Working through the Indigenous Church to
Help Orphans
Creative Workshops had no church relationships in Russia prior to our first trip in 2001 - now we praise God that many denominations and ministries work with and along side CASMI. CASMI offers 3 different ways of training and equipping.
Servant Network of Leaders
This is a group of like minded believers that have a heart to help the orphan. They come together monthly to pray, network skills and ideas between ministries. We believe that part of the mission God called CASMI to do is to accomplish what we do as a body of Christ. Nadya Boldyrev and her assistant Valya Sotkina, a former orphan, administrate this prayer and network group. We are seeing many good things coming from this time each month - Learn more - large PDF.
Educational Training Seminars
Good training for Christian volunteers wanting to work with orphans is a big need for churches in Russia. The turn over of orphanage workers and volunteers is high because these kids are very difficult. Servant Network team has prayed for God to help find a way to train believers with excellent skills. God answered our prayers in the spring of 2010 when we met Vera, a skilled Child Psychologist, through Servant Network. Vera and her husband are believers with many years of experience and their passion is to train believers to work with orphans.
Vera has written a program that is effective in Russia culture, teaching volunteers how to work with children (abused and normal). She is excited to offer this training monthly for Creative Workshops and we are praying for God’s increase in monthly giving so we can begin this great work in the fall of 2010. Learn more - large PDF.
Masters Creative Workshops
This workshop is the original idea that started the training and equipping outreach through churches in Russia. In 2006 we decided to teach a small a group of church ladies, that were already sewing for the needs of orphans, a fun quilt project. The purpose of this event was to encourage the Russian ladies and bind two cultures together through creative arts. It was so successful that the next year in 2007, with the help of a team, we hosted the first citywide workshop. Steve Arnold offered to make tacos for dinner for the ladies at the first quilt workshop, never expecting that his model to serve the women dinner would be repeated by the Russian men of the church for years to come.
These events are now hosted in a local church and open to women from all denominations. The men of the church prepare and serve the food and this day is a day off for the ladies. Two Creative workshops are offered each year. Women come to fellowship, make new friends, learn how to do new crafts with applications on how to share the gospel. The crafts learned can are used for outreach to orphanages, summer camps or Sunday schools by churches and other ministries. Learn more - large PDF.