Estonian Methodist Church contributes to society

Methodists in Estonia serve the community in various ways. Several congregations work in cooperation with Estonian Foodbank to organize FOOD AID for people in need:

• Võru Methodist church offers daily foodbank service for the whole region reaching to about 475 people every week;

• Jõhvi Methodist Church organizes daily food aid distri bution in Eastern Estonia;

• Members of Tallinn Methodist Church distribute food packages weekly to about 400 households;

• New Beginning Church in Tallinn distributes soup and food aid to about 70-150 people in a marketplace every Saturday morning;

• Members of Reeküla and Kuressaare churches are in volved in the foodbank work on the island of Saaremaa.

Methodists in Estonia have founded two CHILDREN CENTERS:

• Children Center Lighthouse is a day care center in Tallinn for children from low-income families. Lighthouse center offers food, clothing, learning support and free time activities for Estonian and Russian speaking kids and also Ukrainian refugee kids.

• Sunbeam center in Jõhvi is a childcare service for children with disabilities. The center offers learning activities and transport service for children and counselling for parents.

Methodists in Estonia have founded five CHRISTIAN REHABILITATION CENTERS for those who are considered to be hopeless, dangerous and rejected because of their addictions. The leader of four centers – Jarl Shapovalov – went through rehabilitation therapy in Russia. When he returned to Estonia, he together with the team from the New Beginning Methodist Church founded two rehabilitation centers where addicts can live and receive psychological and spiritual rehabilitation. The team also founded two adaptation centers where those who have finished the rehabilitation program in a closed environment learn to cope with living in society again. According to statistics, about half of those who have completed the whole program (250 from 500), are currently living a fulfilling life with no addiction and are members of churches. The percentage is higher than non-Christian rehab centers. We believe that the true restoration and change can take place when God is involved.

More than 126,000 UKRAINIAN REFUGEES arrived to Estonia during the war (it´s almost 10% of Estonian population). While many moved to other countries, many stayed in Estonia. With the help of donors and volunteers, the Estonian Methodist Church has been able to serve more than 2,050 refugees in 2022. The number of supported refugees is actually bigger than the number of members in the Estonian Methodist Church (1570 members). It has been a joy to see how people have opened their hearts and doors for the refugees. Local churches helped refugees with accommodation (more than 350 Ukrainians were accommodated in 2022), clothes, footwear, hygiene supplies, medical supplies, phone cards etc. 149 refugee children participated in Christian camps. There are several Ukrainian refugees studying at the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary. Several churches collect food, clothes, footwear, medical supplies and battery banks and send them to Ukraine. Methodists in Estonia offer counselling and prayer support to the refugees.

Article provided by Marjana Luist, Assistant to the Superintendent of the UMC in Estonia