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The Cost of Church Planting in Russia
by
Evgeni Kruzhkov, rector of the Biblical Theological Seminary of St. Petersburg
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Dear friends!
What's the first thing you think about when you receive a letter asking to support our seminary training in Russia? May be, "Oh, this seminary costs too much!" But do you know how much this training costs RUSSIAN PASTORS?
Here is a great example of the new harvest field God is opening for us in the Russian speaking world.
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His name is Roman Pankin. He came to Christ in Siberia 18 years ago and has been in the ministry for 15 years. He graduated from university in engineering.
(On the photo to the right: Roman is with his wife Alina, daughter Veronika and son Timothy)
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Roman was offered a professional level engineering job that paid $800-$1000/month, but he turned it down because it was a 60 hour/week job, and then he would have no time or energy for the ministry. He accepted a low-level engineering job that pays $200/month but only requires 40 hours a week. His wife works full-time and also earns $200/month, and the church pays him $100/month. A total of $500/month for his family.
The cost of living there is about the same as Moscow region where we are.
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Every time he takes two weeks off of work to attend our intensive course, he is not paid for engineering. He said living like this in general was very stressful. The average salary in Russia per family is $1000/month, so they are trying to live on ½ of that.
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(On the photo above Roman (behind me) at his first intensive course in St. Petersburg seminary in October 2017)
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To me, Roman is a hero of the faith. It has taken almost 30 years since the fall of the USSR for men like this to come to Christ and seek to be taught the Bible and the Christian life in a deeper way, and now they are looking to us for help.
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