On January 27 and 28, 2012 in Yekaterinburg there was a Forum for Christian businessmen, organized on the initiative of the ministers in Ural Mountains region. It was very successful. This meeting was held to establish relationship in spiritual and economic areas, and to develop partnerships between business people of the region.
The meeting was attended by over 130 Christian ministers and businessmen from 24 cities of Russia, as well as 15 guests from Sweden and the United States. The main speakers of the conference were the Christians who have extensive experience in ministry and in business – Hans Davidson, president of Eton Fashion, Tatiana Tagiyeva, creative director of the Center for Support of Civil Initiatives "Open Society", Ken Wagner, pastor, and in the past – the top manager of the "Food Services of America" Corporation, which had 3000 employees, Leonid Regeta, Master of Theology, Bachelor of Business, coordinator and consultant of missionary projects of the Covenant Evangelical Church, Andrei Zlobin, president of the Fellowship of Christian Businessmen of Russia and others.
Program of the forum was very intense and included speakers’ presentations, workshops, presentations of projects: "Business Incubator" and "Resource center partnership". The interesting part of the program was a panel discussion "Team Management", where experts and participants commented on the issues of recruiting, selection and motivation of staff, employment of foreign citizens in Russian companies, and other sensitive issues of legislation and personnel policies. A list containing business and contact information of all participants was formed.
During the meeting, participants were introduced to a new online Christian resource "Faith and Business". It is planned that this virtual forum (www.veraibiznes.ru) will be a convenient platform for the mutual partnership of Christian businessmen, as well as it will help to continue the dialogue and interaction. It will contain useful information, articles and news of the Christian business community in Russia, as well as directory of Christian businesses and organizations. Registered users will have access to the contacts of their colleagues, will be able to exchange private messages, and work with the information hidden from public access, for example, with commercial offers.
Alexei Kobelev, senior pastor of "The Love of Christ" Church and the initiator of the Forum, said: "The conference audience was diverse, mostly – business people of different levels, but there were also ministers and pastors, social workers, representatives of rehabilitation centers, foreign guests. Events like this are intended to change the culture of the Christian entrepreneurship, they support the churches. The purpose of the forum was to create a platform for dialogue, exchange views, ideas and contacts. I believe that we have been able to achieve this. There were, of course, some shortcomings. For example, it was not enough time for the horizontal communication between participants. But, nevertheless, many participants have already expressed their desire to participate in consequent meetings".
Results of survey conducted at the end of the event shows that 90% of the participants have a desire to take part in this meeting again in the near future. Most of them were satisfied with the conference, many noted that they were inspired, received good ideas and advices and in a short time of the conference were able to calm their minds. Several respondents stated that they found a potential new partners and new markets. The same participants appreciated the contribution of experienced Western businessmen in a meeting. However, one of the suggestions for the future was to attract skilled Russian-speaking Christian businessmen.
Andrew Berdyshev, senior presbyter of Pentecostal Churches of Sverdlovsk region, could not hide his enthusiasm about the event: "At this conference, unique things are happening –the foundation for the future of the evangelical movement in Russia is being built. Social work of the Church leads to interaction of business and spiritual mission. Social work brings people into the church and the church can help people in all areas, rehabilitating and restoring a person spiritually, socially, and professionally. After all, a businessman in the church today is the same minister, as pastor, deacon, missionary, even inspite of the fact that this service is specific and takes place in a different plane".
Pavel Savin, a pastor and a businessman, was inspired by the Forum: "This meeting has a very good format, which successfully combines both formal and informal parts. Competent speakers were open for communication, sharing useful and interesting information. Fellowship in a warm friendly atmosphere helped the participants to find partners for business and make important new contacts. Building relationships between Christians entrepreneurs will contribute to the progress of Christian business".
"I have already established contacts with business people from different cities of Russia. This will be a great advantage in the further development of my business", – says Lyudmila Lukashenko, a businessman from Nizhnevartovsk, head of business structure, which includes more than a thousand people.
Andrew Gornovsky, representative of the regional union of the Churches of Khanty-Mansiysk district, came to a meeting to see how to build relationships between churches and the business community: "Such events are useful, there is an exchange of experiences and ideas. Spiritual ministers are beginning to understand the perspective of issues and challenges in the lives of their parishioners, and it will promote more effective service of local churches to their people. This is the only way we can all grow together, each achieving their goals. Next time I would like to invite to a similar event more businessmen and representatives of our churches".
Dmitriy Kovalev, General Director of "New Radio", a businessman from Izhevsk, commented on the attractiveness of such meeting’s concept: "I really liked the idea of the meeting when business people are united, and they are focused on the interaction in order to extract the maximum benefit to their businesses and for the kingdom of God".
the process of interaction between business, social service of the church and civil society in Russia was also assessed. "Many business people already support various ministries and social projects, but we would like to see more clear and professional mechanisms of this interaction", – says Evgeny Melnikov, a representative of the Sverdlovsk Regional Public Organization "Center of Civil Initiatives "Open Society".
Financial independence of evangelical Christianity is largely dependent on the success of Christian entrepreneurs. And in order to achieve this success we must work together to create network, supporting each other. This meeting was held to help this process. Both participants and organizers hope that such meetings and forums become a regular occurrence, not only for the Ural Mountains region, but all over Russia.
Daria Lobkova and Leonid Regeta for www.hve.ru
