‘Focus on Georgia’ by David Giles, from All the World

GEORGIA

FOCUS ON ...

T

he Republic of Georgia isn’t even called Georgia in Georgian (a language spoken nowhere else on earth).

Occupying a strategic position on the old Silk Road, in the crossroads between Russia and Iran, Turkey and (ultimately) China, Sakartvelo – as it is known – has both enjoyed prosperity and suffered economic hardship during times of occupation.

Geographically part of Asia, but with a culture that looks more towards Europe, Georgia is currently a confident nation, proud of its 8,000-year history of wine-making and its status as a world superpower in the realm of growing walnuts. Anyone who has eaten a Waldorf salad recently has probably consumed one of Georgia’s biggest exports.

Christianity arrived in the country in 327AD, with the first church built in Mtskheta – then the national capital, at the confluence of two major rivers. As many as 85 per cent of the population describe themselves as Christian, with the Orthodox Church being the dominant expression of faith.

The Salvation Army is a relative newcomer, and in 2018 it celebrated 25 years of Christian ministry in the country with a congress led by the Chief of the Staff (second-in-charge of the international Salvation Army), Commissioner Lyndon Buckingham, and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham (World Secretary for Women’s Ministries).

Headquartered in the modern-day capital Tbilisi, the Georgia Region of The Salvation Army’s Eastern Europe Territory also defies expectations. This is a young Salvation Army, with young officers and a large number of young people committed to spreading the gospel and meeting human needs in their own communities.

Where else can one find a homeless feeding programme which is oversubscribed in terms of volunteers eager to help? That’s the reality of the situation in the Samgori area of the city.

Corps officer (church minister) Captain Rezo Bakhtadze explains: ‘We have about 30 young people keen to help with our homeless feeding programme, all between the ages of about 15 and 28. They know how important it is to show love. We’re not just giving food,

F CUS ON

GEORGIA

by David Giles

we are giving care and telling [the homeless people] stories about how Jesus loves them.’

Many of those being served through this programme are older mothers who, for various reasons, have been unable to maintain connections with their family members. They congregate around the city’s main railway station and metro stops after dark, and are particularly vulnerable during the harsh winters that can see average temperatures dipping below freezing.

‘Why wouldn’t I help?’ exclaims Valeria, when I ask why she’s chosen to spend an evening driving around the streets in a minibus. ‘These are people who need support in our community.’

Tbilisi is historically known for its communal baths and steam rooms, where

‘Why wouldn’t I help? These are people who need support in our community’

Above: young people playing the timbrel outside the Salvation Army thrift store in Megobroba attract a crowd of onlookers, including residents from the apartment block

people have – since time immemorial – been able to bathe in large pools of warm, naturally-sulphurous water. But even priced at just a few lari this is beyond the reach of some of the people with whom The Salvation Army is building relationships. The Samgori Corps, like others in Georgia, provides modern washing and showering facilities to all who need them.

The desire to meet local needs in an authentic way is also in evidence at Ponichala, to the south of the capital.

Here, Salvation Army members were becoming concerned about the number of accidents caused to pedestrians trying to cross the busy road outside the corps hall.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 J A N UA RY – M A RC H 2019 | ALL THE WORLD |

11

GEORGIA

Right: a member of the team of young people from the Samgori Corps undertakes an evening distributing food to homeless people in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi Below: Major Tatiana Shkurina, from Batumi Corps, builds relationships through cupcake ministry

Below: musicians lead worship at a youth meeting in Tbilisi Right: children get fresh air, fun and exercise at Batumi camp

Right: members of Ponichala Corps share a road safety message

12 | ALL THE WORLD |

JANU ARY–M ARC H 2019

GEORGIA

‘Hope characterises all of The Salvation Army’s ministry across this beautiful and increasingly confident nation’ Top: Major Yuri Pomytkin tends the vegetables in a new agricultural project at Lagodekhi Corps Above: one of the first cucumbers to be harvested Left: young people in Megobroba breathe fresh life into a traditional Salvation Army timbrel routine

J A N UA RY – M A RC H 2019 | ALL THE WORLD |

13

GEORGIA

Right: a newly-opened thrift store in the Black Sea resort town of Batumi; below right: bathroom facilities at Rustavi Corps for members of the community who do not have their own

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Lateral thinking – and a penchant for signwriting – saw a team of volunteers formed to establish a crossing patrol to help people safely navigate a path through the heavy traffic. Cost: nil. And the public awareness brought about by the initiative led the local authority to install a set of traffic lights as a permanent solution.

Tackling trafficking of a different kind is at the heart of another simple but effective venture in the far west of the country. Batumi, a tourist destination on the Black Sea coast, is popular with Georgians and with visitors from across the nearby borders of Turkey and Russia.

As well as all the typical seaside activities, gambling is big business because of the liberal laws here compared with neighbouring legislations.

The seedier side of the city also includes massage parlours and prostitution.

Conscious that many of the sex workers have been trafficked to Batumi against their will, The Salvation Army is building relationships in a gentle and unobtrusive manner. A fledgling ‘cupcake ministry’ involves walking the streets with coffee and comestibles, and simply striking up a conversation with anyone who wishes to engage.

The corps has a small thrift store to further develop links with the local community, provide a reliable source of affordable clothing, and to enable people to discreetly report instances of suspected trafficking.

Georgia’s most easterly corps is nearly 12 hours away, in the town of Lagodekhi.

This is a much more rural location, neighbouring Azerbaijan in the foothills of the spectacular Caucasus Mountains.

Majors Yuri and Irina, the Salvation Army officers here, have been in post for little more than a year, but have worked tirelessly to understand and respond to local needs.

‘Some of the women who attend [Sunday worship] come in their dressing gowns on top of their clothes,’ explains Major Irina. ‘It can be that cold, and these are the only clothes they possess’.

The hot showers are a blessing to these women, but also invaluable to the many

campers who visit to enjoy the natural beauty of the region. The Army’s campsite plays host to hundreds of young people a year, and there are plans to make much more use of this facility. It already boasts its own al fresco bread oven, which is extremely popular!

Behind the campground lies a long expanse of land that was previously overgrown and unloved. Yuri identified an opportunity and, with modest funding, has transformed it into a productive smallholding. The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen in the warm summer sunshine, and he harvests a few delicious cucumbers for us to enjoy during lunch.

Pumpkins, potatoes and cabbages are also looking promising in the first year, and there are fruit trees too. The intention is, Yuri explains, to set up a produce stall on the roadside outside the corps, and

‘We don’t just give everything away, but they are learning that we are a place they can come to for support’ 14 | ALL THE WORLD |

JAN UARY–M ARC H 2019

to sell the fruit and vegetables at low cost to help vulnerable members of the community to afford to eat healthily.

The youthfulness of The Salvation Army is evidenced again back at Tbilisi Central Corps in the heart of the capital.

An evening youth meeting has brought together upwards of 60 young people from across the city, including from a nearby Baptist church. Worship takes place in Georgian, Russian and English (sometimes simultaneously!) and there

GEORGIA

is a tangible intensity to the communal singing and praying.

Alexandre the worship leader – a selftaught guitarist of impressive skill – and his wife are about to enter officer training in Moldova.

‘For me worship is not about the guitar and microphone,’ he says. ‘[It’s about] the impulse to praise God and encourage others to worship him with us. We face questions like “what will be next, what will be in the future?” … I don’t know what the next two years hold but I’m sure God has the best future for me.’

All-age worship is the norm at Rustavi and Megobroba Corps, south of Tbilisi, where advancing years are clearly no barrier from being fully immersed in the passionate worship, which incorporates dance and song. Here, too, there are plans to enhance facilities to better serve the local community. Megobroba has recently opened a charity shop, and is considering how to develop its property to support a Sunday morning crowd that regularly exceeds its limited capacity.

Rustavi has larger grounds and, as well as growing cherries – a popular local snack – it has identified space for a basketball court and outside play area to transform its offering to local children.

Spiritual transformation is evidenced strongly in the powerful testimony of Lieutenant Temo Galustian, a young man who – with his wife Nino – leads The Salvation Army in Didi Digomi on the northern fringes of Tbilisi.

Not far away from the corps is Penitentiary Number 8, a notoriously

Above: older persons’ ministry in Ponichala

harsh prison, described by some observers as ‘Georgia’s Abu Ghraib’. A former gang member, Temo was an inmate there until he miraculously encountered God through the on-site Orthodox church and the faithful prayers of his wife (whom he married while still incarcerated).

‘Especially in Georgia, when you are growing up without a father or parents ... the street is the only place where you have something ... [It’s where you] learn and where you have some support and everything else,’ recounts the lieutenant.

‘It was a really hard time ... Home wasn’t my favourite place. On the streets I had everything – power, friends, I was doing what I want. I would sleep at home [but] I was stealing, I was smoking, I was drinking. I tried everything that it was possible to try on the streets of Tbilisi.’

He continues, becoming increasingly animated as he shares his story: ‘I know that I am a new creation.’

Referring to Salvation Army tattoos that cover his former gangland markings, he jokes: ‘When I’m not in uniform, I’m still in uniform all the time!’

Temo and Nino are now returning to Penitentiary Number 8 to serve prisoners being released on probation, working within a framework established by the European Union. ‘It’s many young people,’ Temo explains. ‘People are coming out of the prisons and they still have some years to connect with the probation service. I

want to share my story, I want to share God’s story. Because I know that it works.

It can change lives. I can say there is a hope. There is hope in Jesus.’

That hope characterises all of The Salvation Army’s ministry across this beautiful and increasingly confident nation. Every corps has an after-school programme, so children who go to the buildings three or four times a week start to feel comfortable in the church setting, and then start attending worship on Sundays.

And it’s not just the young who are introduced to The Salvation Army as a church through its practical offerings.

People who wash their clothes at the facilities provided by The Salvation Army feel that there is dignity in going there. It’s not just a case of things being given away, but people are learning that the Army is a place they can go to for support.

Leaders of the Georgia Region have been amazed at people’s desire to study the Word of God. Some go to corps two or three times a week for Bible study – anyone walking into the hall will see a faithful group, Bibles open, taking notes.

In some corps people will even take notes throughout the sermon. There’s a real desire to learn, to discover what Jesus Christ will do in their lives.

Back in Ponichala, one of the older women who has attended the corps faithfully for many years breaks down in tears when asked what The Salvation Army means to her. Despite her health deteriorating, she is active in serving others – young and old. But why? ‘It’s my family,’ she tells me. ‘People care about me here. And it’s where I met God.’ That phrase again: ‘Where I met God’.

The Salvation Army in Georgia may be young and may currently be small, but the future holds excitement and adventure as it continues to facilitate people encountering the living God.

To see video and other content featuring The Salvation Army's work in Georgia, go to: http://sar.my/georgiaextra

David Giles is Communications Manager at The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters J A N UA RY – M A RC H 2019 | ALL THE WORLD |

15