On February 16th with the support of the Association’s Education Department and Institute “Blagovest”, there was the first meeting of Slavic Theological Collegiate (SBC). The meeting was open to all the brothers who have a theological education and who have the willingness not only to have theological discussions, but who are also able to search and find the answers to contemporary challenges and find approaches in practical lives of our immigrated churches. The first meeting was attended by about 15 brothers from different churches of the Association and other religion unions. The next meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 16th. These meetings will take place at the Association’s headquarters once a month.
The PCSBA’s president addressed the attendees by noting the seriousness of the work of the collegiate since the majority of the wars in the world began because of the differences in ideology and the differing viewpoints on certain spiritual issues. There was also a prayer of blessing for the positive ministry and investment into the teaching and spiritual development of believers of the Slavic diaspora.
The entire meeting was constructive and in the spirit of brotherly love and understanding. Despite the discussions on various issues, there was no notable resistance or disagreement. Although there were varying suggestions an opinions, but the brothers were quick to come to a consensus and came to the conclusion in these questions. That was the way in which the first and main question was addressed.
- The first question for discussion was about the goal and intent of SBC whose mission is characterized in one thesis: “To be fresh source of teaching and practical application for every believer confessing the only symbol of faith.”
This thesis was discussed in great detail and holds the following meaning:
To be fresh – meaning regular meetings of the Collegiate for the purpose of discussion of pressing questions of today; to exhort theologians and teachers not just to philosophical speculation in the classroom, but to cultivate the desire to answer today's challenges. A decision was made to meet not only quarterly as was initially suggested, but in light of the abundance of pressing issues, once a month.
Source of teaching and practical application – Collegiate will strive to unite everyone who has the teaching qualifications within the Church of Christ for the discussion and development of correct understanding (application) of difficult passages of Scriptures. Discussions and decisions concerning the issues at hand will be accessible to those who ask these questions, as well as anyone who is interested. In order to accomplish this goal, the plan is to implement radio and video department of the Association which are headed by Igor Voronov and Alex Vivsik. However, at this point there was no decision made concerning the frequency of video and radio broadcasts, as well as the implementation of the internet technology.
Every believer – any brother or sister will have an opportunity to ask their question. The answer to a posed question will be presented as an opinion developed by the Collegiate as a result of a detailed study and on the basis of Scriptures. The brothers agreed that the questions of discussion should not be automatically be transferred over as the official position for all the churches since every local church is autonomous organism and is free to accept or reject the opinion of the Collegiate.
Confessing the only symbol of faith – the Collegiate will strive to recruit brothers from various branches of the Church of Christ. The main criteria for participation is the confession of the only symbol of faith. In light of that, there was a question about what that symbol of faith should be, Niceno-Constantinopolian or the Apostolic. Sergey Barushko was entrusted to prepare and explain the differences and the benefits of both of these Confessions of Faith, after which on the basis of the quorum of those present, SBC will discuss and accept symbol of faith for further foundation.
- The second question of discussion was about the need for the bylaws of the Collegiate where the following issues would be covered:
- Membership of the Collegiate
- The necessity and rights of the mediator of the meeting
- Debates and the right to debates
- Regulation of the meeting
- Other
All brethren came to an unanimous conclusion that such a document is necessary. For development of this document, brothers from among the initiators for such a group of ECB were identified: Pavel Lomov and Sergey Pronin. They will try to develop and present the “Beliefs of SBC” at the next meeting on 3/16/2018
For 2018 the following were affirmed as the active group of ECB:
- Aleksandr Pronin
- Ivan Leschuk
- Vyacheslav Komlev
- Sergey Borushko
- Pavel Lomov
- Sergey Pronin
- Grigoriy Avksenktiyev
There was also a request to Vasiliy Kornev to look into and possibly create a website for SBC with the possibility to receive questions from anyone.
