Our Road to Ukraine - Partners in Missions

How did the Tranthams become interested in Missions in Ukraine? Ray and Pam Trantham both grew up in Christian families in Mississippi. Pam first attended Dallas Christian College and later Mid-South Christian College where she graduated with a degree in Christian Education. Ray and Pam met at Mid-South Christian College where Ray graduated with a degree in missions. Upon graduation in 1985, Ray served eleven years as the minister of Guys Christian Church and Itawamba Christian Church in Mississippi. During this time he continued his education with masters’ degrees in Ministry and Church Growth from Cincinnati Bible Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary. During this time of maturing and furthering of education, the Tranthams continued to maintain an interest in the mission field. In 1992, Max Goins moved to Moscow to start a Bible department in a secular college. Because of Ray's educational background and interest in missions, he went with Max for the first two months. This was a very fruitful and productive time. After seeing the potential for the spread of the gospel in the former Soviet Union, Ray and Pam visited Ukraine in 1993 and considered choosing Ukraine for full-time mission service. The Tranthams were seeking to work in a teaching ministry that trained national leaders to evangelize their own people. Odessa Bible College and Theological Seminary offered this opportunity. In 1994 Ray visited Odessa Bible College and Seminary located on the Black Sea in Odessa, Ukraine. After examining the current theological beliefs and practices of these Ukrainian church leaders, it was agreed that Ray and his family would move to Odessa and begin teaching in June of 1995.

What kind of organization is PARTNERS IN MISSIONS? One of the first questions that had to be decided was what organizational structure would the Tranthams use to serve as missionaries. Certain legal obligations had to be addressed. Would they join a mission organization and be officially sent out under that organization? Would they form their own organization? Or would they be sent out under an existing church? Each of these three options had advantages and disadvantages. They concluded that the best solution was to officially be sent out under the Itawamba Christian Church where Ray had served as minister for almost eight years. They would officially operate as a ministry of the church and would establish a separate checking account under the legal status of the church. They would ask for contributions from sister churches and all money would flow through this account and all contributions would be received and would be tax deductible just as any contribution to any church. This was approved by the church and PARTNERS IN MISSIONS was officially named as a ministry of the Itawamba Christian Church and Ray Trantham was officially named as the "minister of missions."

What is Odessa Bible College and Theological Seminary? The seminary was founded in 1989 by local Christians from the Soviet Union. As religious pressures began to ease, it became possible to form a seminary for training church leaders. Before this time it had not been permitted. Most ministers and church leaders were self taught and had little or no formal religious education. The first "Protestant" seminary started in Odessa. This was still during the time of the Soviet Union and this seminary was designed to serve all the former Soviet Union. The first students came from Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Kazakhstan, and other countries which are now separate republics. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the individual republics eventually started their own seminary. Because Odessa Theological Seminary was the first seminary, they still have many students from outside Ukraine. The seminary also remains a Ukrainian run institution. All of the leadership remains Ukrainian or Russian and the desire is for more and more of the teaching load to be turned over to nationals.

How did the Tranthams become involved with Odessa Theological Seminary? The Tranthams were first made aware of the college and seminary by Christian Church missionaries. Ray was invited by the Ukrainian leadership to teach classes in Church Growth, Missions, Book of Acts, Evangelism, Church Planting, Cults, and related subjects. The college needs foreign teachers who have academic credentials to teach at the college and seminary level. Classes are similar to American college and seminary classes.

What is the history of New Testament Christianity in Ukraine? The end of the 18th and 19th century prepared the way for the development of the Protestant movement in Russia. Russia gained the northern territory of the Black Sea coast as the result of a victory over Turkey. This land was to be cultivated and Germans were invited to settle in this area during the time of Catherine the Great because of their reputation as good farmers. These Germans were guaranteed freedom of religion, lower taxes, exemption from armed service, and were given large grants of land. This was a time of great change connected with the fall of Napoleon and during the time of Catherine the Great in which there arose a piety movement. Following the War in 1812 against Napoleon, a Russian Biblical Society was formed and Prince Golitsin was selected to lead the society. The aim of this society was to publish and distribute the Bible. In 1816, the full Bible in the Old Solve language was published. In 1861, the peasants received freedom from serfdom allowing them to become more sensitive to higher issues of life. The Russian Orthodox Church recognized that often people were only coming to the church as a formality and sometimes viewed the icons as gods. It was also noted by the Orthodox that their own clergy were very distant from the common people. All of these events led to three separate religious awakenings in Odessa, the Caucuses, and St. Petersburg. Efim Tzimbal was baptized as an adult by immersion in 1869, by a German Mennonite. This was a conscious decision and led to others making a conscious decision as adults to convert to Christianity. The name "baptist" comes from this time and was used to signify an adult who was baptized by immersion. A book describing these events was written by these early believers called, People Who Were Baptized at a Grown Up Age . Initially, these people continued to attend the Russian Orthodox Church and study the Bible but they were persecuted for this behavior and because they regularly studied the Word of God they eventually were forced to leave the Orthodox assemblies. At the same time, but in the Caucuses, others were coming to similar ideas about baptism for adults who consciously choose faith. Nikita Voronin came to an understanding that he needed to be baptized and was baptized in a river at night on August 20, 1867. This date is considered the birth date of this movement in Ukraine. Following this baptism, a community of similar believers grew rapidly in this region. St. Petersburg, Russia was a third region where a similar awakening was taking place. An Englishman named, Lord Radstock, was invited to Russia by a wealthy lady named Madane Shertkova who had heard his preaching in Europe. He preached first in aristocratic circles, then later to ordinary people. One of his converts was W.A. Pashkoff, a high ranking officer in the Czar's army, who upon conversion began to promote the idea of returning to the New Testament church in doctrine, ordinances, and life. Pashkoff was very successful and began to set up many new churches. His leadership ability earned him the title "the Alexander Campbell of Russia" and his preaching ability earned him the title of the "Russian Moody." His followers and the churches he founded became known as "Evangelical Christians" or "Gospel Christians" and were originally unrelated to the “Baptist” movement dating to the same period of time. In 1884, Pashkoff called a meeting in St. Petersburg for the purpose of organizing a united fellowship of New Testament believers. This meeting was soon disbanded by the police and Pashkoff spent the remainder of his life in exile. (Murch, Christians Only: A History of the Restoration Movement, p. 333.) In 1888, Ivan S. Prokhanoff arrived in St. Petersburg to study engineering in the Government Institute of Technology. A fellow student, who was an Evangelical Christian, persuaded him to attend their secret meeting and soon Prokhanoff was a committed member. Following his conversion, Prokhanoff studied in Bristol, London, Berlin, and Paris and upon returning to Russia he encouraged the churches and won many to Christ. Prokhanoff and his associates issued a new periodical, The Christian . Part of the purpose of this periodical was to promote the evangelization of Russia under the slogan "Revival, Regeneration, and Reformation" and to unite the Christians in Russia around the slogan, "In essentials, unity; in secondary things, freedom; in all things, charity." (Murch p. 333.) In 1884, these three "New Testament" groups came together and began to work together while maintaining separate identities. As these movements grew police interfered and arrested those who met together and in 1884, there began a period of persecution. In 1909, the All-Russian Union of Evangelical Christians was formed as a fellowship of autonomous congregations. By 1928, the Union reported some six hundred evangelists working in Russia for the restoration of free New Testament Christianity, and it was estimated that there were two million members of these churches in and around Russia. Then in 1944, the northern "Evangelical Christian" and the southern group, who still used the name "Baptist" were united. They had held joint beliefs and worked with each other for a long time. The name "Baptist" is commonly used today, but the full name for this unified group is "Evangelical Christian / Baptist." "The romance of the Restoration movement in Russia is one of the most thrilling bits of church history ever recorded." (Murch p.332.) Gradually, news of the All-Russian Union of Evangelical Christians reached the very similar Christian Church in America, and in 1912, representatives of the Russian Union met with the General Convention in Louisville. The Russian restorationist appealed for assistance from their American counterparts and a commission headed by Z.T. Sweeney was appointed to look into the matter. Sweeney reported to the American Christian Missionary Society: "The Gospel Christians are as emphatic and insistent upon New Testament Christianity as the Christians of the United States." He also went on to urge that if one hundred thousand dollars were put into Russia over the next ten years, the result would be a half million Gospel Christians. He concluded, "If this is not an opportunity for us, I don't know anything about such opportunities." (Murch p. 332.) The Christian Standard frequently urged the claims of the Russian brothers upon Americans, but little serious action was taken.