Bureaucracy and the Darkside of Being Relational

I'm back in Moscow with my new visa and I'm almost done with all of the bureaucratic mess that all of us living in the Russian Federation have to deal with. Here there is always a line to stand in and always a stamp to get on some document and someone who is able to somehow get around the system. I think that my roommate said it best when he said that, "It's not the standing in line that bothers me, and it's the guy that jumps to the front because he 'knows' someone and makes the line all that much slower." Here in Russia it's not what you know as much as who. That's not altogether bad; it means that relationships are valued highly. However, there is, if you will, a dark side to this. As a Christian I feel it's important to value community, especially as a westerner coming from a very independent and individualistic culture. However, living here I've realized that I should not value community just for its own sake, but because God calls us to love and serve one another. Please pray that I would have that attitude as I serve in my church and on my team here in Russia.

Posted September 30, 2006 by Matt.

 


Archives:

03-30-2009 Our Trip to South Texas
01-08-2009 Only six months to go!
09-11-2008 Reflections on Cross-cultural Ministry
03-14-2008 Embracing Change
12-03-2007 Here There and Everywhere
10-17-2007 a little announcemt...
08-17-2007 Picking up where they left off...
02-17-2007 Winter Logistics
11-20-2006 Off the bench
09-30-2006 Bureaucracy and the Darkside of Being Relational
08-23-2006 Who says summer is slow?
05-29-2006 Now that things have settled down...
03-27-2006 Spring?
01-20-2006 Greetings from panet Hoth
01-13-2006 Krysha Leadership
12-09-2005 Happy Holidays
11-02-2005 First Things First
10-08-2005 Back in the C.S.I.
09-02-2005 Apartment Found!
07-29-2005 Refugee Ministry
06-25-2005 Porridge for Brains
06-11-2005 Side Trip
05-28-2005 Winding Down
05-18-2005 They Say it's Your Birthday
03-10-2005 Pancakes
01-29-2005 Fellowship
01-16-2005 Holidays
11-29-2004 Culture Project
11-02-2004 Time Flies
08-28-2004 Second Year
08-12-2004 Back to School
07-18-2004 Summer Trip II
07-05-2004 Summer Misssions Trip
06-26-2004 July Activities
06-14-2004 Pilgrimage
05-02-2004 Social Projects
03-27-2004 Bill's Visit
03-01-2004 Moscow Trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Matt Eck


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Matt has been a Serve missionary for 6 years serving one term in Russia.

Liz has served one year in the Ukraine with Crusade and one year in Moscow with the IMB.

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Prayer Requests

10.06.2009 Georgians: Pray for a Georgian family that is in fear of being deported. Pray that God would give them peace dispite there circumstances and pray that they would grow closer to God through this.

10.06.2009 Boldly share: That we would walk closely with Him each day and openly sharing Him with others in this culture

10.06.2009 Mentors: That God would send each of us a mentor to meet with regularly.

10.06.2009 Language Aquisition: That Liz would become conversational in German quickly and that we both might strive for excellence as in this area of our ministry.

09.07.2009 Visas Process: Pray that we would be able to get all of the paperwork for our visas and that we would be wise in getting things set up to stay here.

09.07.2009 Best over the good: Pray that the Lord would guide our team as it continues to form. Especially pray for wisdom as we chose the best over the good.

09.07.2009 Afghan Friend: Pray for a Christian Afghan refugee who is in eminent danger of being deported back to Afghanistan