Christian Marriage Class Debuts in Kaluga, Russia
Ten Russian church leaders in Kaluga, Russia studied the pilot distance education course "The Mystery of Marriage." These ten men minister throughout the Kaluga Oblast, an area the size of Maryland, with a population of over one million. In many ways, they were a diverse group-six of the men are married, three are single, and one was recently widowed. They included church elders, pastors, church-planters, a youth pastor, and the bishop who is responsible for all the Baptist churches in the Oblast. Three of the men have theological training. Two have their own computers, and the others traveled to the computer learning center where they accessed the marriage course, e-mail, the Internet, and online biblical tools through the networked computers and servers installed by MAF-U.S. The men ranged in age from 24 to 40.
For eight weeks this fall, the students worked through the interactive lessons on the theological foundations of Christian marriage and nurtured an e-mail discussion on the implications for their personal spiritual lives, marriages, and ministries. At the same time, course facilitators followed and guided their discussions from Moscow, California, and North Carolina via e-mail. Distance is not longer an obstacle to learning. It was exciting to see the group bond together, and to grow in their understanding of how biblical truth can, and should, change the way we live.
Some of the students took a few weeks to get used to the new teaching format. For some, even typing was a new activity. By the middle of the course, however, everyone was on board and thoroughly enjoying the interaction and felt the learning experience was greatly enhanced by color graphics, photos, audio files, hot-linked Russian Bible text, and other resources.
Our focus was on life-change, not on a cool, new medium. We wanted to know if that happens through distance education. The answer was a resounding, "Yes!"
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Student Comments: "These questions that we are looking at now should be decided at the beginning of marriage. To look at them after, say, fifteen years of marriage, it's clear that we should have known this from the beginning". - Alex "I liked the fact that this material widened my view of the problems of the marriage relationship." - Fedor "This is an interesting understanding of the relationship between husband and wife in Christian marriage being related to the relationship of Christ and the Church. This is foundationally different than the understanding of a husband and wife in a non-Christian marriage - it is a totally different concept." - Igor "I am not yet married, but in order to better prepare for marriage, I'm going to study these principles with my future wife." - Igor "This was something new for me. It helped me more fully understand the family from the perspective of the relationship of Christ and the Church." - Ivan |
Profile of a Typical Student
Leonid
Leonid is a 24-year-old, single engineer. He trusted Christ in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then, he as been active in church ministry. Today, he is working as an evangelist and church planter among the youth in Kaluga, Russia. He also directs the youth and singles ministry throughout the Kaluga Oblast -- an area larger than Maryland.
At first glance, Leonid seemed a poor fit for the distance education course on marriage. That perception quickly changed. As an intelligent, highly educated young Russian, Leonid represents a key audience that has not been penetrated with the Gospel, but who are drawn to computers and technology. Leonid, who has his own computer and Internet access, soon became the computer consultant for the nine other students who studied the course with him.
Leonid is in a strategic position to teach the biblical foundations of marriage to thousands of Russian singles and youth. Through his input, we hope to see a new generation of Christian marriages that are founded on solid principles, and that will avoid some of the problems that plague so many existing marriages in Russia. The distance education has helped Leonid to grasp the important issues, and prepared him for a more effective ministry. Here's how he describes the difference the course made in his life:
Until this moment, I thought that the family was a private issue, but the Word of God convinced me that it is the opposite -- the family is the foundational relationship in the Church, affecting the success of ministry, and as the basic cell of the Church, everything depends on it.
I have begun to realize what kind of relationship I should have with Christ as his "Bride," and that this imposes corresponding demands on my service to Him.
During this course, I have seen that there is a direct correlation between being a Christian husband and a pastor. It even seems to me that in the work of a pastor, everything begins with the family and that those relationships are directly reflected in his ministry.
I really liked the fact that this course was built on the example of a concrete family (Ivan and Katya). The couple's discussions were very interesting to me and this helped me understand to whom the various themes of the lesson were directed.
This was a principally new and original method of study that I never before had opportunity to employ. The method was very helpful and interesting to me.
I would like for there to be other similar courses on other topics. May God bless you in this!
