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February 14, 2008
PC(USA) helps Russian seminary celebrate 10 years
Presbyterian missionary helps train new generation of pastors
The Rev. Anton Tikhomirov (right), president of Novosaratovka Theological Seminary, and PC(USA) missionary Joe Kang, who is a Bible professor, talk about the 10-year-old seminary which trains Lutheran pastors in Russia. Photo by Jerry Van Marter ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – It’s quieter than usual on the campus of Novosaratovka Theological Seminary (NTS) – the 16 graduating students are beginning two weeks of final exams.
After written exams the first week, each student will sit for a 20-minute oral exam in each subject he or she has taken. If they pass all their exams, students will then serve a one-year internship before beginning service in pastorates.
The seminary, which serves the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia and Other States (ELCROS), occupies two buildings at the end of a rutted dirt road on the outskirts of this city. It offers probably the most rigorous theological education in Russia, says Gary Payton, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s regional liaison for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.
He’s here for a regular consultation with PC(USA) missionaries Joe and Hannah Kang. Joe is one of four NTS faculty members, now in his sixth year at the seminary after teaching for two years at the Moscow Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Hannah, a librarian in Moscow, is studying Russian and doing ministry through the home here. The Kangs previously served the PC(USA) at Zomba Theological Seminary in Malawi from 1991-2000.
This year, Joe is teaching both Old and New Testament. His course load is not usually so heavy, but the faculty position funded by the Evangelical Church of Germany is vacant this year. The other partners in NTS are the PC(USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and ELCROS.
Next fall, NTS will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a celebration and theological symposium on the topic of ministry in diaspora. The topic is particularly germane because NTS students are destined for pastorates throughout the western former Soviet republics.
The new faculty office and residence building at Novosaratovka Theological Seminary, completed in 2004. Photo by Jerry Van Marter Lutheran churches in Russia have three roots: (mostly) German immigrants from Europe who began coming here in the 1500s, indigenous Lutherans who came under tsarist rule when Peter the Great conquered the areas around the Baltic Sea in the 1600s, and German farmers who were invited to settle in western Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great in the 1700s.
ELCROS is a new denomination, begun during perestroika (“thawing”) in the 1980s, when the Soviet government allowed Lutheran churches to begin functioning again. There are about 50,000 members in 400 ELCROS congregations in 10 Russian states: Azerbaijan, Belorus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. ELCROS headquarters are here in St. Petersburg.
NTS took “a giant step forward” last fall, says Joe Kang, with the appointment of its first Russian president, the Rev. Anton Tikhomirov, after having German Lutheran presidents for its first nine years. “This is a sign of change in leadership from Germans to Russians,” Joe Kang says, “which is consistent with the missiology of both the PC(USA) and the ELCA.”
Tikhomirov, became lay pastor of his ELCROS congregation in 1996 without any formal theological training. He graduated from college in 1997 and enrolled at NTS, then went to Germany to study for his master’s degree and doctoral degrees before returning to NTS as a professor in 2005 while also serving as a pastor.
He’s acutely aware then, from personal experience, of the need to train more pastors. And so ELCROS has broken more new ground by offering extension classes to students and pastors who are unable to live on campus and attend classes full time.
Two-thirds of NTS’ 60 students are in the extension program. They spend two two-week intensives (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily) each year for three years, then go through the same gauntlet of final exams as their on-site classmates.
“It’s a very good model in the Russian context, says Joe Kang. “Age is venerated here, so young pastors have a very difficult time. The life and work experience the extension students bring really helps them.”
Pastoral ministry is not financially attractive to young Russians, Joe Kang says. “Many are frustrated, because as in the U.S. the rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer and ministry is not high-paying. They tend to see the future as very dark no matter how great a sense of vocation we try to instil.”
The chapel of Novosaratovka Theological Seminary, where students, faculty and staff worship each morning. Photo by Jerry Van Marter What makes his mission service worth the struggle, says Joe Kang, is when a student “catches the fire.” Vladimir Tatarnikov, one of Joe Kang’s prize students, is soon headed for Moscow, where he will do his internship at the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, pastored by PC(USA) missionary the Rev. Bob Bronkema. He has heard about the varied social ministries there and says, “It will be wonderful preparation for my ministry.”
That ministry will be in his native Belarus, serving two of the four ELCROS congregations in that country – in Viteps and Grodna, which are 125 kilometers (75 miles) apart.
The ecumenical flavor of NTS will serve him well, Tatarnikov says. “The tradition in Belarus is Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran, so it’s essential for our future that we learn and serve together.”
Tatarnikov will have good support in Belarus, Payton says, due to the Belarus Round Table, and ecumenical consortium supported in part by the PC(USA). “The round table is very important because it’s so important for the churches to cooperate, given the heavy hand of the state, he says, referring to the Belorussian government, the most totalitarian of all the former Soviet republics. “The round table is the key to PC(USA) involvement in the region.”
As expected, given the economic climate for the church in Russia, NTS struggles, despite the growing demand for pastors. “Some say, ‘you don’t have a lot of students so you don’t need more teachers,’” Tikhomirov laments. “We say, ‘More teachers would mean more students.’”
For now, Tikhomirov is anxious to keep Joe Kang, whose current term expires in 2009. “It’s invaluable help that Joe is here with us. It would be a big request to extend his service with us because he is not only a gifted teacher, he helps us ecumenically — it’s essential to have a Reformed teacher with us.”
Editor’s note: for informal reflections and photographs of the Feb. 1-12 visit to PC(USA) missionaries in Russia, visit the blog.
To support the ministry of PC(USA) missionaries Joe and Hannah Kang, call PresbyTel at 800-872-3283 and ask for Extra Commitment Opportunity account #E-200369, or to give online, click here.
For information about and letters from PC(USA) missionaries in Russia and around the world, visit the Mission Connections Web site. |
