Siberian Circuit Riders

Earlier this week, I arrived back in Novosibirsk after a trip that lasted two days short of a month. The train took me as far west as the capital of the Urals, Yekaterinburg, and as far east as Lake Baikal.   

The enormous distances in Russia do mean that quite a bit of time was spent simply on the road. While that has a beauty of its own (even in 3rd class train wagons!), the more significant part of the journey involved visiting the people of our congregations. 

My traveling partner for most of the journey was also my boss - Pastor Helmut Grimmsmann, the Asia Secretary of my employer the Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Lower Saxony. I very much enjoyed Helmut's company - asking him about his experience as a missionary in the Central African Republic (25 years!) and reflecting with him about the theology and practice of mission service.

I felt like we were 21st-century, Siberian versions of the circuit riders of the Old West, traveling from one congregation to the next. As a rule Helmut would usually preach and I would translate; it was fortunate for me (since my knowledge of German is so very slim) the Helmut is completely fluent in English. We would then usually have "tea" (which is, more often than not, a very richly prepared mix of sandwiches, salads, cakes and candies) and talk with the people about whatever problems or issues might be facing them. 

Our congregational building in the mining town of Anzhero-Suzhdensk

Visiting with the older women after worship
(while the younger women are preparing "tea")

By the time we arrived in the south-central Siberian region of Khakasia, we had been away from home for more than a week; it would be fair to say that we were not exactly fresh. Yet five intense days of visits in the region lay ahead. One of the Abakan congregation's recent adult confirmands, Marina, took us into her home that first morning and for the next few to follow; her hospitality (and the hospitality of our long time member, Erika, who housed us in Chernogorsk) made it easier to prepare for the days of worship service, business meetings, and many kilometers of road that lay ahead.

The church council president in Abakan, Alexander, made our "circuit riding" possible by driving us faithfully from Kuragino and Roshchinsk in the east to Shira and Bograd in the west. In between he showed us some of the natural and man-made wonders of the region, including the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Dam and, together with folks from Bograd, the Borodino cave.

As we traveled I was struck again how every congregational situation in the region is unique - some are tied with German-Russian heritage, others are not. Some are open and welcoming, others are tightly knit. Some are urban, others are rural. A person with such rich missionary experience as Helmut, however, was able to provide both challenge and comfort to each of them. I was challenged, too, not only by tasks, on the one hand, as translator and the other hand as area dean, but also by Helmut's approach. While in my ministry I have put great effort into being understood by the congregation (i.e., coming as closely as possible to their mindset and values in order that they might hear the Good News in a way they could accept), Helmut put more emphasis on the way the Gospel brings something new into our lives. With such an approach he risked being misunderstood (or, even more likely, not understood at all) by many people in the congregation; on the other hand I was impressed by his willingness to take risks and challenge his listeners' assumptions. I saw that this really resonated with some congregational members, especially those around the “edges” of the church. 

Helmut (foreground) and the congregation in Bograd

Some of the questions that came up repeatedly in our time in the Abakan region were: the need to think creatively about finding long term solutions for community space when in most places we do not own our own, the necessity to improve congregational singing and worship leadership training for lay leaders. In addition Helmut and I thought about and discussed how our congregations' identity and mission are related to the issues above. One of the instruments we use in the U.S. to  help congregations understand better who they are and who they want to be is the mission and/or vision statement. In the coming months I'll be thinking about ways to help our congregations analyze themselves so that they might become more focused on the way God does and can use them as an instrument of challenge and grace in their environments. 

Pastor Andrey takes a new call

It has been a hard couple of years for the pastor. He wasn't exactly sure about the idea of getting ordained to begin with; though a seminary graduate, he was too young to be a pastor, he claimed. Andrey was able to convince church leaders of this for a couple of years. While working as a member of synod staff, though, they heard him preach, saw him work with youth and participated in his Bible studies. Eventually it became clear that there were congregations that needed his pastoral leadership. In the end Andrey agreed that the church's call was God's call, that it was time to stop resisting. And so he and his new wife would gather their things and move in order to fill a vacancy in one of our church's oldest congregations.

But “old” in no sense equals “easy.” In fact the experience of our church is generally the opposite. So, despite good support from the church's leadership, it was a challenging call.  Besides adapting to a new city and new people, he had to deal with unrealistic expectations and with a congregation that wasn't exactly sure they wanted him there – he didn't speak German, after all, and at times his blunt words struck at bit too closely to home. One step at a time, though, he worked his way through some of the congregation's simmering conflicts; they were able to find peace with the question of language (3 Sundays Russian (and only Russian), one Sunday German (with a Russian sermon)), to bring a degree of stability to the question of their place of worship, to attempt to begin social service ministry in the congregation and Andrey preached clearly every week about God's love and our response to that love.

And yet, while he continued to do his daily work, Andrey could no longer see what was next – the battles (and they were battles) of the recent past were too fresh in his mind. It was almost as if he didn't notice (though notice he did) that the congregation had, slowly but surely, gotten younger. I saw it when I came to meet the newly elected church council, with over half its members 35 years old or less. But by then Andrey was ready to move on - this call had reached its conclusion. 

That does not mean Andrey's call to ministry was done, however. Instead he saw a path forward for himself through further education...and for the congregation through a change in pastoral leadership. And so, he'll be leaving in some weeks time to Germany. In two years he should have a master's degree as well as new skills and experiences for helping his church develop.

The congregation? Well, the reaction was telling. Some were still living in a dream world where Germany sends pastors to all in need. Others seemed to note with guilt that they might have made life easier for their pastor and might have done more together with him. Most were worried about what would happen next – they know that pastors are significantly fewer than vacancies. And the young folks? Their reaction to the news brought me hope - “Good for you, pastor! I hope you have a great time and learn a lot! Keep in touch!... And now we'd better ask ourselves what it is it that we'll have to do to keep our congregation going. What might we do that is new to help us develop further?”

Thanks in no small part to my former student and current colleague, Pastor Andrey, it will be a joy for me to accompany that congregation as it continues on its journey.

With Pastor Andrey on a too-cold spring morning
at the train station in Anzhero-Suzhdensk, one of the cities in his parish.