Basel, Switzerland – Sunday, November 9, 2008 – 8:07am local time
I’m finally headed home this morning after a long but wonderful trip. Since the last leg of the journey is about to begin, I figured I should at least write something about our time in Kiev. Sometimes as we travel the schedule allows for easy times of writing and getting online to post updates. Other times, it’s not so convenient and I fall behind. I apologize.
Kiev was a fascinating city. I’d not been there before, and I anticipated another city of Communist-style block apartments as far as the eye could see and the typical Soviet gray everywhere. It wasn’t at all like that! Much of the city was beautiful and reminded me on some western European cities I’ve been in rather than a Soviet outpost on the eastern frontier. In the Soviet Union and well before, Kiev was one of the three primary cities of the Russian empire and thus it has always been very cosmopolitan. Baroque architecture is everywhere, and they use such fantastic colors on the buildings—yellow, teal, Carolina blue, gold, peach. The Orthodox cathedrals were the best. All painted up with brilliant gold onion domes shining for miles around. It really took me by surprise. Here’s the downside, though. The glorious past didn’t stop the decay. The city has definitely fallen into disrepair. It’s grimy, traffic is terrible (lots and lots and lots of new car owners in the last couple of years), and the economic crisis has hit Ukraine hard. That’s not to say that progress isn’t being made; it is and parts of the city shine like a coat of new paint. There is much to be done, however.
Our meetings in Kiev were all in the evening, save one day-time interview. So, we had the opportunity to play tourist quite a bit. We must have walked 20 miles in four days, but it was worth it! My favorite place was Mariinsky Park. The trees formed arching canopies over the walkways. The leaves were golden and orange and carpeted the park. It was peaceful and so enjoyable to stroll through on Thursday morning. Not too far from Mariinsky Park, on Wednesday night, we had perhaps the most interesting experience of the trip. A lady was stationed outside St. Michael’s Cathedral with a tableful of various souvenirs. Among them was a soccer jersey from the old Soviet team with CCCP emblazoned across the chest. We pointed it out and chuckled and she went off! She made sure in no uncertain terms that we knew she was born in Russia and spit on Ukraine! Arms gesturing wildly, shouting, “Down Ukraine! Russia big strong country!” A Ukrainian who was with us then made the mistake of saying that we were Americans. Oh, did she go apoplectic! She started growling at us, spitting, shouting, “Go home! Away! Away! Close door! Grrrrrrrr! RRRRRRRRR!” It was all quite comical really since we were in no danger whatsoever. Sad, too, though that she could be so bitter and trapped in the ideology of the past. I wondered what her life had been like. What had she been told about the world? Why was she in Kiev if she hated Ukraine so much? Memorable to say the least!
The reason for our visit to Ukraine, however, was to teach not play tourist. We had four scheduled events, and they all went off swimmingly. On Wednesday afternoon, we met a local journalist at a cafeteria for two interviews. He was a young guy, a Christian, and writes for two websites that are very popular in Ukraine. NATO is a big topic in the country these days as Ukraine ponders membership and the US ponders issuing an invitation. Apparently, most of the population desperately wants a greater relationship with the west instead of Russia, but they also generally oppose NATO membership. Seems a bit dichotomous to me, but who am I to know? One of our team members is a retired Rear Admiral from the US Navy, and he spent 35 minutes answering questions about NATO and geopolitics. I kept my mouth firmly shut and thoroughly enjoyed simply listening and learning. What a blessing to be able to hear that kind of insight from a godly man who knows what he’s talking about! The second interview was about Christian education in the US. We talked about educational history in the US, private Christian schools, homeschooling, secular and Christian universities, Regent University, MBA programs, all sorts of stuff. I think the journalist was a little overwhelmed with just how big a role Christian education plays in the American society. I really don’t think he even conceived of something like that in Ukraine.
Over three evenings, we had a chance to speak in a non-denominational church, give a seminar on making your home a center of Christian learning, and give a talk and participate in a roundtable discussion about Christian worldview and how it plays out in society. All three meetings were warmly received and we made some excellent contacts for follow-up work. The church service was particularly interesting for me in one respect. One of the Ukrainian university students who spent a lot of time with us as an informal guide and interpreter described the pastor as a “soft Charismatic or radical Baptist.” This was funny and very apt! We met him very briefly before he turned the entire Wednesday evening service over to us, and neither of us knew quite what to think of the other. New Life Church has about 1500 members in Kiev and has planted numerous other churches throughout the country. It is very influential. We met in the large auditorium at a local university, and the pastor sat at his own table during the service. It faced and adjoined the stage, meaning his back was to the congregation the whole time. On the table were an enormous laptop, two carafes of hot tea, and a complement of cups and sugars. For the entire message, he was buried in his laptop; I didn’t think he was listening to a word that was said. Bruce brought a great message about the four spheres of government and how the church must be involved in society, something new for Ukraine. At the end, the pastor took the mic to close the service, and I wondered what he would say. He then proceeded to speak for about ten minutes summarizing everything Bruce has said and especially urging his people to think about what the church could do in society to take back the authority that the state had usurped, what they could do to strengthen families, what they could do to empower self-government, and he repented for not being more involved civically. He even said that, “it was time that he visited the national administration and began to talk about the church in Kiev and Ukrainian society.” I was amazed and thrilled. An excellent night!
There is much more to tell, but this posting is already getting too long. Remind me to tell you about Vineyard Christian School. Fabulous testimony of Christian business and practicing what you preach. More to come.
Scott
1 comment:
Post a Comment