Local Pastor accepts call to Siberia and Baltic
Churches
Rev. Daniel Johnson
Many people, when they hear that I am going to Siberia to
serve as a catechist ask, “What great sin did you commit that you are being
sent to Siberia?” Well maybe my sin was
answering the phone back in 1999 when Dr. Timothy Quill [Director of the
Russian Project at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana],
called me. He wanted me to teach in
Siberia. So in February 2000, I traveled
to Siberia for the first time. That was
to be my first of many visits over the next twelve years. It was those visits to Siberia which would
prepare me for a full-time call, through the Office of International Mission.
Dr. Collver [Assistant to President Harrison] explained that
the LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM) wants me to take my 22 years of
pastoral experience and work with the Siberian and Baltic Bishops as a
catechist to their pastors. After
serving as Senior Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Marshalltown for 19
years, I was now being asked by the Church to become a Catechist in Siberia. My twelve years traveling to Siberia and
working, not only with the Russian Project but also as a charter member of the
Siberian Lutheran Mission Society, was a training ground for this new assignment
by the Church. And I would be remiss not
to thank Redeemer – Marshalltown for the many teaching sabbaticals provided
over these twelve years.
The challenges in the Baltics and Siberia are very similar,
yet unique. Lutherans first appeared in
Russia in the late 1500s. Under the Russian Empire of the 18th and
19th centuries, Lutheranism flourished. Lutherans were respected and welcomed into
Russia. By 1900 Lutheranism had grown to
be the second largest Christian confession in the entire Russian Empire. --
Second only to the Russian Orthodox Church The Lutheran Church and the Russian
Orthodox Church, were the only two church bodies recognized by the Russian
government. Neither the Roman Catholic
or Baptist Churches received official government recognition.
Scattered across the southern Siberian trade, from the Urals
to the Pacific Ocean, Lutheran churches could be seen. Lutherans had also settled in the Volga region
of western Russia as well as in the prominent cities of Petersburg and Moscow. Many
prominent Russians were Lutheran.
Catherine the Great was a Lutheran, as were many military and naval
officers, academics, craftsmen, musicians and authors. The Empress, Tzariza,Elizaveta, wife of
Nicholas II (who was executed by the Bolsheviks in Ekaterinberg in 1918) was
Lutheran. She was the former princess of
Hesse.
In 1917 the Bolsheviks came to power in the bloody and politically
motivated October revolution. This
changed everything for the Lutherans in Russia.
During the purge of the late 1930s, Stalin sought to use the Lutheran
Church as a means to “control” the people.
The Russian Orthodox capitulated to the Soviets. The Lutherans did not. They responded, as the
confessionalists they are. They said,
“This we believe teach and confess,” quoting from the Book of Concord. The Lutherans knew that to compromise with
the Soviets was tantamount to abandoning the Gospel. They refused to cooperate with the Bolsheviks.
Stalin, therefore, marked the Lutheran
Church for extinction. Every Lutheran
pastor was executed and every Church in Siberia was torn down. Many church members were sent to Stalin’s
“death camps.” The number of Lutherans
put to death by Stalin from 1930 until 1953 is impossible to determine. However, some researchers have estimated the
number between 7-10 million.
Today, the Lutheran Church is showing resurgence. However, the clergy roster is filled with
first generation clergy. There are no
“senior clergy” to provide direction and catechesis to the young pastors. This is where I come in. Bishop Lytkin and the Baltic Bishops have
asked the LCMS to supply experienced clergy to help catechize their
clergy. Professor Alan Ludwig is
assigned to teach at the seminary in Novosibirsk, Siberia. Dr. Charles Evanson is assigned as a
theological educator to the Baltic Churches.
I will work with both of these men as I visit the congregations and
provide catechesis to the pastors now serving in the Siberian Evangelical
Lutheran Church (SELC) throughout Siberia and in the Baltic Churches.
Editor’s note:
If you desire to hear more about the history and
resurgence of the Lutheran Church in Siberia and the Baltics, Rev. Johnson is
available to visit your congregation or organization and give a presentation.
