In 1999, Susan Heiss, former overseer of what is now CASA (Center for Academic Success and Advising) and Dan Moore, former head of the Audio Visual Department, started the Russian Mission Network Outreach. This ministry consisted of a group of several people who traveled to Russia for a few weeks visiting schools and orphanages as way to minister to the people there. That same year, Moore and Heiss decided to extend the program and provide an opportunity for Russian teachers and other professionals to visit Houghton’s campus. Those involved with this ministry have hosted and served over one hundred Russian visitors since its genesis in 1999.
Last week, the opportunity came for six Russian women to spend time at Houghton as part of their three-and-a-half week visit in America. The women spent a few days sightseeing in New York City, then spent a week in Houghton, and will finish their visit in Jamestown, New York. This year is the 20th anniversary of the Russian dinner tradition, a dinner hosted by Levant Wesleyan Church in Jamestown.
While in Houghton, the group of women, which include two school teachers, two university professors, one medical doctor, and one interpreter, mostly observed classes, but also attended various campus events such as the student art exhibition and the college choir concert. The women also organized a presentation at Fillmore Central School, drank tea with President Mullen, and enjoyed a meal at the Maple Tree Inn.
Katherine Moore explained how this ministry intends to show our Russian guests “Christian America,” and Professor Laurie Dashnau considers the aim of this program to “expose [our Russian visitors] to a number of facets of American life and also give them a better understanding of the Christian faith in the context of what we hope will be warm and vibrant school and church communities.”
Lyudmila, who is one of the Russian school teachers, shared her appreciation for the kindness she experienced from the Houghton community. “The relationship between the United States and Russia is very tense,” she said. “People are people everywhere. We can see it here talking to people. Everyone is so friendly and that is the main idea: you are different, but at the same time, we are all the same. That is great.”
Dashnau explained how the women were able to participate in the classes they observed, and were intrigued by how many of the classes were not solely lecture-oriented, but discussion- and presentation-oriented, and “how that translated into papers and projects that are being written and simple opportunities to share in the classroom.” Many of the women had the opportunity to share about topics “ranging from the economic system in Russia to issues regarding international news.” Dashnau described how engaging with each other in these “types of conversation” is when “what we assume and what we hear is challenged and we mutually grow.”
Susan Heiss, and Dan and Katherine Moore, are what Dashnau referred to as the “life and breath of this ministry.” Because of their “long-term dedication,” Dashnau explained, “it is a very natural way for us to interact with those who have a keen interest in knowing what a small Christian liberal arts college looks like.”
This ministry provides the opportunity “to be missionaries right here at the college… To those coming from Russia, some of whom do profess the Christian faith, many of whom know a very little bit and are receptive, and some who have had very little exposure to it.” Dashnau concluded, “I think it’s vital, one, as a ministry right on our doorstep and two, as a way of showing how we love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul.”