Centennial of Methodism in Russia observed
A choir performs during the worship service in St. Petersburg
celebrating the 100th anniversary of Methodism in Russia. UMNS
photos by Jim Athearn. By Elliott Wright*
June 26, 2009 | NEW YORK (UMNS)
A “great cloud of witnesses” surrounded United Methodists in Russia as they celebrated the 100th anniversary of Methodism with festivities that included the announcement of the opening of a new center in St. Petersburg.
The anniversary was celebrated in an ecumenical service of worship
June 13. The occasion also marked the 120th year since Methodism
arrived in what was then Czarist Russia, in the region that is today
the Baltic countries.
“The St. Petersburg observance brought to mind the image of a great
crowd of witnesses--from the past and the present,” said the Rev. James
Athearn, a retired Virginia clergyman who attended as coordinator of
the Russia Initiative of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
“The church around the world was represented by guests, prayers, and
the good will of congregations in the United States and Western Europe
that are partners with Russian congregations.”
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A praise band is one of many ecumenical musical groups joining in the service.
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The Minnesota Annual Conference contributed $600,000 last year toward
the purchase and equipping of the St. Petersburg Center, which will be
centrally located in the city and accessible to United Methodist
congregations in the region. The Minnesota Conference has a mission
partnership with the Northwest Russian Annual Conference.
The center will serve as headquarters for the annual conference and
the district, and worship and educational space for St. Petersburg
congregations.
“The building is two subway stops with a 10-minute walk from
downtown St. Petersburg--a great location,” said Bishop Sally Dyck of
the Minnesota Area, who visited the site. “It has a police substation
on the floor above and a youth center above that. It has replacement
windows and is bright even without lights on. … The first worship
services are expected to be held in September.”
Celebrating new life
St. Petersburg continued a Methodist presence for 14 years after the
Russian Revolution of 1917. The church resumed ministry when the Soviet
Union collapsed in the late 1980s.
Bishop Hans Växby, leader of The United Methodist Church's Eurasia
Area, presided over the celebration, with the participation of retired
Bishop Øystein Olsen of the Nordic and Baltic Area, and Dyck.
Lasting almost four hours and held at the Resurrection Lutheran
Church, the St. Petersburg anniversary service took place during the
meeting of the Northwest Conference. It was one of several similar
celebrations held this year at other annual conferences around the vast
area that Bishop Växby leads.
Guests included representatives from other Protestant groups,
including Russian Baptists in the region, and Methodist representatives
from the United States, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Switzerland and Great
Britain. Congregations in the Eurasia Episcopal Area, from as far as
Voronezh, sent choirs or other musical ensembles. The children's choir
of Grace Church, St. Petersburg, brought the celebrants to their feet
in applause.
Bishop Dyck, writing for the Web site of her annual conference in
Minnesota, noted that many Russian United Methodists are young, growing
in faith, and anxious to share their faith, she said: “Let our brothers
and sisters in Russia give us hope to rise again in our own communities
to be … giving witness to a life in Christ.”
The Rev. Jorge Domingues represented the Board of Global Ministries.
The Evangelization and Church Growth unit of which he is interim deputy
general secretary incorporates the Russia Initiative.
“Global Ministries is privileged to be part of the history of the
rebirth of Methodism in Russia,” he said. “From a time when there was
no hope, we come today to witness all that God has done. We celebrate
the history and the past, but we also look into the future by the light
of the Holy Spirit and see the presence of service and love of The
United Methodist Church in this part of the world. It is the same God
who resurrected Christ from death who leads this re-emerging Church to
continue His mission in Eurasia.”
A rich heritage
Methodists had two original centers in contemporary Russia: St.
Petersburg in the west and the Vladivostok region in the east. The
exact origins are difficult to trace. There are indications of
Methodist work among Swedish immigrants in St. Petersburg as early as
1881. The first Methodist church buildings in what was then Czarist
Russia were in modern Lithuania. The work in the east, starting in
1910, is easier to date.
Since Methodism was officially recognized in Russia prior to the
communist revolution, The United Methodist Church could legally resume
ministries after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989. After the
revolution that overthrew the czarist government, the Methodist Church
continued in St. Petersburg through the ministry of Deaconess Anna
Eklund until 1931, when political realities forced her to return to her
native Finland.
The history of Methodism in Russia from 1889 to 1931 is surveyed in a new publication, “A Pictorial Panorama of Early Russian Methodism 1889-1931,” by S.T. Kimbrough, a retired executive of the Board of Global Ministries.
Today, The United Methodist Church in Eurasia has 116 congregations,
each with an indigenous pastor. There are currently 48 students
enrolled in residential and extension degree programs at the United
Methodist Seminary in Moscow.
The Northwest Annual Conference and the St. Petersburg district have
especially active outreach ministries to teenagers and young adults. An
annual gathering of college students draws as many as 150 participants.
The Russia Initiative is the oldest and most successful of the
Mission Initiatives sponsored by Global Ministries. It is a joint
effort of the agency, individuals, local churches, and conferences,
such as Minnesota and Germany.
Click here to give to an Advance project in Russia. Click here to read the Russia Initiative Newsletter.
*Wright is the information officer of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Board of Global Ministries
Russia Initiative
United Methodist Church in Eurasia
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Coming in July, UMNS will present a special report on the people, ministries and history of the Russian United Methodist Church.