Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

them. Baptist churches were a natural channel for humanitarian efforts, with a reputation for good organ- '6 Vera Kadaeva, “Seminar molodykh sluzhitelei rossiiskoi federatsii’, Bratskii vestnik, no. 6 (1988), p. 58. '7 §.I. Nikolaev, “Po dorogam severnogo kraia’, Bratskii vestnik, no. 3 (1989), p. 77. '8 “Tz zhizni pomestnykh tserkvei’, Bratskii vestnik, no. 6 (1989), p. 86. '? Viktoriia Mazharova, “Byl bolen, i vy posetili Menia”, Bratskii vestnik, no. 6 (1988), p. 70. 215 sare” ' isation and honesty. Their large number of foreign contacts also drew them | quickly into charitable activity. Nathaniel Davis notes that during this early period, the Orthodox response was comparatively slow in “its effort to step into the breach, and some Protestant Christians moved more quickly than the Orthodox and on a larger scale””° In the November 1991 interview cited above, Mikhail Ivolgin stated that in the Russian Federation alone, Evangelical Christians-Baptists already sponsored or served as patrons of 120 hospitals, 145 children’s homes and boarding schools, 95 facilities for the disabled, and over 130 correctional labour facilities (reformatories).”! Types of Charitable Outreach By the early twenty-first century, of course, the ministry frenzy of the early 1990s had died down, as activities and relationships stabilised. I have observed three basic types of formal social service ministry carried on by evangelicals in post-Soviet Ukraine: 1) humanitarian (or material) aid; 2) social service ministries directed to specific needs; and 3) the establish- ment of social service institutions. The receipt and distribution of humanitarian aid may take several forms. A church or association of churches, a Christian charitable fund, a mission society, or an institution such as a theological school may have the neces- sary juridical status and resources (such as transportation and storage facilities) to receive humanitarian aid from abroad. The key element here is the relationship with foreign partners capable of collecting and shipping aid. Such aid is often used for the church or institution's own needs, but also may be put to use in a number of other ways. Churches or missions may have relationships with children’s homes, hospitals or secular charitable organisations dedicated to specific groups. Regular visitation may be estab- lished. This often begins with a special event, such as a holiday celebration, for which the church or mission prepares a programme - a skit or puppet show, music and a sermon - and brings gifts of humanitarian aid as well, such as groceries, literature or school supplies. Government-run agencies frequently contact Christian missions or churches for assistance with supplies. I am aware of several occasions in which area prisons have turned to Pavel Metlenko, Senior Presbyter of the Association of Baptist Churches of the Zaporizhzhia oblast, for supplies ~, ” Davis, A Long Wa