The Currier

From Currie Courier, v17.2

Murmansk 2009

This issue highlights the week Mark spent north of the Arctic Circle, in October.  Vladimir Iakovlev, who had joined us in planting New Hope Church  in 1995, invited Mark on behalf of the churches he worked with in the Murmansk region.  Vladimir and his wife Sveta have a wonderful ministry with Pastor Peter Makarchuk and an association of independent churches that operate a drug rehabilita-tion center. They invited Mark to return for a month next year. 

To the left, I've included photos in the photo album Step-by-Step in Murmansk Oblast.

 

Urbana 2009 and World Outreach Conference 2010

From December 27-31, 2009, NHI will exhibit at Urbana 09, the InterVarsity missions conference to be held St. Louis, Missouri.  Check these sites for more information:  www.urbana.org and www.urbana09.org.    Then from 01-03 February 2010, we will participate in the World Outreach Conference for missions at Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa Falls, GA.  We want to connect with people with whom we can partner in Russia, India, the Czech Republic, and beyond. 

 

Churachandpur 2010

Our February conference in NE India with national associate, Angam Haokip, will not occur. Please continue to pray for Angam and for Don Lee who works directly with him in Bangalore. Angam sends missionary teachers and pastors from his seminary in Bangalore to penetrate Buddhist and Hindu frontiers in Assam, Manipur, and across the borders into Burma, Bhutan, and Nepal. 

 

New Hope Church, Moscow

This fall the elders have spent significant time with Mark praying and seeking God's direction and help to find a permanent resident pastoral leader.  The Young Adults remain a strong point in our fellowship, but too many people have become overwhelmed by life pressures in Moscow and have stepped back from previous involvement in the ministry.  The Holy Spirit is helping the church to answer God's wake-up call.

 

Chris's Corner

This is a post from the Currie Courier, 1 September 2009, v.17.1

The Book of Nehemiah has often drawn me for encouragement and guidance on the subject of leadership. We held our annual New Hope International mission retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, in June, with 16 people participating, including our missionary couple from India, another couple raising support to go to Russia, a new couple who joined our mission in January of this year, and a new Board member, plus our administrator, current Board members, and friends of the mission. We spent four days of Biblical teaching, worship, prayer, and presentations and discussions on discipleship, communication, building community across cultures, and raising support. We have been accepted to set up an informational display at the Urbana 09 missions conference, sponsored by Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, from December 27 to 29, 2009, in St. Louis, where approximately 20,000 people will gather to hear about missions around the world. At that conference, we are hoping to connect with other missions and to encourage people to enter the fields of mission. Our mission has grown from a simple non-profit organization set up in 1995 to serve the needs of the Currie family in Russia, to one that is providing support and guidance for other missionaries around the world, and so, during the past several weeks, I have once again been reading Nehemiah for encouragement and guidance in lessons of leadership.

In future newsletters, I will go into more detail about the various leadership lessons that I have gleaned, but let me begin with five basic lessons from Nehemiah.  First, Nehemiah sought the welfare of his countrymen first, and not his own welfare, peace, or prosperity. He was a servant leader. Second, when he heard that his countrymen were in affliction, living in unfavorable conditions, he wept and mourned, fasted and prayed—he was passionate about the need of other people, and he turned to God first, knowing that the need was greater than he alone could meet. Third,Nehemiah acted in obedience, and with the favor of the King, even though that king was an unbeliever. He trusted God for guidance through the authority that was over him. Fourth, as he prayed and trusted God, he also had a practical plan for completing the work. Fifth, as the work progressed, enemies came against him repeatedly and ever more forcefully, attempting to stop the work through tactics of discouragement, fear, and physical threats. But through all the ups and downs, through the threats of his enemies and the complaints of his countrymen, Nehemiah steadily kept at the work that God had given him to do.

In like manner, we pray that we can keep steadily at the work that God has given us to do. Unexpected changes in visa laws have kept me in the United States while Mark travels back and forth to Russia, and to the other countries where our New Hope missionaries live, for extended periods of time. But these changes have led to an unexpected opportunity to further my education and acquire new skills that I will continue to use to help missionaries. We adjust to changing circumstances, trusting that God uses government authorities to open and close doors, always guiding us, so that the work consistently proceeds. And, like Nehemiah, with each change we pray, “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands” (Nehemiah 6:9).

The Currie Courier, 1 September 2009 (v.17.1)

Articles and photos from our most recent newsletter are posted adjacent on this blog.  You can download the complete 1 September 2009 edition of Mark and Chris's newsletter here:

Download FINAL NHI 090901 v.17.1 8x11  (7.9 mB)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is a post from our 15 December 2008 newsletter, v.16.2 (MEC)

From the Currie Family.  May these holidays will be a time of grateful reflection and hopeful anticipation for you.  Our family has gained that stage in life where we rarely have all six of us together at one time, but that happy event should occur on Christmas Day 2008.  Mark returns from Moscow n 18 December to join Chris and Grace in Virginia Beach.  Danny will already be home after his first semester, junior year at James Madison University.  Chris will take a break from study and teaching at Old Dominion University, and Grace’s kindergarten at Portlock Elementary will take a break soon after.  Madeleine then visits from Harvard for several days in route to a wedding and InterVarsity conference in Chicago.  David gets a few days off from his work at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, arriving home late Christmas Eve.   After the New Year warm Virginia winds will begin to blow us one by one back to the northlands. 

New Hope Church in Moscow.  While Chris continues her academic work in Norfolk, Mark continues to serve the church in Moscow subject to the current visa restrictions which permit him to be in Russia only 3 months at a time.  This schedule restriction pushes our church closer to the goal of calling and accepting a Russian pastor to serve in Mark’s place.  Our elders, Sergei Charaev, Valery Pentilichuk, and Vladimir Ivanov, have accepted increased responsibilities, and Jan Reus, whose family has been with us since 2006, receives a small salary to serve during Mark’s absences. Everyone seems to be adjusting to a desirable change.  All went well last summer and again during Mark’s recent trip to India.  The church will be much stronger with Mark and Chris as supportive members of a shared leadership team.  God is blessing our movement in this direction.

We’ve reversed the 80/20 Rule.  Most of our people have been serving with us since 2000, many since the inception of the church in 1995. Everyone serves in some way, except for mothers with small children.  The elderly women help on Sunday with hospitality.  The younger women direct our Children’s ministry and Women’s Ministry.  The Youth are active in the Small Group ministry and our Teens support the Worship Team.  Our men serve as elders and in our Men’s Ministry sports outreach.  The impending hardships of the global economic crisis may affect our people, but last year giving increased even beyond our increase in attendance, and despite increasing costs, the church remains able to cover its operating budget.  Now we need to grow if we intend to support, even part-time, a Russian pastor, so the continuing challenge for us remains to embrace personal evangelism and intercessory prayer as part of the normal Christian life.  Surrounded by others at work, at home, and at university who face job uncertainty, high rents, family break-ups, alcoholism, and illness without adequate medical care, we need to live 1 Peter 3:15. These people need the Lord; they need us to pray for them and lead them to Christ!