Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, United Methodists have placed a priority on strengthening and developing congregations and church leaders in the former Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern and Central Europe.
After the 2000 General Conference approved a resolution from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) to reinforce theological schools and expand ministerial programs in the region, the assembly approved a $3 million program to support theological education in the region’s annual conferences.
Five United Methodist theological schools now serve Eastern Europe and Russia.
The Rev. Myron Wingfield, associate general secretary of GBHEM’s Division of Ordained Ministry, cites these schools as an example of “the connection at its best.”
“People from all over the world come together to support these schools. Not just giving, but being in partnership with people on the ground there,” Wingfield says.
Protestantism in Russia has a long, up-and-down history. Until the early 20th century, being a Protestant was a crime. Methodism came to Russia more than 120 years ago. Depending on the political environment, however, it has had periods of growth interrupted by times of struggle. Post-Soviet Russia has been more open. As The United Methodist Church has grown there, so has the need for more trained clergy.
The 1992 General Conference approved the Russia United Methodist Mission Conference; today, Eurasia is the largest geographical episcopal area in the denomination, covering 11 time zones.
In 1995, the Russia United Methodist Theological Seminary opened in Moscow. Today, the school has 50 students on its campus and another 40 attend three regional centers in central Asia, the Far East of Russia and Ukraine.
A challenge to the faculty charged with training pastors in United Methodist theology is that they must first make sure students know what it means to be United Methodist.
“As first-generation Christians, most United Methodists in Russia and Eurasia cannot learn what it means to be United Methodist from parents and grandparents. The seminary is the central place for leaders and pastors to learn Wesleyan teachings,” says the Rev. Sergei V. Nikolaev, seminary president.
Wingfield sees similar issues in other Eastern European countries.
“It’s a challenge. We shaped our educational standards around the idea that we were further cultivating folks who were already in the United Methodist tribe,” Wingfield says. “The good news is we’re actually doing good work in bringing in people who aren’t steeped in the Christian faith but that presents new challenges as far as approaching education and formation for ministry in a different way.”
“We are a highly secular country,” says Meeli Tänkler, president of the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary in Estonia. “Perhaps the greatest challenge is to proclaim the gospel, and to speak about God in a way that makes sense to secular people who have zero knowledge about the Bible, and do not see the Bible as an authority.”
The presence of the state Orthodox Church makes most other denominations in the country tiny minorities. Nikolaev says it can be a challenge to recruit students who feel called to serve such a small Christian community.
“One of our challenges is to train clergy that are familiar with the Russian Orthodox tradition, which influences Russian culture and life,” he says. “We must teach them how to be effective evangelists confident in their own United Methodist Christian identity and, at the same time, to be respectful of the wider Russian Orthodox tradition. Another challenge is to train clergy who can evangelize busy people with a secular mentality.”
The current Russian government “is not interfering with the work of Christian institutions,” Nikolaev notes.
Despite the small number of United Methodists in Russia, Nikolaev says high-quality graduates have no problem finding appointments there. Their challenge is to lead churches to become self-supportive. In some cases, congregations cannot fully support a pastor with a family, and those pastors must pursue bi-vocational ministry.
Tänkler says paid church positions are rare in Estonia, with most seminary graduates serving as volunteers. “We see our role to encourage people who have experienced God’s call to learn God’s word and find their place in ministry,” she says.
Nikolaev’s goals for the seminary include increasing faculty with Ph.Ds. Currently, only one staff member has a doctorate; he hopes to increase that number to at least four.
One thing he is most pleased about is a multiyear project in which the Moscow Seminary engages. The project involves translating key Wesleyana into Russian, such as standard Wesley sermons, making them available online along with a critical edition for Russian readers.
Joey Butler is multimedia editor at United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tennessee.
Are online seminaries the future?
Russia encompasses 11 time zones, making it difficult to recruit students from such a vast area. Some could be closer to Korea than to Moscow; it could be less expensive to travel to study in the United States than to western Russia.
Amos Nascimento, special assistant for global education and new initiatives at Higher Education and Ministry, says in many areas, the days of brick and mortar seminaries may be over. He believes online programs like the United Methodist e-Academy will grow in popularity and make it possible to reach more people in larger areas such as Russia.
The e-Academy began in 2008 as a project of the United Methodist seminaries in Europe. It provides Internet-based distance-learning courses for people preparing for the ordained ministry in European countries where The United Methodist Church has no seminary.
“Using virtual classes,” Nascimento says, “you can connect people across time zones, or who have the barrier of different languages.
“Currently the e-Academy offers courses in 10 languages. This is a good alternative for potential students who are too far away to attend seminary in Russia or Europe.”
United Methodist Seminaries in Eurasia
- Estonia: Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary, Tallinn
- Poland: John A. Lasco United Methodist Theological Seminary, Warsaw
- Russia: Russia United Methodist Seminary, Moscow
- Slovakia: Univerzita Matej Bela, Banska Bystrica, Bratislava
- Switzerland: Centre Methodiste De Formation Theologique Lausanne, Lausanne