| Alan and Ellen Smith
Frunzenskaya Naberezhnaya 28-25
Moscow 119146
Russian Federation
Email: Al and Ellen Smith
Alan and Ellen Smith were appointed in 2001 to serve in Russia
as coordinators of the congregational twinning project in Russia
and Belarus, a program that matches interested congregations in
the United States with congregations in Russia and Belarus for
friendship and mission.
“The foundation of the twinning program,” say the
Smiths, “is relationship—coming together as brothers
and sisters in Christ to encourage one another, learn from one
another, and deepen our understanding of who we are as the Body
of Christ. The program helps overcome Cold War and denominational
stereotypes. Out of the relationships, projects often develop
that enrich congregations on both continents.
Under the leadership of the Outreach Foundation, and in partnership
with the Russian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists, the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) initiated the Russian Twinning Program
in the early 1990s to build spiritual connections between PC(USA)
and Russian congregations. In the past six years, the Smiths have
worked to deepen the connection with the Baptist Union and to
develop connections with the Russian Orthodox Church and Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Russia and Other States.
In addition to work on the twinning project Al also teaches mathematics
at Hinkson Christian Academy in Moscow. In 2006, Al began to work
in Roma ministry, helping to reorganize a network of pastors who
work with the Roma people.
Ellen also works with the Russian Round Table and the Belarusian
Round Table, church structures dedicated to diaconal ministries,
with special focus on fighting drug abuse and the spread of HIV
and AIDS in Russia and Belarus.
Al and Ellen became involved in the twinning project in 1998 when
their home congregation in Fayetteville, North Carolina, entered
into a partnership with a church in Russia. Ellen went to Russia
for the first time in the summer of 1999 to get to know her church’s
Russian partner and find ways for the two congregations to connect.
Some of the areas in which partners connect to each other are
camping ministry, orphanage ministry, prison ministry, and ministry
to the elderly. Partners come together where there is a sense
of a common call and where each partner has strengths to share.
As Ellen puts it, “This is a partnership, not a sponsorship.”
Seventy years of communism and official atheism took a heavy
toll on both Russia and Belarus. Although Moscow is a wealthy
world capital, it has tens of thousands of poor, hungry, and homeless.
“Outside of Moscow and other major cities,” write
the Smiths, “Russia is a developing country. In the last
ten years, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
countries have witnessed one of the most serious social welfare
reversals in history. Social service, medical, and educational
infrastructure is weak and often lacks needed supplies and resources.
Alcoholism and drug addiction overwhelm millions of the population.
Orphanages are overflowing, many of the children having come from
alcoholic or drug addicted homes. In this environment, HIV and
AIDS have become epidemic, spreading faster than anywhere in the
world. Many despair.”
Ellen has been active in outreach ministries of her church for
many years. She was a regular participant in short-term mission
trips for 13 years, traveling with groups to work in projects
on the Mexican border, in rural West Virginia, and on two occasions
to visit the church’s “twin,” the Transfiguration
Baptist Church, in Oryol, Russia. Al held the fort at home to
make these trips possible.
From 1993 until 2000 Ellen taught reading, language arts, and
social studies in middle school in Cumberland County, North Carolina.
Al was a middle-school and high-school math teacher in Robeson
and Cumberland counties in North Carolina in 1999 and 2000. Prior
to that he practiced law.
Al holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Minnesota
Law School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Smiths did their undergraduate
work in Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, from which
Al holds a bachelor’s in economics and Ellen a bachelor’s
degree in English and history.
Al and Ellen are both ordained
to the ministries of elder and deacon and are members of MacPherson
Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville, North Carolina. They are the
parents of three children: Allison, Margaret, and Emma. Allison
graduated from Carleton College in 2006 and is now working in
Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Margaret and Emma live with the Smiths in
Moscow.
Birthdays:
Al - December 18
Ellen - April 16
Allison - December 14
Margaret - November 8, 1990
Emma - October 9, 1996 |
