Edminsters Online

Last summer, our congregation in Viimsi celebrated the completion of a seven year construction project. Church leaders from all over the area came to offer their blessings. Among the congratulations offered that day, a representative from a local Bible School encouraged us that we now had “everything we needed for a revival.”

While I’m sure he meant well, his comment left me puzzled. I sat in my seat wondering what things we had now that we didn’t have before that could possibly account for the presence or absence of revival. The implication seemed to be that the Holy Spirit has some sort of checklist of parts and materials required to set the stage for his performances. Would the Holy Spirit be more welcomed, or the people of God more effective in a freshly plastered, modern looking church building than in an wooden planked, one room, furnace heated country church? Until recently, those questions simply irked me. But last week, after attending Winter Camp at a small church in a farm town called Rakke, I realized I’ve made similar assumptions.

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Welcome to Estonia!

“Make yourself at home, but don’t forget that you’re a guest.”

GENERAL CUSTOMS

Meeting or greeting

• Give a firm handshake with a few good shakes and bow your head slightly. Think “dignity”.

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The following is a paper I wrote for Pastoral Ethics in the Fall semester of 2005.

When I first entered the mission field after graduating from college, I did so as an intern. I was sent to serve alongside a small congregation in Estonia working to support the youth ministry. I had committed two years to this project and wanted to use this time to test whether ordained ministry was a calling or simply an interest. I had no intention of staying another three years, no expectation of developing a love for ministry and discipleship, not even the foggiest idea that I would meet my wife there and eventually return to commit myself long term to cross-cultural ministry in Estonia. In these early years, I was referred to at home and in Estonia as a “missionary”. This was undeniably my function, but I balked at the title aware of the high expectations and responsibilities bundled with it. If I was a missionary, it was entirely by accident and fulfilling the function alone was not enough to convince me that I met the standards involved in the title. At the end of five years in Estonia, I was assured that mine was indeed a call to ministry and specifically to the pastorate. My desire was to return to Estonia to develop a stronger sense of discipleship in the church and to find ways to support struggling rural churches. But to do so required that I accept the mantle of missionary and all of the spiritual and professional responsibilities it entails.

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Dear friends,

We arrived in Tallinn on St. John’s night – the longest day of the year and Estonia’s biggest national celebration – and were deeply satisfied to be back in the land of family, friends, dark bread and weekly saunas. There wasn’t much time for rest though. Our first two weeks were full of preparations for our partnership project with Pastor Eerek and Pilvi Preisfreund who minister in the small town of Avispea.

Both Eerek and Pilvi grew up with Lea in the Viimsi Church. Eerek has been pastoring the Avispea congregation for seven years. Avispea is a small farming town in North-East Estonia. In a rural church with 24 elderly members, there is no money to pay a pastor. So Eerek works as an engineer at a local dairy. His job keeps him busy all week and is frequently demanding—the Soviet-era machines break down! Pilvi cares for Andreas (7) and Mattias (2), and also is studying to become a primary school teacher. A week after our mission with the Preisfreunds finished, they will have taken their first vacation in three years!

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Dear Friends,

Lea and I realized a few days ago that we’re rounding the corner on our first year of marriage. Can so much time have already passed? It seems like only a few months ago now that some of you were here in Estonia to celebrate our wedding with us. Time has flown! And no wonder – this last year has been an incredible journey of discovery and adjustment.

But our journey of discovery hasn’t been limited to our marriage. Each of us has been exploring and developing our current ministry involvements and together, we’ve spent some time exploring new strategic frontiers of exciting future ministry in the Estonian Church.

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