Russian church hopes for conference relationship
By John M. De Marco
VENICE — A group of Christians from Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union are gathering here and striving to become just the second
official United Methodist Russian mission in the United States.
Grace United Methodist Church is currently hosting the Slavic
Christian Fellowship, a congregation of about 120 people who reside in
Sarasota and Manatee counties. Worship, study and fellowship take
place exclusively in Russian.
The group is led by 43-year-old pastor Sergei Popkov, a native of
Estonia who attended Logos Bible School in Fresno, Calif., and served
various ministerial roles in Seattle before moving to Florida. Popkov,
his wife Yelena and their two children also compose a singing group
that performs in both Russian and English and shares their testimony
of surviving persecution in their homeland. The family has lived in
the United States for 13 years.
Mont Duncan, Florida Conference director of New Church Development,
has been in discussion with the fellowship about its desire to have
the support and connections afforded by a denomination. The United
Methodist Church’s only Russian mission in the United States is
based at The Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.
Popkov has identified sizable Russian-speaking Slavic populations in
Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando and hopes to
eventually launch missions in those cities and other states, as well.†
“He’s [Popkov] very open, very positive about the United
Methodist Church,” Duncan told “The Review.” “He’s working
with his people to deal with a couple of theological differences.”
“We’ll ask them to see us as their own vision, that they would
use us and God would use us, to fulfill all of the desires for this
area, starting in Florida,” Popkov said. “It looks like we feel
confident about doing this.”
Duncan said the establishment of the Russian mission would help the
conference be more inclusive and better able to relate to one of the
state’s growing minority populations. Statistics show that about
180,000 Russian-speaking immigrants live in Miami alone, and Popkov
asserts there are perhaps close to 500,000 in the entire state. Those
who are currently traveling to the Venice gathering “are on fire to
start a church back where they live,” Duncan noted.
Popkov’s vision is multifaceted. “We have some people who are
recovering from drug addiction and prostitution. We are praying they
will work with people at recovery centers where addicts could live and
grow spiritually strong so they can be part of society. We are also
looking to travel and start churches overseas in Russia and Ukraine.”
He said one aspect of the United Methodist denomination that
intrigues him is what he observes as a lack of younger church members
and local churches not composed of many different nationalities.
“My heart is for the young people very much,” Popkov said. “About
85 percent of our church is young. We want to bring young people from
different nationalities into the denomination. Many of them use
English as a primary language, so later they could work among the
English-speaking people. We want to help churches be multiple-nation
churches.”
Popkov works 40 hours per week outside the fellowship as a security
guard in order to support it and looks forward to being on salary as a
full-time pastor. This is typical for most church planters outside
denominational frameworks, Duncan said, which makes a partnership with
the United Methodist Church very attractive.
“He’s [Popkov] looking for a church that will accept them as
they are. They are willing to be accountable and under the authority
of an established denomination,” Duncan said.
Once Popkov officially makes the request for his fellowship to be
considered a denominational mission, the Sarasota District would need
to make such a recommendation to Duncan’s office. Duncan would then
seek the necessary conference-level approval for the initiative.
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