Project Details:
For 70 years, Russia denied the existence of God. Then the wall came down. And this vast country opened its doors to Christianity. Missions flooded in, establishing Bible schools and seminaries – mostly in large cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg.

While these institutions were effective in educating Russian Christians, new problems were emerging in remote regions:

• Big cities have a standard of living entirely different from the villages many students called home. Many found secular jobs in the city, rather than returning to their smaller hometowns.
• Mission organizations (usually located in large cities) recruited national workers – offering higher salaries than churches – contributing to a leadership vacuum in small towns and villages.
• New freedoms allowed previously persecuted Christian workers to leave Russia. Local church leaders estimate 10,000 church leaders left for the West after the fall of Communism.

After losing nearly a generation of bright, energetic young people, some small-town Russian pastors are becoming less enthusiastic about sending their “future” to big cities to attend schools.

But today, there is an alternative – Volgograd Theological College. Run by an administration of Russian nationals and missionaries, Volgograd Theological College will encourage students and graduates to plant and develop new churches in remote regions of Russia and minister to unreached ethnic groups.

You can be a part of training Russian church leaders by helping establish Volgograd Theological College. Your gift will help launch this new school by providing the funding needed to establish a resource library, subsidize salaries and other expenses for the first three years of operation, until the school can develop a local support base.