An Interview with Pastor Shirinai Dosova
Editor’s Note: Shirinai Dosova participated in a conference in Moscow in 1997 on the role of women in the church. Seventy-one women from seven former Soviet republics representing 12 denominations shared movingly and memorably in this meeting. This editor was able to sponsor the gathering with grant funding and the able assistance of Galina Obrovets from Moscow’s Second Evangelical Christian-Baptist Church. Presentations from this conference appeared in a theme issue of the East-West Church and Ministry Report 6 (Winter 1998): 1-16; and in a Russian-language volume, Rol’ khristianki v sovremennom obshchestve (Wheaton College Institute for East-West Christian Studies, 1998). For Pastor Dosova’s presentation, “Proclaiming Christ Boldly From Moscow to Yalta,”see the East-West Church and Ministry Report 6 (Winter 1998), 14.
Biographical Note: Shirinai Dosova, trained as an economist, was born in 1957 in southern Kazakhstan, one of ten children of a Tadzhik father and a Ukrainian mother. After her conversion to Christian faith in 1987, most of her family members also accepted Christ. The Good News Annunciation Church, which Pastor Dosova founded in 1991, grew out of her preaching on Arbat Street in Moscow. In 1991 she also traveled to Central Asia where her preaching led to the founding of several churches. In 1992 she participated in followup after Billy Graham’s evangelistic campaign in Moscow. Pastor Dosova has worked with Light in the East mission for 29 years, and she continues outreach in Central Asia to this day. She teaches inductive Bible study in Bible institutes in Russia, Central Asia, and the United States. Pastor Dosova is a single mother with one adopted daughter.
Editor: What biblical passage best reflects your understanding of the role of women in the church?
Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Editor: What is the percentage of women in an average evangelical worship service in Russia today?
Sixty-five to seventy percent.
Editor: Are women today required to wear head coverings in worship?
In most new churches this question is not relevant. And many conservative churches over time have become less demanding of head scarves. I think ministers have been influenced by trends in the world and by their own children. Many conservative churches have become more tolerant in relation to head scarves.
Editor: Are there churches today that separate men and women in worship?
I do not know of any churches in Moscow that separate men and women in worship. In the past in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this was sometimes the case (one or two percent), but no longer.
Editor: What are church attitudes concerning birth control today?
In some churches couples believe it is necessary to control the birth rate and to do it by known means. But in other churches birth control is a sin. They teach that because children are a gift from God, birth control should be discouraged. Often young people do not view this question as did their parents and grandparents. They want to live life for themselves, get established in their jobs, see the world, and then deal with children.
Editor: What are church attitudes concerning domestic violence?
Older ministers often side with the husband and teach that the wife should accept suffering for the sake of her children and for the sake of her husband’s salvation. New churches have a different understanding of marriage and divorce. While they may advise women to remain with abusive husbands, they will also advise women to pray to seek the will of God.
Editor: Have there been changes in the number of women succumbing to drugs, alcohol, and trafficking since 1997?
The number of women who have lost their way has increased dramatically. Many women from neighboring countries, who came to work in Moscow and in Russia but have not been able to find jobs, have become prostitutes, have been infected with AIDS, and are afraid to return home to their families. Alcohol and drug addiction among women is increasing.
Editor: Do evangelical women continue to hold to traditional, patriarchal family patterns as in the past?
No, the traditional family pattern is weak. Today most women can make good money, they are in no hurry to have children, and many want to live for themselves.
Editor: Have Russian Orthodox, Muslim, or Russian secular attitudes towards women affected evangelical attitudes?
Of course, all of these factors have had a huge impact. As for Orthodoxy, a woman should be meek and humble; as for Islam, a woman should be a wife and mother; and as for secular influence, the attitude is: “Take everything from life, succeed, earn all you can, give birth alone, raise a child without a father, and, at the same time, be confident and compelling.” Today secularism has the most influence upon women.
Editor: Have Western women missionaries been a factor in any changes in the role of women in evangelical churches?
I think yes and no. Western women missionaries have shown clearly that women can have larger roles to play in church, that they should not be afraid to go into missionary service, and that they can be leaders in missions. But the role of women in evangelical churches has also been changing because the world is changing quickly, and most churches are adapting to the new realities on the basis of changes in society.
Editor: Since 1997 have there been other changes in the role of women in evangelical churches?
More women are involved in ministry. Not enough men are volunteering their time to the church of their own free will, which is forcing churches to recognize the ministry of women and to give them more opportunities to work in the church.
Editor: Have women taken larger leadership roles in evangelical charities and compassionate ministries?
Not so much so far, but this trend of women directing compassionate ministries is increasing.
Editor: Do women serve as pastors in Russia?
Lutheran and Charismatic churches welcome women as pastors in our country. Thank God this number is growing. But in Baptist and Pentecostal churches nothing has changed in the past 25 years. The brothers in these churches are conservative and uncompromising with respect to the service of a woman as pastor.
Editor: Has Lutheran and Methodist ordination of women had any effect on other Protestant denominations?
Attitudes toward me as a pastor have changed, but this has not changed church practice. I do not feel support in the Baptist brotherhood for my service as a pastor. But I am glad that, one by one, brothers are quietly treating me well, are welcoming, and are courteous to me. Personally, I have a very good relationship with all of them. But this is because our church is independent. I think they would not take me into their union. I am often invited to the Evangelical Christian Union, welcomed, and sometimes given the opportunity to say something briefly. In a newer church there is a tendency to have pastors’ wives speak the Word of God.
Editor: Do women serve in teaching roles in churches and seminaries?
The official policy of many churches is that women have the right to teach. Women are encouraged to share poetry in church, and in seminaries they are able to teach psychology, philosophy, and the history of Christianity, but not the Bible. In some churches (Lutheran, Charismatic, and the Salvation Army) women increasingly are teaching the Bible, and these women have significant authority and respect in their churches.
Editor: Have evangelical pastors changed their attitude toward your ministry?
Their attitude has not changed, but they have become more tolerant. The Evangelical Christian Union and the Baptists do not recognize my status as pastor. Nevertheless, I find understanding among the brothers. I do not often see them and therefore do not have a problem with them. Perhaps my collaboration with the well-respected mission, Light in the East, leads the brothers to exercise humility and obligates them to give me respect.