Seminar of the Ingrian Church

The month of march gave me a number of educational opportunities...that's something I never pass up. Even better, these opportunities helped me understand more about the state of Lutheran congregations (and, most especially, their pastors) in Siberia. I can say that I felt privileged to have this chance. 


The first seminar I took part in was held locally - the Lutheran Church of Christ the Savior, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (i.e., part of the Finnish tradition of Lutheranism in Russia) held a seminar for the pastors of their deanery called "The Red Thread of the Bible," based on the book and taught by a Finnish theologian, Leif Nummela. While at first it was planned that I would just participate with the rest of the pastors, preachers and other church workers that would attend, it eventually became clear that I'd have an important role to play - translator. No, I don't know Finnish! :) But Leif, like most Finns, speaks English very well, and I was able to translate for him into Russian. 


You can see some pictures and commentary below:

The Siberian Deanery of the ELCI stretches from Omsk in the west to the Transbaikal region in the East. Some congregations are served by Finnish missionaries, though most now have local, Russian leaders. 

Leif's lessons had us digging deep in Scripture....

Had it been my role, I probably would have debated with the teacher a bit about Biblical interpretation. Perhaps it was good that I had another job to do - translate!

Participants of the seminar. To the far right in the back row is Gennady Ivanovich, the leader of the Novosibirsk congregation of the Ingrian church. Second to left in the front row is Juha Sari, the Dean of Siberia for the Ingrian Church.