CPE Seminar in Omsk

Shortly after the end of the seminar in the Ingrian congregation, I traveled to Omsk for a seminar organized by the church I am working for, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East.

In contrast to the previous seminar, I had no special job to do...nor did I find myself in tension with the theological positions of the presenter. Instead, I really felt "at home." There were a number of reasons for this - I would be in a familiar place, true, but more important was the fact that I'd be in a learning environment again with a number of people who had been my students - Gleb, Andrey, and Denis, now all pastors in the ELCUSFE.

Denis - pastor in Polevskoy, near Ekaterinburg.

Gleb, pastor in Krasnoyarsk.

Andrey, Pastor in Tomsk.

And while I'll have further opportunities to continue to work with these young men, the approach to education at this seminar was truly unique for this country. The leader of the seminar, C.K. Schmidt, is a highly experienced Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor in Germany. Those who serve as pastors in churches in the U.S. know CPE, since we all had to go through this training in order to attain our M.Div. I had a wonderful experience when I was in CPE in seminary, and the chance to renew my knowledge and expand my skills in pastoral care was very welcome...and very, very rare in Russia.

Pastor Schmidt

The seminar last an intense 10 days. Many in the group fought sickness - I was fortunate enough to remain healthy....but remaining healthy meant that I had to go through all the difficult personal reflection that goes into developing our abilities as pastoral care givers. I came out of the seminar feeling renewed, supported, and hoping to find the opportunity to put into practice that which I had begun to discover at the seminar. 

Despite the intense nature of the seminar, we were able to laugh together as well.

We explored Biblical drama as a technique both for understanding texts on a new level 
as well as learning more about ourselves.



Thomas Grote, the pastor in Irkutsk, helped coordinate the seminar. 

I was ready to soak up whatever the seminar had to offer...and it had a lot to offer. I'll be processing the experience in the months to come.