Jamaican minister makes Siauliai citizens turn around Vacation substitute finds himself in Lithuania full time and loving it

SIAULIAI - It is difficult for Kingsley Halden to avoid the surprised glances of Siauliai citizens when he goes downtown by overcrowded bus from his bedroom community of multi-flat dwelling houses. Halden, the minister of Siauliai Methodist Church community, is the only person with black skin in Siauliai, a former closed military town with 147,000 inhabitants in northern Lithuania.

"They are not racists. They are simply curious people," Halden said. "They look at me but always help me when I have problems buying something in the shop."

Halden, a native of Jamaica, came to Lithuania in April 1999 from the United Kingdom where he lived for 42 years and received bachelor's and master's degrees and then became a minister. He never thought of going to Lithuania, but when the minister of the small Methodist community in Siauliai went on vacation to the United States and stayed, Halden was tapped to fill his place. Because there is a great lack of local ministers in Lithuanian Methodist communities, Halden was asked to serve for four months, but ended up staying for an unlimited term.

While some regions of Lithuania are multi-religious, Siauliai is traditionally Roman Catholic.The Methodist church seems a small, undiscovered island to most of the locals who tend to think of every new mark on the religious map of Lithuania as being a dangerous sect - understandable perhaps due to the flood of Jehova's Witnesses, Moonies, members of the Church of Scientology and others in Lithuania.

"Hardly anybody in Siauliai knows that a Methodist community was active here before World War II," Algimantas Serafinavicius, chairman of the community council of Siauliai Methodist, said. Serafinavicius is a symbol of the heritage of pre-war Siauliai Methodists. He is the only person living in the community who was baptized in Siauliai Methodist Church before the war - the same church building that the Siauliai Methodist community regained in 1996. The rest of the congregation are all newcomers. The minister who baptized Mr.Serafinavicius before the war, Kostas Burbulis, now lives in Illinois.

Halden gives his sermons in English. Very few from the congregation of about 20 know English, so services are translated. But Methodists hold fast to their protestant background in this Catholic environment They sponsor free English lessons, computer, and other skills training for church members and their friends.

"I don't feel isolated here," Halden said. "I have my personal interpreter and can speak English with her. My main hobby is music, especially classical. I spend hours with Program Three of Lithuanian National Radio, which broadcasts the classics."

When Program Three stopped temporarily at the beginning of the year because of a lack of money, as Halden couldn't read all about it in the Lithuanian language newspapers, he thought it was a technical problem.

None of the eight Lithuanian Methodist communities could survive by depending only on their own fundraising. Fortunately, Lithuanian parishes have their supporting churches, primarily in the United States. A Methodist church from Davidson, North Carolina, supports the Siauliai Methodist community. The Lithuanian United Methodist Church receives almost full maintenance from the United States and Western European countries.