| Wesley professor encourages support for Russian seminary BY MARY CAHILL UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT A decade ago there were no United Methodist churches in Russia. Today there are 111, and thats miraculous, said the Rev. Doug Strong. Since the fall of Communism in Russia in 1991, United Methodist churches have been emerging all over the country. Along with the current congregations, there are even more Bible study groups that have the potential to evolve into new churches.  Strong, a professor at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., is an outspoken advocate for the seminary and The United Methodist Church in Russia. According to Strong, Methodist (actually Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist Episcopal) missions were a big presence in Russia in the 1880s. When Stalin came into power, he sent all the pastors to Siberia or had them killed. By 1930, the Methodist leadership in that country was virtually gone. In 1989, as Communism was beginning to crumble, a Russian visiting in Estonia (the one area, along with a small group in the Ukraine, where Methodism survived) was converted to Christianity in a United Methodist church. He returned to Russia and started the first Methodist church there since the 1930s. Many more congregations formed, especially with the help of the Korean Methodist Church. But when the governments of presidents Yeltsin and Putin started cracking down on non-traditional faiths, Methodists found themselves officially in trouble once again. This is where Strong sees the hand of God working in history, as a surprising discovery proved that Methodism was a long-established religion in Russia. A search through documents to back up the claim, uncovered records from the 1920s revealing that spies had been sent to infiltrate Methodist churches. The KGB espionage records proved that Methodism had long existed in the country. As a result, the Methodist Church can function as a legally registered religion.  In 1995, under the leadership of Bishop Ruediger R. Minor, who oversees the Russian and Eastern European area, a seminary was started in Moscow. Bishop Minor sent an appeal to U.S. seminaries to send professors on loan for three-month terms. Strong, along with his family, was the first to go from Wesley Theological Seminary. If Id known what a wonderful experience it was going to be, Id have put in for a year, he said. At first the Russian United Methodist Theological Seminary was housed in two rented rooms in an apartment building. One of the rooms also houses the bishops office. Another room has been added to help accommodate the 15-30 students who attend, and the seminary has become the center for Methodist life in Russia. At the Baltimore-Washington Conference service of ordination this year at the National Cathedral, $4,183 was collected in an offering to help fund renovations on the Russian Seminary. With a $750,000 grant from the General Board of Global Ministries Millennium Fund, the seminary purchased an entire building to house the school. The interior has been gutted and renovations are underway. An estimated $4 million is needed to complete the seminary project, including cost of the building, renovations, costly government permits (more than 100 of them), a continuing upkeep fund, furnishings and library equipment. By supporting this, were really, really making a difference in the faith life of these people and the proclamation of the Gospel throughout Russia, said Strong, who added that the average Russian makes $30 a month. They are in economic distress and yet, they give so much. According to Strong, Russian United Methodists are known throughout the country for their outreach, including soup kitchens, child care, support for battered women and orphans, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation. They also have a strong prison ministry. In the city of Yekaterinburg, where there are 13,000 prisoners, the warden told the woman who is the head of prison social services and a United Methodist minister, You have made this a Methodist prison. | 
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