Natalia Turlac
I read with great interest the interview with Shirinai Dosova, one of the most outstanding leaders among Evangelical women in the former Soviet Union (FSU). She is well-known all over the FSU for her great efforts in evangelism in Central Asia. However, the most fascinating part of her story has been her outreach to Muscovites on Old Arbat Street in the 1990s.
It is noteworthy that Rev. Dosova chose Galatians 3:28 as the passage that best reflects her understanding of the role of women in the church: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” However, my perception is that most Evangelical male pastors understand this passage to mean that Christ’s work of salvation applies to all, not in the sense that Jesus opened the door for women’s active leadership in the church.
Women in the Pews, Head Coverings, and Birth Control
Rev. Dosova is quite correct in her estimate of the percentage of women present in worship in Evangelical churches in the FSU (65 to 70 percent). However, in many rural Baptist congregations the percentage of women in attendance is as high as 80 to 90 percent. For many women, a worship service is a welcome break from the reality of domestic violence and the heavy drinking of their husbands.
In most Baptist and Pentecostal churches that were in existence before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, head coverings were a requirement. Central Asian churches led by Russians and Germans were especially strict in this regard. However, this issue lost its relevance in a great number of congregations planted after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Independent churches tend to have a larger degree of freedom than those that belong to unions and church associations, which generally impose greater restrictions on women.
While most Evangelical churches before 1991 required men and women to sit separately in worship (which is an ancient synagogue tradition), it is less common now. However, this custom still typically applies in Central Asian churches, as well as in churches that were unregistered in the Soviet era.
The issue of birth control is usually not mentioned from church pulpits. However, pastors speak against contraception privately. Evangelicals in general favor large families. This is especially the case among Baptists in the Bryansk Region of Russia, in some parts of Ukraine, and among unregistered Pentecostal churches. Moreover, some Pentecostals speak of childbearing as an important ministry given by God to men and women. In contrast, pastors of independent churches planted by Western missionaries after 1991 are less likely to take such a stance.
Domestic Violence and Trafficking
Growing up in an Evangelical Christian-Baptist congregation in Moldova, I rarely heard mention of domestic violence from the pulpit. I agree with Rev. Dosova that in family conflict situations male church leaders tend to support husbands, while encouraging women to submit. However, Evangelical women are beginning to take a more active role in voicing their concern over domestic abuse.
In my opinion, human trafficking is a greater threat in the former Soviet Union than drugs and alcohol. The collapse of the U.S.S.R. and economic uncertainty led to the trafficking of thousands upon thousands of women out of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Central Asia to Europe and the Middle East for sex, forced labor, and organ harvesting. Even some Christian women were deceived by traffickers with promises of legitimate work abroad, only to be forced into slave labor. Most churches do not address the issue publicly.
Women in Subordinate Roles—with Some Exceptions
I think that while some young Baptist and Pentecostal women are eager for opportunities to study and work outside the home, most Evangelical women are still very much family-oriented and tend to place their families before successful careers. They regard their husbands as leaders in the family even though they prefer to participate in the decisionmaking process.
On one hand, Evangelical women are heavily influenced by Russian Orthodox and Muslim understandings of the role of women in the family, specifically that their primary task is to help their husbands, maintain the households, and raise children. However, women are increasingly realizing that they can do more than this. New economic opportunities have made women stronger. For example, the number of Christian women who have obtained driver’s licenses is on the increase, thus providing greater mobility and greater freedom. Christian women in the former Soviet Union understand that they cannot match Western Christian women in the range of available opportunities. Still, the influence of the West and media has exposed them to different points of view.
While I agree with Rev. Dosova that more women are engaged in ministry today, I would argue that the overall picture has not changed dramatically. While Charismatic churches allow greater participation of women in pastoral ministry (for example, in Maxim Maximov’s New Life Church in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and in Sunday Adelaja’s Embassy of God Church in Kyiv, Ukraine), most Baptist and Pentecostal congregations limit the pastoral office to men.
The example of Rev. Dosova notwithstanding, the number of Evangelical women in pastoral roles in the former Soviet Union is quite insignificant. While independent churches have a degree of flexibility in their attitudes toward women pastors, the ordination of women to the pastorate among Baptists and Pentecostals is still very much a taboo. Most Baptists and Pentecostals are critical of Lutherans and Methodists for ordaining women and consider it an “unbiblical Western practice.”
My observation is that since 1991 mission organizations and Christian charities in the FSU have provided more avenues for women in ministry than churches. Barred from the pulpit, many women have discovered that they can do a lot to help orphans, the ill, the suffering, and the poor.
In addition, men typically allow Evangelical women to teach other women and children in Sunday school. In contrast, only a handful of women have been allowed to preach. One exception was the Moldovan Baptist woman evangelist Lydia Caldararu, who from the 1930s to the 1970s preached from prominent pulpits. In seminaries, most women teach non-theological classes (usually general education courses, music, psychology, or social work). In some schools, women are allowed to study theology.
Because of greater access to Western Christian cable TV channels, Evangelical pastors have become more accustomed to seeing Western Christian women preach, for example, Joyce Meyer. Rev. Dosova’s ministry in Moscow has also contributed to greater awareness that some women are indeed called to pastoral ministry. However, women pastors such as Rev. Dosova are still a rare phenomenon. Baptist and Pentecostal pastors maintain the status quo, reserving the pastoral office for men.
In conclusion, I would say that churches in the former Soviet Union have just started their journey toward acceptance of a greater role for women in the church. On one hand, they are influenced by their Orthodox and Muslim context. On the other hand, they witness changes in women’s roles in the church in the West. Any progress in this area comes very slowly, with no significant breakthrough in sight. Personally, I expected that churches would have offered more freedom for women in ministry by 2016. Evangelicals in the former Soviet Union are still in the process of trying to determine their purpose and mission in a rapidly changing political and social environment. In this regard, women’s ministry is no exception.
Natalia Turlac, Toronto, Canada, engages in anti-trafficking work and ministry to families with children with autism spectrum disorder in her native Moldova and in other former Soviet republics.