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Latvia’s United Methodist Camp Is Busy Summer Mission Center |
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Riga, Latvia, June 17, 2008--Wesley Camp and Retreat Center, the three-year-old retreat center of the United Methodist Church in Latvia, is set for a busy summer of Christian witness and fellowship at its still-under-renovation facility on the Baltic Sea. The camp is an international mission project involving United Methodists from Latvia and neighboring Lithuania and annual conferences in the United States and Western Europe through the Latvia Initiative of the General Board of Global Ministries. The camp is near the city of Leipaja on property that was a farm before the church acquired it in 2004. The importance of the camp to the United Methodists of Latvia may not be immediately evident to those in places where church camps are common. The facility represents hopes reborn and ministry extended to the most ignored groups in society. Methodism first came to Latvia in early 1921, quickly grew to 20 congregations, and in 1925 sent its first missionary to India. World War II and the Soviet period reduced the church to a "smoldering wick" that began to glow again when Latvia regained its independence in 1992. Latvia today has 13 United Methodist congregations, 11 that worship in Latvian and two in Russian. The church includes many poor people and, in Methodist fashion, is slowly rebuilding its social as well as spiritual ministries. This is happening in collaboration with others within the United Methodist global connection. "Wesley Days," the first major summer event, from June 30 to July 6, will combine morning devotions and fellowship with afternoon physical labor and fellowship. Participants will come from all 13 Latvian United Methodist congregations and from other countries, according to Dan Randall, a United Methodist missionary who coordinates youth work for the church in Latvia. Young adults from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania will gather in mid-July for one of several regional summer conferences of Christians in Action, a European organization of United Methodist youth. Some 30 participants are expected. Randall's wife, Courtney Randall, also a missionary in the area of Christian education, reports that 85 children from Latvia and Lithuania will attend camps at Wesley in August. Camp Wesley was a farm before the 24-acre-site was bought by the church. Twenty of the acres are still in agricultural use. The former farm buildings--including a home, a stable, a barn, and storage buildings--are slowly being transformed into camp facilities. One formerly unused building is being turned into a summer sanctuary to serve the camps and the various mission-volunteer work teams that come to the camp. The Holston, North Alabama, and Red Bird Missionary Conferences in the United States and the United Methodist Church in Denmark have been particularly active in providing funds and volunteers for work at Camp Wesley. Camp Wesley is not the only site in Latvia where mission-volunteer teams are involved. Missionary Dan Randall said in a telephone interview that a group from North Alabama would be working later in the summer at the Hope Center in Liepa. This center provides residential space and services to indigent young mothers. The goals this year include redeveloping space in an apartment house to include a ground-floor sanctuary. The visiting team will also provide vacation Bible school for Hope Center children. Both Camp Wesley and the United Methodist Church in Latvia have new English-language internet sites, the camp at www.wesleycamp.net and the church at www.umcinlatvia.org. Dan and Courtney Randall have a blog on their work at www.randallsreflections.blogspot.com. He is working toward ordination. The Russian Initiative, a network of mission partners, has periodical consultations, and its coordinator, the Rev. Dr. William Quick of Duke University Divinity School, publishes an occasional Friends of Latvia Newsletter.The most recent, May, 2008, newsletter can be read online at http://gbgm-umc.org/initiatives/ (click on Latvia). Look for Friends of Latvia Newsletter on the right hand side of the page. Latvia is included in the United Methodist Central Conference of Northern Europe. Camp Wesley and the Latvia Initiative can be supported through The Advance, the United-Methodist-designated mission giving channel. The number for the camp is Advance 15160N; the initiative, Advance 00235A. Gifts can be made online at givetomission.org, by phone, 888-252-6174, or by mail to GCFA Advance, P.O. Box 9068, GPO, New York, NY 10087-9068. Please indicate Advance number in the memo line of checks. Checks for Advance projects can also be placed in the offering plate of any United Methodist congregation. One hundred percent of each gift goes to the designated ministry.
Date posted: Jun 17, 2008 |
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