 |
 |
 |
LTS student participates in international Christian Pedagogical conference.Dmitry Kolosov, a first-year student at Lutheran Theological Seminary, has a teacher’s background. Having graduated from Novosibirsk Pedagogical Institute, he worked for several years as a schoolteacher. Dmitry taught computer sciences at a secondary school in Novosibirsk, and continues to teach there on Saturdays. Dmitry entered LTS with the hope of working afterwards in the area of Christian Lutheran education for the children in Siberia. So LTS tries to use all available opportunities to equip him in this area. Accordingly, he was sent to take part in the “Pedagogue – Christian 2000” International Conference, which took place in Kiev, the Ukraine, March 27-31. The conference was organized by the Center of Educational Programs (CEP) of the International Association of Christian Schools (IACS). CEP is a division of the International Association working in the countries of the CIS and the Baltic states. The stated goals of the conference were that the participants acquire a fuller understanding of a Christian approach to secondary school education, and that they realize of the purposes, principles, and main aspects of this approach. A number of university professors from Russia and the Ukraine gave lectures at the conference. There was a wide representation of secondary school administrators and teachers, leaders of pedagogical associations, staff workers at state departments of education, and pastors of Protestant churches. Many specialists in the area of Christian education from the USA, Canada, and European countries attended the conference as well. The total number of teachers from CIS and the Baltic who attended the conference was 350. For the most part, they belonged to such Protestant denominations as Baptist and Pentecostal (Baptists are the largest non-Orthodox Christian group in Russia and the Ukraine). The foundational thesis of the conference was that any education is based upon and shaped by a specific ideology. Accordingly, participants at the conference discussed the Christian understanding of the different sides of pedagogical activity. A characteristic feature of the conference was discussion groups where Christian teachers shared their experience with each other. Some of the more interesting topics of discussions included:
Among lectures of special interest to Dmitry may be mentioned “Formation of a Moral Person on the Basis of Christian Ethics,” given by staff professor of Kurgan State University V. M. Pershukov; and “The Christian Basis of Teaching a Course on the History of World Culture and Art,” given by philologist S. M. Panich, professor at Donetsk Humanitarian University. There are many lessons to be gained from such conferences. Dmitry found this conference quite helpful for his understanding of how to organize a Christian school in Russia. He says that for him the main benefits of the conference are that (1) he got acquainted with the real experience of work in Christian schools in Russia (unprecedented facts, if one keeps in mind Russia’s 70 years of atheism!); (2) he acquired an understanding of what has to be done in the legal sphere and how relations with the state must proceed in the process of opening a school and developing the school’s program; and (3) his desire to establish a Lutheran secondary school in Novosibirsk as an activity of West Siberian Christian Mission was confirmed by his contact with Christian pedagogues. One of the problems one has to wrestle with in the matter of Lutheran school education is the application of confessional Lutheran principles to the formation of a school. It is clear that meeting with the Baptists is helpful for understanding some elementary principles of the work of a Christian school in Russia. Meeting with Orthodox teachers would be less helpful in some respects, as the schools of the Russian Orthodox Church enjoy the full-blown support of the state; and it is relations with the state that represent, unfortunately, one of the most acute problems that all non-Othodox churches in Russia have to face in the area of Christian education. There is a point, however, at which some things simply must be done differently from the way they are done by Baptists or other Protestants. We want our future Lutheran school(s) to teach students the right liturgical piety and a confessional Lutheran understanding of the Scriptures, in opposition to the viewpoint of modern popular culture. LTS certainly has an interest in the creation of authentic Lutheran schools in Siberia. The fact is that the present students at the seminary received their school education in a typical Soviet environment; they were taught official atheism in the public schools. At present a good degree of atheism remains in the public schools, and to make matters worse, Western materialism is now at the door. It would be phenomenal if we were able to give education to our children in a Christian setting! It is hoped that such Lutheran school(s) will lay a solid foundation for the subsequent education of some students at LTS, as such subjects as New Testament Greek and Survey of the Bible will be offered there. We hope and pray that the zeal of Dmitry and other people who would like to devote themselves to the noble task of organizing Lutheran schools in Siberia will not fade. May the Lord bless their efforts and make it possible for our children to get something better than the non-Christian philosophy and ideology taught in the public schools. News: Professor Kurt Marquart Gives Lectures in Ekaterinburg. [June 2000] News: Completion of 1999-2000 Academic Year. [June 2000] News: Summer Practicum. [June 2000] News: Seminary Movie. [June 2000] News: LTS Theological Journal. [May 2000] News: Trip to Ulaanbaatar. [May 2000] News: A Missionary and Catechetical Trip to Khakassia, Buryatia, and Irkutsk. [May 2000] News: Student’s Daughter Baptized at the Chapel’s Baptismal Font. [May 2000] News: Students Conduct Fieldwork during Holy Week. [April 2000] News: LTS holds April seminar in new seminary building. [April 2000] News: Dr. Scaer teaches full course in Novosibirsk in one week. [March 2000] News: LTS student participates in international Christian Pedagogical conference. [March 2000] News: Three New Students Accepted at the Seminary in Novosibirsk [February 2000] |
