Letter to the Editor

The predominance of western funding for theological education [in the former Soviet Union] has had several deleterious side effects. First, it has led to an over-saturation of evangelical schools which has led to an unforgivable waste of precious resources and arguably retarded the maturation of theological education as a whole. Second, it has led schools in general to have a very distant relationship with churches who feel quite disconnected from the enterprise of theological education. It is my understanding that one large denomination in Ukraine does not finance in any way any of its seminaries. In fact, when it created the position in its home office of theological education coordinator, it asked Union and non-Union schools to fund this position! That is, it could not even provide resources for one salaried position. Third, the institutional dependency of schools leads students to try to mimic this way of ministry support during their studies and after they graduate, perpetuating and increasing a model of ministry that is quite unhealthy.

David Hoehner, graduate student, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC

Editor’s Note: David Hoehner formerly served as academic dean at Donetsk Christian University.