Finding Partnership with another Reformed comminity in Russia

During the first week of June 2005, I visited the Cultural Educational Center (CEC) in Tyumen (western Siberia) and the Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church that has grown around its activities over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, because of my upcoming flight to Canada for home service, I was not able to spend a Sunday there, since there would be three young men being baptized. My goal for this trip was to witness the session of the Bible College that has been established during the last two years with the help of Rev. Rod Gorter, CRWM missionary in Odessa, and Rev. Warren Lammers of 2 nd CRC in Kalamazoo, Michigan, who has guided the start-up of this Bible College curriculum. Ultimately, my goal is to see how the CRC can collaborate and support the growth of this Reformed Christian witness in another area of Russia. I came away seeing numerous possibilities

Jim & Sally, serving with Footprints International, in partnership with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The Various Ministries at the Cultural Educational Center - Tyumen, Western Siberia

Since its inception in 1991, the CEC has developed a number of very effective ministries:

•  1995 ---At-home Bible studies with Jim and Sally began.

•  1996 --- Christian Library - now 3,000 Russian books and 1,000 English books are available to the public. There are 700 registered readers and 387 were active this year. Tatiana is a very effective counsellor with readers and youth.

•  1996 ---Cultural Educational Center - English language training and cultural exchange between North American teachers and professionals, and Russian people. City grants free use of a 200m2 facility in the heart of the city in 1998.

•  1998 ---Alcoholics Anonymous counselling - both by housing the support groups and providing individual counselling, the Center houses groups of recovering alcoholics. The finest result of this ministry is Sergey, the current director of all ministries coming out of CEC.

•  1999 --- Summer Camps - two weeks of discipleship, English language and fellowship between Russian youth and American summer teams.

•  2000 --- Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church has over 100 members, visitors and youth. Its first pastor (Reformed Baptist from Ukraine) left for USA in 2004, and now the church has agreement with a graduate of the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in St. Petersburg to become their next pastor. He and his wife will arrive in August and will be installed in October 2005. The church hopes to acquire land at a convenient city location for the building of a church. Other than the Reformed Church in Tver (purchased for the community by folks in the Netherlands in the mid-90s), this will be the first construction of a Reformed church in Russia.

•  2001 --- Pilgrim Christian School - The school goes from grade 1-4, but wishes to expand. Finances and space restrict this growth. The CEC has provided for the salary of the school director and provides for capital items only, like new desks and chairs.

•  2004 --- Crisis Pregnancy Center - Victoria visits schools, teaching kids about sex education, which is virtually not done in Russian schools or homes. Uses Right-to-Life videos and Orthodox materials. First baby has been saved.

•  2003 --- Tyumen Bible College was founded with the professional guidance of Rev. Warren Lammers, CRC pastor at 2 nd Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the first academic year, 30 students were enrolled in the 30-course program, and about 20 remain in the program. There are 3 sessions per year for two-weeks each session, so two courses are done each session. During my visit, I spoke to these 20 students and offered them an opportunity to connect with Pastor/publisher Andrei Melnikov who can provide them with a "mobile library" as an effective evangelism tool. Among the students are 14 women and 6 men. Two or three of the men have interest to become pastors; the rest are equipping themselves to better serve in their church ministries. The students come from various denominations. The Bible College is investigating the possibility of merging' with a Missionary Alliance Bible College. Tyumen Bible College will retain the right to select its own teaching staff, and so this will ensure the Reformed accent on the teaching. CRWM missionary Rev. Rod Gorter has also taught courses there.

Proposals / Considerations for Christian Reformed Church collaboration with CEC activities:

•  Christian Library --- annual gift of books to increase the library size

•  Christian Library --- hosting the librarian Tatiana in Moscow during the annual book exhibition, where she will share insights and expertise with our Moscow librarian.

•  Summer Camps --- our CRC team will be organized again for summer 2006, and we could come for this camp in Tyumen. Possibly the Kazakhstan team could share its time with Tyumen.

•  Presbyterian Church --- CRC construction teams will be invited to work on a church building project when the plans are realized..

•  Tyumen Bible College --- it would be strategic to recruit more men from other Siberian cities who could come to the college and be specifically trained as pastors. It may be proposed that CRC ministry will provide stipends to such students to travel, live and study in Tyumen during the sessions which occur 3 times per year for two-week sessions. The local Presbyterian church, like all of Russian society, suffers from a lack of male leadership in the family and home.

•  Tyumen Bible College --- CRC pastors will be invited to come and teach at TBC, thus strengthening its Reformed character.