Ukrainian Institute!

Dear friends and colleagues,

In learning about financial sustainability for the seminary, the question invariably surfaces, “How about donations from overseas?  What’s the maximum percentage of a seminary’s income should come from foreign gifts?”  It’s an important question, and one that doesn’t have a single nor simple answer.

This morning during my presentation to the seminary leaders gathered here for this Institute for Excellence in Kiev, I had the opportunity to directly respond to this question.  While there would be plenty of room for further response, here are some of the points that came to mind.

When I talk about financial sustainability, I’m not talking about SELF-sustainability.  There may be a few for-profit schools which might be self-sustainable, but I don’t see that as a necessary or even admirable goal.

It’s a good thing that we depend on God and God’s people for gifts to support the work of the seminary.  For one thing, this keeps us responsive to the church and the people that we hope to serve.  If we were totally financial independent from the people that we intend to serve, it wouldn’t be long before we were no longer serving them.

And, it’s a good thing to deepen our trust in the Lord for His provision.  In regularly depending on God’s provision through His people, we are modeling what we expect will be the experience of our students when they graduate, who, in their own ministries, will also be dependent on the Lord’s provision through the gifts of God’s people for their daily bread.

So, even if someone were to offer a seminary enough money that they would never have to accept another gift from anyone, upon serious reflection, it really would be better to decline.  To accept such a gift would be to put into danger the seminary’s responsiveness to the church and trust in the Lord.

While acknowledging that our every provision is from the hand of the Lord, a seminary should seek sources of income which are balanced, diversified, and reliable.  It’s possible that a seminary could be overly dependent on a single source of gifts.  In the experience of many of the seminaries here, overseas gifts can be less reliable over time.

Over dependence on overseas gifts can also dull the ability of a seminary to listen to the voice of the local church which it intends to serve – again, by promoting an unhealthy sense of independence and lack of local ownership.  A seminary needs to cultivate financial support from its own constituency.

There is no single answer to the question about proportion of overseas gifts for a seminary.  Each seminary is unique with its own unique challenges and opportunities.

Overseas Council, as an organization that regularly and intentionally comes alongside seminaries to assist financially, regularly evaluates its own giving to facilitate healthy growth and promote seminaries that continue to be responsive to their own contexts, not independent from them.

Warmly in Christ,

Scott

The Institute Goes to Ukraine (with a close up on Christians in a closed country)

Dear friends and colleagues,

Today, at a Christian retreat center on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, we began our Institute for Excellence for Eurasia.  The 120 participants, all Russian speaking, are from seminaries and training programs from Russian-speaking republics that were once part of the Soviet Union.  While most of the schools that are represented here are located in either Russia itself or Ukraine, for the first time we have participants from a Christian leadership development program operating covertly in a closed country nearby.

This closed country is in Central Asia.  It has a secular, totalitarian government within a nominally Muslim context (90% of the population).  While Eastern Orthodox Christianity is tolerated, this is only for the ethnically Russian segment of the population.  On the other hand, for ethnic nationals following Christ is a road often leading to harsh government persecution and hostility.  To quote Wikipedia, “The government indulges in massive persecution of Christians. There is strong pressure on Christians from a Muslim background in remote areas.”  The ministry organization, Open Doors, ranks this country as one of the top 10 on their watch list of countries around the world where Christians are most severely persecuted.

Another Christian website describes the situation like this: “Churches in [this country] are often shut down and church leaders can be jailed for conducting worship services. Nevertheless, stories have emerged of pastors continuing with their ministry following their release from prison and of churches growing despite harassment by police.” Here is an example of one of the countries in Central Asia on this website: (http://www.worldprayermap.co.uk/centralasia/uzbekistan.html)

We have the wonderful privilege of having three Christian leaders from this country with us this week in Kiev for the Institute.  I heard the fascinating testimony of one of them, on the two-hour taxi ride from the airport.  This person,  now a thirty-something young man, came to the Lord as a university student in the mid-90s through a Campus Crusade worker.  It was near the beginning of the 10-year window following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Western missionaries were most active in the country.  After finishing his degree, he went for training to be equipped for ministry, in seminaries in Moscow and now (part-time) in Austria.

This person pastors an underground church in the capital.  It’s a church-plant with three families, meeting in homes, on different days of the week.  He also coordinates the only formal Christian training program in the entire country.  He has classes in the capital as well as a half-dozen other cities.  Teachers and students meet secretly in homes in evenings and weekends.  All together 80 Christian leaders are being trained through this program, essential to the strength and growth of the Church.

The Institute is a unique opportunity for this person to be with 120 other Christian leaders, all involved in educating, training, and equipping other leaders in this region of the world.  And, it’s also a wonderful privilege for us, as Overseas Council, to encourage and strengthen the leaders of these seminaries and other training programs – in places like this one.

Warmly in Christ,

Scott