IRVING, Texas (UMNS) – The ranks of rural chaplains have grown with the certification of 21 more people, including a Russian United Methodist.

Alexander (Sasha) Kaminin, both physician and pastor in three towns and three smaller villages, was certified with the class of 1999, but he is not the first rural chaplain from outside the United States.

The Rev. Michael Cruchley who is on the staff of the Arthur Rank Centre, a national ecumenical rural center, in England was certified in 1993. John Clarke, who recently retired as director of the Rank Centre, is also certified. The Rev. Marceliano Pascasio, director of a rural life center in the Philippines, is certified. ntly.

This year’s class was certified at the association’s annual meeting Nov.17-18.

Most of the 188 rural chaplains are located in the United States. Usually they serve as chaplains where they already reside or have been appointed by the church.

These spiritual caregivers for town and rural people are both clergy and lay and include people of different faiths. Cruchley is a clergyman of the United Reformed Church in England and also registered with the British Methodist Church. Some rural chaplains are Roman Catholic.

The Rural Chaplains Association was established by action of the 1992 General Conference. The chaplains minister to the people of small town and rural communities but also to their churches and communities. They are committed to being interpreters of farming, mining, timbering, fishing, and town and rural industrial and business issues to the church denominationally and ecumenically. They advocate at all levels of society and the church for just, participatory, sustainable and humanized social and economic town and rural systems.

During the past year the Rural Chaplains Association has conducted training events in the United States and Russia. Members are trying to help Kaminin, who serves a congregation of 20 people of all ages. They currently meet for worship services, Bible study and other activities in his home while he has been building a church next door, a cherished dream of his.

He explains that even though Russia, as part of the Soviet Union, was an atheist country for more than 70 years, its long Orthodox tradition carries the expectation that church is a special place, set aside for that use only. He is sure that more people will come to worship once the church has a sanctuary.

Already some of the teenagers walk almost 5 miles to reach his classes in all sorts of weather, he said. His teen-age churchgoers get Bible study in English and instruction in the use of his computer – the only one in the area. He also teaches a class at the local high school how to use the computer.

Kaminin lives near Iliok-Koshari, a community of 1,200 people 500 miles south of Moscow, not far from the border with Ukraine. Most of them earn an average of $12-$16 a month on the area’s collective farms, where the major crops are wheat and sugar beets. As the only medical doctor in the immediate area, Kaminin makes house calls. The nearest hospital is 15 miles away.

The first rural United Methodist church in Russia has started to take shape next door to Kaminin’s home. Started with the help of some small contributions from missionaries, the building and support for Kaminin has been adopted by the Rural Chaplains Association as part of the Supportive Congregations Program of the Board of Global Ministries.

The exterior of the building is complete, he says. Now he needs to complete the interior and provide furnishings. He expressed hope that it will be far enough along that he can begin holding regular services there next summer.

The first floor will have a sanctuary and two small classrooms. Upstairs will house living quarters for visitors from all over the world. "I believe it is very important to have cultural exchange," he declared. He explained that such experiences are essential to world peace.

Kaminin has been a doctor for 12 years and a pastor for three. Now that a United Methodist seminary in Moscow has begun, he is also a student by correspondence, making two trips a year to Moscow. There are about 70 United Methodist congregations in Russia, he said

Kaminin and his wife Tamara have two sons: Sasha, 8, and Misha, 5. Since he lives in an isolated area, he welcomes contact with United Methodists around the world. His e-mail address is: ATMS@belgtts.ru.

November 23, 1999

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, New York, and Washington.