June 26, 2009
By Elliott Wright

NEW YORK – 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."

A praise band is one of many ecumenical musical groups joining in the service.

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.

United Methodist News Service
Elliott Wright is the information officer of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.