Bible. Russia. Moscow (Moscow: Center for International Education, Moscow State University, 1998) by Tatiana Vladimirova, is a textbook specially designed to improve usage of fundamental Russian language while developing vocabulary which enables learners to express their faith. This textbook teaches biblical and church language while at the same time acquainting the learner with church-related aspects of Russian history and culture. The author, on the faculty of Moscow State's Center for International Education, developed this unique text after several years of teaching foreign missionaries. To order, contact Vera Stepanenko, Center for International Education, ul. Krzhizhanovsogo, d. 1, 24/35, 117259 Moscow, Russia; tel: 7-095-125-3261 (Russian) or 7-095-124-8488 (English); fax: 7-095-125-4461; e-mail: adm@cie.msu.ru. Price: Ruble equivalent of $10.
Reviewed by Beverly Nickles.
The Albanian Evangelical Mission (AEM), formerly known as Albanian Evangelical Trust, is the only Western Christian organization ministering solely to Albanians. AEM has prepared a 77-page booklet detailing its history, beginning with its first work with Albanians in Montenegro and Kosovo, up to its current outreach in Albania itself: Mission Albania: Ten Years of Vital Christian Work for the Albanian People (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications,1996, £3.99 ). Contact information: Albanian Evangelical Mission, 29 Bridge St., Penybryn, Wrexham LL13 7 HP, UK; and Christian Focus Publications, Geanies House, Fearn, Tain, Ross-shire, IV20 1TW, UK; tel: 44-01862-871011; fax: 44-0-1862-871699; e-mail: cfp@geanies.org.uk; website: http://www.geanies.org.uk/cfp/bookfile/general/mission_albania.htm.
For additional material on Albania, see Albania in Pictures: Visual Geography Series (Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1995, $19.93), which includes an excellent, succinct history of Albania; Reona Peterson, Tomorrow You Die (London: Lakeland, 1976, $12.99), a moving account of two courageous Youth With A Mission sojourners in communist Albania; a website with Albania links http://traveldocs.com/al/); and Albanian Insight, a very informative mission newsletter available in print ($20 donation/year) or via e-mail from Ancient World Outlook-Insight, Box 118, GR-57019 Nei Epivate Thessaloniki, Greece; tel/fax: 30-392-27148; fax: 30-392-26682; e-mail: awoint@one.gr.
Reviewed by Jennifer Farmer and Mark Elliott.
A Five-Star Website on Missionary Care
"Mental Health and Missionary Care," part of the Asbury College Psychology Department website (www.asbury.edu/academ/psych/mis_care/), should prove greatly beneficial to every missionary and mission executive with Internet access. The site includes 10 brochures on such subjects as missionary relationships, burnout, and personal conflict, and a database containing information on over 400 articles and books on missionary care, which can be used to produce customized lists of publications or annotated bibliographies on more than 100 topics. This impressive array of helps for the missionary community is the work of Dr. Ronald Koteskey, professor of psychology at Asbury College, Wilmore, KY. Dr. Koteskey, who also serves as a mental health consultant for New Hope International Ministries, is the author of Psychology From a Christian Perspective; General Psychology for Christian Counselors; Understanding Adolescence; and The Love Triangle: Sex, Love, and Dating.
Dr. Koteskey's downloadable brochure, "What Missionaries Ought to Know About Books for Missionary Care," underscores the practical value of this website. The author includes only titles that are reasonably priced and in print, with full bibliographic data to ease the ordering process. Dr. Koteskey updates his recommendations annually so that "in print" means "in print" and price information is no more than one year old; he provides helpful annotations for each title; and he groups books under subtopics: "General Missionary Care," "Care of MKs," "Problems from the Past," "Relationships with Others," and "Personal Issues." The author welcomes suggestions for additional brochure topics. Contact: Dr. Ronald Koteskey, Asbury College, Wilmore, KY 40390; tel: 606-858-3511; fax: 606-858-3921; e-mail: ronald.koteskey@asbury.edu.
Budapest Journalists Launch Christian News Agency
Barbara Kertai
Two Budapest-based Christian journalists have launched NewsLife, the first Internet-based Christian news agency in East Central Europe http://www.nexus.hu/newslife. Tamas S. Kiss, a reporter with Hungary's English language Budapest Sun, and Stefan J. Bos, a correspondent with Voice of America and other networks, see NewsLife as an "answer to a vacuum in the news market." Updated weekly, this English-language news service provides information about the church in East Central Europe, as well as current general news from a Christian perspective. "We have discovered," Bos notes, "that most news agencies show little interest in Christian issues, although these play a crucial role in the societies of rapidly changing former East Bloc nations." Kiss stresses that NewsLife will become a "voice for Christians in Russia and all other former Communist nations," with a correspondent network throughout the region. NewsLife will cover economics, politics, and sports, in addition to Christian news. "We would like to be more actively involved in the news gathering process with our own investigative, research unit," he noted. "News agencies have become a mouthpiece for government policies. We would like to change that."
NewsLife may be contacted at tel/fax 36-1-200-12-44; e-mail: bosnews@compuserve.com (Stefan Bos); or tel/fax 36-1-303-27-16; e-mail: tomkiss@bpsun.hu (Tamas Kiss).
Practically Speaking
The International Project Advisory Board (IPAB), Menlo Park, CA, a nonprofit corporation serving the international Christian community, provides travel coordination to individuals and groups associated with charitable organizations. IPAB offers net prices through consolidation arrangements with international airlines. For more information, consult its website, http://www.pccsfp.com/travel/travelintro.html, or contact:
Max Rondoni
International Project Advisory Board
Box 7248
Menlo Park, CA 94026-7248
Tel: 415-854-2770
Fax: 415-854-2075
E-mail: rondoni@pacbell.net
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© 1999 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664