OUR HISTORY

History

In the fall of 2007, the Russian orthodox pro-life organization Center Zhizn had planned to organize a pregnancy help center conference in Moscow. Alex van Vuuren from The Netherlands, who was living in Moscow since the beginning of the year, helped prepare this conference which was named "Love for Life".

His involvement was mainly inviting the international speakers. While he was active with this Russian orthodox ministry, he was eager to find out how the protestant and evangelical churches in Moscow were active in pro-life activities. He knew about some activities in Moscow that were started in the beginning of the nineties, even some activity that his father-in-law, Bert Dorenbos, had been involved in. As he was meeting with several people who had been part of this pro-life work, he found out that very little was happening at the present time. There had even been some initiatives to start a pregnancy help center ministry in Moscow, but it appeared that no such protestant/evangelical center was currently in existence. Early in the process of searching, he met Lyuba Uryutova, who is the coordinator for five pregnancy help centers in Russia. She and some others were hoping and praying for such a center, but no definite steps had been made.

Lyuba became a great help to Alex when he organized an alternative conference simultaneous with the conference of Center Zhizn. The alternative conference had the same international speakers but served about 30 participants who were not Russian Orthodox. There were 130 participants at the event organized by Center Zhizn representing 49 different regions of Russia. It would have been a great sign of Christian unity if these conferences would not have been separate, but the organizers felt this was too high a goal to be reached at this time. The alternative conference included participants from Moscow and representatives from international ministries. This created an excellent opportunity for a meeting to discuss the possibilities for a protestant/evangelical center help center in Moscow.

Thus it happened that on Monday, October 1, 2007 there was a discussion meeting at the Christian Center in Moscow about a Moscow initiative for a pregnancy help center. Present were: Randy and Kim Cox, Kelley Wesley, Kay Gardner, Bill Velker, Alexey Klimenko, Pyotr Kianchenko, Shelly Crouch, Denise Mountenay, Vadim Yakovlev, Lyuba Uryutova, Keith Townsend, and Alex van Vuuren. They shared about their common interest in a Moscow initiative and agreed this is the time to take action. Therefore a steering committee was formed consisting of Lyuba Uryutova, Pastor Pyotr Kianchenko, Pastor Alexey Klimenko, Shelly Crouch and Alex van Vuuren. Some weeks later, Marina Dostoynova joined this group.

The committee worked for the next three months to:
● Define the vision and goals for a help center
● Find Russians who want to be involved and especially a facilitator who can continue
to lead the effort in 2008
● Share the vision with pastors, missionaries and other leaders in the community
● Find contacts in the medical community
● Work on the practical aspects like finances, registration and location.
The first two goals (define the vision and find a Russian facilitator) would be essential and needed to be reached if this project was going to continue. As Alex van Vuuren left Moscow at the end of the year, the committee had defined a clear vision and mission statement and Pastor Alexey Klimenko took over the role of Alex as facilitator and
chairman of the steering committee.

WHO WE ARE

The steering committee

The steering committee members that will continue to work towards the goal of establishing a pregnancy help center in Moscow in 2008

Marina Dostoynova majored in economics and worked in the area of control of management qualities. She feels called to pregnancy help center work.

Shelly Crouch is an American missionary living in Moscow. She works with sexual abstinence curriculum which is used in public schools. She has a great desire to see a help center come into existence.

Lyuba Uryutova works for Compassionate Cooperative for Russia as the national coordinator for five Russian pregnancy help centers. These centers are all outside of Moscow and she would like to see the development of a center in Moscow where she lives.

Alexey Klimenko is the senior pastor of Christian Life church, an evangelical church in Moscow. At the conference he became convinced about the need for help center work as a church ministry.

Pyotr Kianchenko is second pastor of Love of Christ Baptist church in Moscow. He visited a pregnancy help center in the USA and has a vision to start such a ministry. His wife Nadia and some members of this church share this vision.

(from left to right) sitting Marina Dostoynova, Shelly Crouch and Lyuba Uryutova.

standing – Alexey Klimenko, Pyotr Kianchenko