’s “partner churches” and World Methodist Evangelism’s “connecting congregations” demonstrates to global Methodism the emergence of younger clergy replacing missionary pastors and assuming pastoral and preaching responsibilities, Quick said.

Partner church participants from 15 states were reminded by the Rev. S T Kimbrough that “one of the tragedies of our contemporary Methodist Church history has been the birth and death of our Baltic mission.”

The gathering’s attendees received a history lesson about the Baltic church in 1939, when war clouds hovered over Europe. After German and Soviet forces invaded the Baltics, the Methodist churches were closed. The Soviets later took control of the Baltic states and confiscating the church properties. Pastors who did not flee were killed or sent to Siberia. Some made their way to displaced persons’ or refugee camps.

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Mary Levack Quick

Grazina Bielousova (left), and the Rev. Viktorija Jablonskiene tell the gathering about the growth of the United Methodist Church in Lithuania.
Bishop Raymond Wade, a former Michigan bishop, visited these camps and located 26 of the pastors. They were appointed to Methodist churches and congregations. “The tragedy is none of us cared about their story,” Kimbrough said.

Having suffered more than 50 years of Soviet occupation, Latvia finds itself impoverished, a country with the lowest per-capita income and highest inflation in the European Union,  Quick reported. He issued a challenge to raise a pastor’s salary supplement fund for Latvian pastors, and $25,000 was pledged.

The Latvia United Methodist Church was reopened in 1991 and the Lithuania Church in 1995. Today, there are 13 organized churches in Latvia and 11 in Lithuania. In 2005 a new church was organized in Jelgava, Latvia, and a new congregation in Panevezys, Lithuania. Attendance in both countries continues to grow.

The total Methodist community served, including the varied social outreach ministries, reaches almost 5,000 people in the two countries. World Methodist Evangelism also supports the Latvia church through the Connecting Congregations program.

“Together, with the re-established UMC in Latvia, we are allowed to feel that we have been included in one large family again, embraced by the love of Jesus…so needed by the people in Latvia today,” said the Rev. Arijs Viksna, Latvia District superintendent, in a written message to the Pittsburgh meeting.

Latvian projects

Major projects established in Latvia during 2005 include the Hope Center, a child care facility in a historic wooden building adjacent to Riga’s First United Methodist Church. The building was the former Methodist Orphanage prior to the Soviet takeover. The Hope Center is a nonprofit organization that assists young pregnant women who choose to keep their baby. A grant from the British Methodist Conference enabled it to begin operations. Funds to renovate the century-old historic structure are estimated to cost $400,000. It will also operate as a day care center for young, single parent working mothers.

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Mary Levack Quick

Participants examine publications on display at the Friends of Latvia and Lithuania Initiative meeting.
During the meeting, new and established “friends” were highlighted, along with the work being done to support the church, congregations and ministries in both countries. These friends or partners are serving children and youth, renovating buildings and building new ones, including churches, and creating new facilities such as church camps.

Camp Wesley is the first camping facility in Latvia and was purchased through the combined efforts of the North Alabama, Holston and Red Bird Missionary conferences. It will serve children and youth of both countries as well as neighboring Estonia.

Plans for Lithuania

In Lithuania, the church owns property on which to build new churches in Birzai, Taurage and Kybartai, and plans to enlarge its building in Siauliai. Property is also being sought for the Eiguliai congregation in Kaunas. Six Volunteer in Mission teams worked in Birzai last summer on the renovation of an abandoned recruitment station for the Soviet Army. The building is about half-finished and needs funds and volunteers, according to the Rev. Teri Erbele, district superintendent. Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville, Ala., raised $100,000 towards a new church building in Kybartai and United Methodist churches in Geneva, Ill., raised $102,000 in cash and pledges for a new building in Taurage.

The Board of Global Ministries has challenged Eiguliai’s partner church — the First United Methodist Church in Royal Oak, Mich. — to raise matching funds of $100,000 to purchase a building near their present rental facility.

The gathering also recognized David Wu for 10 years of service to the Initiative and
and Kimbrough was presented a bronze Bishop Francis Asbury medallion. Noting that Asbury said, “Live or die, I must ride,” Quick commented, “Whereas Bishop Asbury is reported to have traveled 270,000 miles on horseback, Wu and Kimbrough have surely traveled by air at least 10 times or more than Asbury.”

The 2007 Latvia-Lithuania gathering is set for April 26-28 in the Dakotas.

*The above article was adapted from a release by the Rev. William Quick.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

In Mission Together

Lithuania Mission Initiative

Latvia Mission Initiative