Theological seminary of Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church and Theological Institute of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (both members of the International Lutheran Council) have reached preliminary agreement to conduct a joint educational program serving the needs of the people in the parishes in the eastern part of Russia.
This breakthrough came as a result of the meeting involving the rectors of respective institutions and staffs involved in the training of the laity. The program will be based on the standard used in the Ingrian Church. In many ways it is similar to the Biblical school program, which was implemented in the Siberian Church since 1999, so there would be relatively little adjustment for SELC representatives. Novosibirsk seminary of SELC will share resources such as its facility and teachers. Instructors may also come from other places as needed. Most participants will come from Siberian deanery of ELCI, though parishioners of the SELC parishes who had not had a chance to go through the Biblical school program in the previous years, will also join the ranks of the program’s students. Select sessions may take place in ELCI and SELC parishes across Siberia and the Ural region. According to the experience of the Ingrian Church representatives, having such movable element assists in building stronger ties between various congregations and their members, which is vital given the vast distances in Siberia.
Both at the general meeting of the seminar participants and the focus group meeting there was emphasized a strong need to have the Lutheran church members instructed in the matters of the faith as much as possible given the current situation, in which the faithful traditional Churches find themselves in the Lutheran world.
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