Slavic Gospel Association Canada
Thursday July 29th, 2010
BThe priority need in the lands of Russia is that of strong, biblically-sound training for pastors and church planting missionaries. God has provided for SGA to take part in supporting four seminaries to accomplish this goal.
As many new church congregations are planted across the lands of Russia, the evangelical churches SGA serves in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have established Bible training as their top priority. Reflecting this, SGA sponsors four seminaries and two major Bible institutes to train pastors and individuals called to fill other ministry positions. These seminaries are:
These seminaries provide solid, biblical courses of study for pastors, Christian education workers, music leaders, children’s and youth workers and church planters. The education these faithful students receive is equivalent in scope to that offered by top theological seminaries in the West.
To assist them in their studies, SGA partners provide study Bibles, theological texts, biblical language tools, commentaries and reference books to assist pastoral students in their careful study of God’s Word. The full-time faculty of Novosibirsk Biblical Theological Seminary consists of SGA missionaries who are all graduates of The Master’s Theological Seminary. The principal full-time faculty of Irpen Biblical Seminary consists of Grace Missions International missionaries, who are also graduates of TMS. The full time Odessa Theological Seminary faculty consists primarily of national teachers. SGA provides one missionary professor to serve with the faculty. The Minsk Theological seminary full-time faculty are all national teachers.
Almaty Bible Institute serves the UECB churches of the Central Asian nations and the faculty consists of national teachers. Baku Bible Institute serves the churches of Azerbaijan and its faculty also consists of national teachers. In addition to the excellent national Bible teachers at each school who were all, themselves, trained at the SGA-sponsored seminaries, SGA’s Russian-speaking Dr. Roman Dechtiarenko travels between the schools as needed, and is one of the most loved and respected adjunct professors of the Bible across the CIS.
The students at all four seminaries are outstanding men of God. They are selected and sent by their local church leadership on the basis of their proven record of faithful service, giftedness, and fruitfulness in ministry. The admission procedure also includes a written examination of Bible knowledge, an oral examination, and a preaching examination.
As with any major ministry, there are many challenges. Please join with us in prayer that the Lord would continue to provide for the needs of seminaries and their students throughout the CIS.