This past weekend I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the 20th annual synod assembly of the ELCUSFE in Omsk. Just over 20 delegates from the “largest Lutheran synod in the world”1 considered both practical and theological issues; the positive tone of the assembly was set by Bishop Otto Schaude and reinforced by a wonderful facility, excellent weather and common worship.
But now, back to the beginning - as soon as I arrived in Omsk, I was reminded of the great variety of congregational life in Lutheran churches in the region. A few congregations are working more or less like a “normal” congregation would – they have a pastor, a building, and are striving to be the best stewards of what they've been given and to build up ministries that meet the needs of their congregations and the wider community. A few have something in common with new mission starts in the U.S. - they are building their congregations from the ground up and are, as a rule, small, yet experiencing a fruitful spiritual life. A third group of congregations are in the process of re-development, moving from German to Russian or trying to overcoming some other significant challenge. These congregations tend to be very small and a bit depressed. But even having the opportunity to be together and to realize that we're not in that boat alone was quite helpful.
Events of particular interest for me included a theological presentation by Dr. Jürgen Schuster from the Bad Liebenzell mission. Missionaries from this evangelical mission organization have been working in the Ural region for quite some time, and the influence of their missiological approach and piety have certainly been felt throughout the years. At the same time, it has been my experience that our sense of mission has serious differences, so I cannot say that I was the most unbiased of listeners when Dr. Schuster began. It was to my great pleasure that my prejudices were found to be false. Dr. Schuster's presentation itself was very helpful; even if the information presented was not particularly new for me (much of the same ground had been covered in a Missiology class taught by Dr.Richard Bliese then at LSTC, by focusing on the book of Acts (and in particular on the events leading up to and surrounding the “Apostolic Council” in Acts 15), we were all reminded that the church has always had to think about its relationship to culture. This has been important because for all of my years here I've been a participant in the process of trying to understand how Lutheranism applies to the Russian context. In particular, I've been a big proponent of doing what I can to help the church “russify,” as opposed to remaining so very close to its German (Finnish, etc.) roots. Now, after 10 years, I'm a little bit uncertain. The more I think about it, and especially the more I see the everyday life of congregations here, the more I realize that the Lutheran church needs to retain a certain degree of distance from the culture if it is going to find an audience here. What I mean is this – if the church were to strive to be “typically Russian,” then it would clearly do this in a less successful way than the bigger, stronger, more experienced churches in this regard (especially the Orthodox, but also Baptist and Charismatic, in their own way) will. Instead, the Lutheran church will find its place here if it realizes that it's “target” is not to be in the broad center of the culture, but around the culture's margins, among those who either do not wish to or cannot participate in the dominant culture. This is not to say that I want the church to remain an ethnic ghetto - not by any means! Instead, though, I hope that the Lutheran church can become a spiritual home for those who do not see the church as addressing their situation. A relatively successful example of such an attempt is the ministry of the Probst (Dean) of the Far East, Manfred Brockmann.Pastor Brockmann will have been in Russia 20 years by this time next year. In his particular context of Vladivostok, he's been able to support a congregational ministry that uses culture (for example, they have a very large program of German culture events every year as well as a very active ministry of free, classical music concerts) as a means to demonstrate a different way of being church than is common in wider society. St. Paul's in Vladivostok is a unique congregation with an experience that is not likely to be repeatable elsewhere. At the same time, despite all my respect for the Eastern Orthodox tradition, by looking at their work I become even more convinced that we cannot and should not try to become a second Orthodox church.
The youth choir from the congregation in Omsk singing at closing worship.
It is not only our German-rooted church that is going through this struggle. This weekend I also had the opportunity to meet the Probst of the Finnish-rooted Ingrian church, Juha Saari. Like me, he is a long-time missionary in Russia, and we both easily agreed that we would like to do what we can so that the Lutheran congregations in the region would come together. It seems that I have yet to mention the fact that there are actually four (!!!) different Lutheran church bodies in Novosibirsk and a 5th is also represented in the region. Many of the congregations are small and struggling, while their divisions sometimes reflect either “foreign” conflicts (“liberal” Lutherans vs. LCMS vs. WELS) or battles over personal leadership. It is my hope, then, that we can do a lot of work together both on a local and a region-wide level. Already later this week I'll be joining one of the deacons of the local Ingrian congregation on a visit to a children's Tuberculosis center, and Probst Saari has already invited me to a seminar for ministers of their church that will take place early next year.
This contact with the Finnish-tradition church brings me back again to the central question of our synod assembly – the church and culture. As the Finnish Lutherans have enculturated, they've decided not to follow the practice of some of their western partners and have rejected women as preachers and pastors. At synod assembly, though, one of our differences from the surrounding dominant culture was highlighted when two women (former students I know from seminars I taught) were blessed as preachers for their congregation in Krasnoturinsk. I have full confidence that these women will be engaged in the very important ministry in making Christ known to their neighbors, even if it is not "culturally correct."
The synod assembly highlighted for me both the opportunities and challenges that come with a wider vision for the church, a vision that will make us question again the ways we interact with surrounding cultures.
_ _ _ _ _
1 Only geographically the largest, of course. Blue dots on the map below represent ELCUSFO congregations that had delegates at the synod assembly.
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| I should probably apologize – the above sounds more like a press release than a blog entry. At the same time, it is a sincere reflection of the events of the weekend. |
Events of particular interest for me included a theological presentation by Dr. Jürgen Schuster from the Bad Liebenzell mission. Missionaries from this evangelical mission organization have been working in the Ural region for quite some time, and the influence of their missiological approach and piety have certainly been felt throughout the years. At the same time, it has been my experience that our sense of mission has serious differences, so I cannot say that I was the most unbiased of listeners when Dr. Schuster began. It was to my great pleasure that my prejudices were found to be false. Dr. Schuster's presentation itself was very helpful; even if the information presented was not particularly new for me (much of the same ground had been covered in a Missiology class taught by Dr.Richard Bliese then at LSTC, by focusing on the book of Acts (and in particular on the events leading up to and surrounding the “Apostolic Council” in Acts 15), we were all reminded that the church has always had to think about its relationship to culture. This has been important because for all of my years here I've been a participant in the process of trying to understand how Lutheranism applies to the Russian context. In particular, I've been a big proponent of doing what I can to help the church “russify,” as opposed to remaining so very close to its German (Finnish, etc.) roots. Now, after 10 years, I'm a little bit uncertain. The more I think about it, and especially the more I see the everyday life of congregations here, the more I realize that the Lutheran church needs to retain a certain degree of distance from the culture if it is going to find an audience here. What I mean is this – if the church were to strive to be “typically Russian,” then it would clearly do this in a less successful way than the bigger, stronger, more experienced churches in this regard (especially the Orthodox, but also Baptist and Charismatic, in their own way) will. Instead, the Lutheran church will find its place here if it realizes that it's “target” is not to be in the broad center of the culture, but around the culture's margins, among those who either do not wish to or cannot participate in the dominant culture. This is not to say that I want the church to remain an ethnic ghetto - not by any means! Instead, though, I hope that the Lutheran church can become a spiritual home for those who do not see the church as addressing their situation. A relatively successful example of such an attempt is the ministry of the Probst (Dean) of the Far East, Manfred Brockmann.Pastor Brockmann will have been in Russia 20 years by this time next year. In his particular context of Vladivostok, he's been able to support a congregational ministry that uses culture (for example, they have a very large program of German culture events every year as well as a very active ministry of free, classical music concerts) as a means to demonstrate a different way of being church than is common in wider society. St. Paul's in Vladivostok is a unique congregation with an experience that is not likely to be repeatable elsewhere. At the same time, despite all my respect for the Eastern Orthodox tradition, by looking at their work I become even more convinced that we cannot and should not try to become a second Orthodox church.The youth choir from the congregation in Omsk singing at closing worship.
It is not only our German-rooted church that is going through this struggle. This weekend I also had the opportunity to meet the Probst of the Finnish-rooted Ingrian church, Juha Saari. Like me, he is a long-time missionary in Russia, and we both easily agreed that we would like to do what we can so that the Lutheran congregations in the region would come together. It seems that I have yet to mention the fact that there are actually four (!!!) different Lutheran church bodies in Novosibirsk and a 5th is also represented in the region. Many of the congregations are small and struggling, while their divisions sometimes reflect either “foreign” conflicts (“liberal” Lutherans vs. LCMS vs. WELS) or battles over personal leadership. It is my hope, then, that we can do a lot of work together both on a local and a region-wide level. Already later this week I'll be joining one of the deacons of the local Ingrian congregation on a visit to a children's Tuberculosis center, and Probst Saari has already invited me to a seminar for ministers of their church that will take place early next year.
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| Closing worship led by Synod President, Pastor Evgeny Philipov |
The synod assembly highlighted for me both the opportunities and challenges that come with a wider vision for the church, a vision that will make us question again the ways we interact with surrounding cultures.
_ _ _ _ _
1 Only geographically the largest, of course. Blue dots on the map below represent ELCUSFO congregations that had delegates at the synod assembly.
Synod assembly delegates and guests
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