|
 
ake three churches-one in eastern Latvia, two in Oregon-add mud, and what do you get? Youth ministry that's changing lives.
Over the past six years, Christmas Valley Community Church in central Oregon and Calvin Presbyterian Church in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon have ministered in the little village of Tilza, ten miles from the Russian border. Christmas Valley concentrated on renovation of three buildings on a 6-acre site returned to the small Baptist church after Soviet withdrawal from Latvia. Calvin began a sister-church relationship with this church, Tilza Baptist, and sent teams each summer to reach children and youth for Christ through English-language camps.
In 2003, the three churches decided to work more closely together. A team was formed to pray, share ideas, and plan joint ministry. One important ministry is youth camps, a tremendous way to reach young people in Latvia. Because of Tilza's renovated church buildings, these camps can be held year-'round-which brings us to the mud. Let the Pastor of the Tilza Baptist Church explain...
"There were 42 kids in camp, mostly those who attended previous camps, but also some first timers, about 5-8. Many were from Tilza, and others from Rezekne and Gulbene [90 minutes away], and Riga, Jurmala, and Limbazi [5 hours away by bus]. We had 15 staff people, too.
Everything started very well. However, we had one bad thing to struggle with - the weather. It was warm, +4 C, and the snow and ice melted so that mud and water was everywhere. We ate at the high school, but because of mud we had to drive kids there, with each trip taking a half-hour. The road was almost out of order."
During one chapel service, the pastor spoke about the fact that Jesus knows everything about us and reveals to us our true character. God revealed the true character of Pastor Aigars and the youth camp staff as they persistently reached out to these young people in a challenging situation.
The three churches were thankful that the youth camp could be held. Campers meet, eat, and sleep in the largest building on the Tilza site, the "yellow house" Conference Center. One renovation has yet to be completed for this building-the updating of the aging septic system. The regional authorities are very close to shutting down future camps at the site.
Dan and Katie Roth, Christmas Valley's "homegrown" missionaries to Tilza, and the rest of the Christmas Valley/Calvin/Tilza team were hopeful that the septic problem could be easily resolved before the Roths' return to eastern Latvia this summer. However, after meetings with other ministries dealing with similar issues, the answer is not as simple as hoped for.
Before the septic system can be fixed, the Conference Center needs to be legally defined as a non-government organization (the Latvian term for a non-profit). This means that when Dan and Katie return to Tilza, they will be dealing with lawyers and not septic systems. The entire 6 acre Tilza site and the three buildings on the site will need to be surveyed and architectural drawings created. Without these foundational steps completed, any request to update the septic system will be denied.
The joint team of Tilza Baptist, Calvin Presbyterian, and Christmas Valley Community Church ask for your prayers. The team's focus shifts from finding a good and honest septic contractor to locating a lawyer and an architect with these same traits. Contributions already given towards the septic system will be held at Bridge Builders International for when the legal and architectural work is completed and the septic system update can begin.
Please especially pray for Dan and Katie as they consider how they will balance their growing family, their ministry work in Tilza, and this challenge of dealing with these important legal issues. Their work in the coming year will be crucial toward ensuring that the three churches' ministries of youth camps, Christian leader training, community development, and evangelism/church planting will continue to have a home in eastern Latvia.
If you or your church are interested in helping with efforts to extend the Gospel's reach in eastern Latvia, please contact Dan and Katie Roth at katie@latnet.lv.
Contributions can be made through Bridge Builders International. Please enclose a note that the donation is for the Tilza ministry.
|
