October 2, 2007
Volume 1, Issue 32

Editor: Rick Scherger

Why are you going to Russia?  Why do you want to go there? What’s your purpose?  What are you going to do?

These were questions we (Arleen and Howard) heard before our trip, and our answers then were, “because Antti and Jari say we ought to go;” “it’s a Mission Trip, perhaps a last chance as this is Antti’s last trip;” and, “you can learn about and encourage the growing, struggling Ingrian Lutheran Churches in NW Russia (Karelia) as they re-build and establish their ministries.”  Having gone, and returned, I can tell you that those answers are still true, but now there is more.

We went not really knowing what to expect, not knowing for sure why we were going, but knowing that God seemed to be playing a pretty strong role in telling us to “Go.”  We wondered about the ‘Go’ as we hit the border between Finland and Russia…not a friendly place, but we made it in.  Just over the border, we saw a sign pointing to Sakijarvi.  For Arleen, this evoked many memories of Grampa Suni, who was born there and came to Canada via Finland prior to the Revolution. 

Our first stop was at Viipuri (Vyborg), where we visited St. Peter Paul Lutheran Church, worshipping in the original building erected by Germans and Swedes.  As poor as this congregation is, bundles of clothing were lined up along one side of the church ready for shipment to Siberia.  Later in the day, we arrived in St. Petersburg. Our first stop was at the church of St. Mary’s….a beautiful church in downtown St. Petersburg.  Built in 1803-1805, it had a congregation of over 17,000 (Lutherans) before the Revolution in 1917.   Today it has 350 members; 400 worship there.  During the era of the Soviet Union, the church was turned into a stable, an apartment complex, with 3-floors, and a “money exchange.” The very old Grandmothers (BA-boosh-kas) …told us they were like Christ, when in 1990 they could “chase out the money changers.”

This Church has been restored to its original structure with help from Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Church of Finland, and the Church of Denmark.

Before 1990, throughout this area of Russia, church services were held in the cemeteries, the only place they dared to worship, and even then, there were always KGB agents present.  During Stalin’s reign, all the churches in Russia were shut down; burned, bombed and destroyed; or used for other ‘state’ purposes. In the little area that we traveled, over 80,000 ‘Ingrians’ were ‘liquidated.’  By 1937, all the pastors were either shot, or sent to Siberia and the Concentration Camps…only 2 ever returned.

 In their absence, the women, “called by God,” held forth…even held weekly Bible Studies in the cemeteries.  We met some of them.  One said, “They could kill our pastors, and burn down our churches, but “they couldn’t kill Christ;” “They couldn’t destroy us.”  Wow!  They had the “fire” in their eyes and their faces spoke volumes. 

After leaving St. Petersburg, we ventured east to the town of Keltto where the “Theological Institute” is (a seminary, just affiliated with Luther Seminary in Minneapolis). We spent a night and heard more stories.  The Lutheran Bishop there has to cover all of Russia; from Mongolia all the way to the Finnish border…well over 7,000 kilometers across.  They’ve trained over a hundred pastors at the Institute ( 3 ½ - -5 yrs of study) and there were many more going through training now….future pastors, deacons, and lay leaders  They told us that before any are admitted, they must have a “vision for mission, an inner call from God, and a fire in their hearts.”  One of the speakers explained that Russia is an atheist country, but that “the Russian people are longing for the Gospel.”

From the ‘Institute,’ we headed north visiting congregations in Aunus, Petrozavodsk, Tsalna, Kontupohja (where we spent a night with a host family), Pitkäranta, Novie Peski, Läskelä (does not have a building and desperately needs one), Sortavala, Särkisalmi , Ruskeala and Tanne Uusi Kirrko before crossing the border back into Finland at Wärtsilä-Niirala and on to the Oronmylly Retreat Centre to spend our final night before heading back to Helsinki.

On entering one of the churches, the local pastor said to us “as I stand at the door greeting people, I sense they are people of the Spirit, even if we don’t know each other”. That statement speaks for our feeling for the whole week.  At each threshold we met “people of the Spirit” and there was need to “know each other”.  “If we build it, they will come,” seemed to be the common call as we journeyed across the region. 

In Russia, if a church does not have a building, they are looked upon as a sect not to be tolerated.  Services are still held in people’s homes, in schools, auditoriums, cultural centers, wherever they can find room.  And, if they have to wait a couple of weeks for a pastor to come, that’s fine too; their congregations are “alive.”  One of the ladies remarked, “We must build our churches in the people’s hearts first.”  They won’t be stopped; not after 70+ years of hard core communism and repression. 

In nearly every place we stopped, we heard of congregations feeding and clothing the needy within their communities, of sending bundles further a-field to congregations in Siberia and Mongolia. We heard of orphans and orphanages….we eventually got to visit one of them.  A young pastor when asked “why all the orphanages in Russia”, responded: “I don’t know.”(There were over 50 in St. Petersburg alone).  But then he looked up and said, “Yes I do know.”  “For over 70-years we were a God-less society, and without God, there was no conscience; no remorse in giving up your child; no moral consequence.”  The orphanage we visited had 53 children, aged 7 – 18 years old.  State run, they did have a locked room with religious icons where they could come and pray….and see the face of Jesus.

Rick Warren says mission trips “will enlarge your heart, expand your vision, stretch your faith, deepen your compassion, and fill you with a kind of joy you have never experienced.”  Every word of what Rick Warren says is true and then some.  We will never forget the faith of those old ‘BA-boosh-ka’s,  that kept the Gospel alive, all these years; the ultimate sacrifice that many made just to hear and live the Gospel; and this ‘treasure’ we have in our Freedom of Religion.  I hope we never take it for granted again.  A fellow pilgrim, Dave Dynneson snapped the following picture of Howard socializing with three BA-boosh-ka’s.  They were so happy when he took the time to go to them and try to talk with them.  The woman on the far right is deaf due to the deafening sounds of the bombs during the Winter War. She watched her home church in Sortavala bombed and as she result she became deaf.

Howard received many kisses and hugs and nearly lost his ears as they pulled on them and laughed.  Yes Howard, no matter where you go, you do get along with the ladies.