GALINA OBROVETS

Editor’s note: Russia’s Justice Ministry has dismissed the scale of domestic violence against women in the country as “quite exaggerated” and disputed that the majority of victims are women rather than men.1 As recently as 2013, however, Russia’s own Interior Ministry calculated that 12,000 women die annually as a result of domestic violence, with 97 percent of cases failing to reach court.2 The problem is clearly not being addressed. Indeed, it may possibly be exacerbated by measures decriminalizing first offences of domestic violence that do not lead to hospital treatment, signed into law by President Putin in February 2017.3 

For Russian Christians, this subject remains largely taboo. In the Evangelical Christian-Baptist Church of Russia, however, Galina Obrovets has been raising awareness about domestic violence—along with the marginalization of women more generally—for over 20 years. In 1997 she co-ordinated a Moscow conference on the role of women in church, family, and society which proved to be the major impetus for her further involvement in women’s ministry.4 This work has included counseling, outreach, and 10 years publishing Sestra [Sister]—a Russian-language Christian women’s magazine.5 

The following article is adapted from Galina’s 2019 doctoral thesis: “Empowering Women in Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches in Russia for Leadership in Transforming the Culture of Relationships in the Church and Family” (Bakke Graduate University, Dallas, Texas).

M (continued on page 12) uch was prohibited under the totalitarian Soviet regime. We were not allowed to hold a personal opinion, or to develop an individual identity—even to maintain self-respect. Growing up in a Christian family, I rejected the way Soviet people communicated with one another, as this was typified by mistrust, aggression, and intolerance. Yet as I later began ministry in the Evangelical ChristianBaptist (ECB) denomination, I came to realize that our own members often demonstrate the same behavioral patterns as Soviet non-believers. I then understood that such destructive behavior—in particular towards women—is not just a consequence of Soviet atheistic ideology. Its roots lie much deeper in our history and culture. 

One such problem is domestic violence. As doctoral candidate Elena Cherynak and assistant professor Betty Jo Barrett—both of the University of Windsor in Canada—have indicated, in Russia men utilize the inferior status and heightened vulnerablity of women as a means of maintaining a patriarchal hierarchy in the family.6 Irina Lukianova suggests that “the level of aggression in Russian society is off the scale; moreover, aggression is not even recognized as aggression [but] is considered the norm of communication. …and it seems to be also one of the traditional values.”7 

During my 25-year tenure ministering to Russian women both inside and outside the ECB church, I have seen such behavior ruin the lives of many individuals and families. My doctoral thesis attempts to gauge the extent of domestic abuse against ECB women and suggest possible remedies. As well as published sources, my research draws upon my own ethnographic studies, a survey questionnaire completed by 27 respondents, and an ECB focus group. The focus group consisted of 14 people, including a denomination leader and pastors, the administrative director of the national ECB women’s training program, a female representative of the ECB’s women’s ministry department, and a representative of the ECB’s Moscow seminary, as well as educators, youth, and NGO leaders, both male and female. The age of participants varied from 24 to 59, with a majority (80 percent) having completed higher education.

Difficult topic 

Domestic violence is not a popular topic for discussion among ECB believers, especially men. However, I and other Christian family counselors have long observed numerous cases of women in ECB church families being subjected to domestic abuse, including verbal and physical attacks, beatings, and threats of violence. My survey asked, “Are you aware of cases in which the dignity of women was denigrated by physical beatings, verbal abuse, and psychological intimidation?” The majority of both male and female respondents—80 percent—answered yes to this question, while only 10 percent were not aware of such cases. 

What gives rise to physical beatings, verbal abuse, and psychological intimidation? Among male respondents, one maintained that these phenomena are universal, while others suggested that they occur because of prevailing negative male attitudes towards women in Russian society, the low level of male education, and men’s intolerance of opposing opinions. One male respondent contended that cases of disharmony arise due to women becoming independent. 

By contrast, female respondents consider prejudice against women to be one of the most important explanations for domestic abuse of women in ECB households. They pointed to a still popular Russian belief that a wife should fear her husband and be obedient to him in all respects. They also expressed regret at the lack of opportunity to address this issue. One respondent noted that she had not heard a sermon on family relations in her ECB church in the past 20 years. 

In the course of my research, I conducted ethnographic studies with three women belonging to ECB churches in the Moscow area: “Vera” (47), “Nadezhda” (60), and “Lyubov” (37) [These pseudonyms are the Russian for “Faith,” “Hope,” and “Love.”] Two of the women agreed to interviews in the presence of a counselor and one in the presence of a psychologist. All three were born in the Soviet era within the context of female subordination in ECB churches; from childhood they were taught to be in full submission to their pastors and spouses. Yet their ECB husbands demonstrated spiritual immaturity in their relationships with their wives, including physical and emotional abuse. All three wives asked their pastors for help, but they instead counseled the women to accept their lot without protest. In the case of “Nadezhda,” ministers and the church council threatened her with excommunication for her lack of submission. 

Domestic violence happens not only in the lives of ordinary ECB members, but also in the families of ministers, both pastors and deacons. Such cases are carefully hidden or hushed up, and as a rule the husband does not not receive a church punishment. 

An ECB woman who has suffered abuse and who asks her pastor for help is usually invited to tolerate violence and pray quietly about the situation without divulging the problem in church or elsewhere. In rare cases, a woman decides to divorce and leave the family. Shirinai Dosova, the female pastor of an independent Evangelical church in Moscow, relates that “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.”8 Evangelical missionary Natalia Turlac has a similar observation: “Male church leaders tend to support husbands while encouraging women to submit.”9

Pursuing theological education 

A significant factor contributing to the ongoing discrimination against ECB women is the lack of opportunities for spiritual growth. Rarely are they permitted to use their gifts in the church due to the lack of available spiritual programs for  women in churches and seminaries. Men discourage women from obtaining a seminary education. In some cases, Moscow ECB pastors have denied a blessing to female members desiring to study at a seminary. 

Since 1999 Biblical Education by Extension—now known as Intrust—has offered training to ECB women. According to educator Elena Boretskaya, as of mid-December 2018 its 20 educational centers in Russia had granted diplomas and certificates to 1,200 women.10 Yet here too options are restricted: Women study practical subjects such as how to have a Christian marriage, to manage a household, and to have a discerning heart. Women can participate only with the consent of their pastors and husbands, moreover. 

Even then, ECB pastors in many parts of Russia forbid women in their churches to participate, considering  the training to be dangerous. Female focus group participant “K” shared the opinion that even if women receive a theological education, they are not welcome to lead any ministry. At the ECB church some 45 miles outside Moscow attended by “K”, the pastor told her that she could study anywhere she liked, but that she should not come back to his church, and if she did, he would not let her use her knowledge in ministry to other women there. A key problem here is that many ECB pastors have not studied themselves despite the opportunities that exist in post-Soviet Russia, and they are not interested in theological education for others.  

In most ECB churches women do sing in choirs, pray aloud during church services, and teach in Sunday schools. But they are not welcome on church boards and do not participate in church decision-making more broadly. Fraternal (all-male) councils in ECB churches are therefore held without female participation, even though women constitute 80 percent of the church membership. Formal references to the ECB denomination as a “brotherhood” testify to women’s inferior status within it. As Mennonite missionary Mary Raber observes, “there still remains an ambiguity about women in the ECB Churches as most church members are women, but they are not always acknowledged as stakeholders or decision makers.”11 

Demographic disparity

Another important factor contributing to the disadvantage of ECB women is demographics. Since World War II the population of Russia has been characterized by a significant disparity in the number of men and women. Of Russia’s total population of approximately 146 million in 2018, women continued to outnumber men by eight percent.12 Sociologist Irina Kargina observes that women also outnumber men in the religious space in Russia by an even greater degree.  In the case of Protestants, this is by 70 to 30 percent, even as those who occupy key church posts are almost exclusively male (99.8 percent).13 

Despite the vastly greater number of women in ECB churches, their male leaders typically prohibit them from marrying non-believers. (There are no similar restrictions for men, but this situation rarely arises for men since the overwhelming majority of believers is female.) While this ban is not officially enshrined in writing and is less strictly enforced in large cities, it is still the norm in rural Russia. If an ECB woman marries a non-believer, she is commonly excommunicated or not allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper for six to 12 months. This punishment of women is based on the New Testament  verse, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). I have found that many ECB women remain single as a result. The demographic situation makes this near ban on marrying outside the denomination especially painful for single women. Among the 10 female church friends of my youth, for example, four never married, two married after 40, and two after 50. All of the latter four are childless because of their advanced age at marriage. 

Kargina, the sociologist, notes that surveys of the overwhelmingly female Protestant community reveal that most still oppose women serving as pastors (92 percent), teaching men (86 percent), or preaching in church (80 percent).14 During my study, however, it appeared that some women were paying lip service to established female roles due to the presence of male church leaders in the focus group. Privately, these same women shared how much they suffered from submissiveness and restrictions. They revealed that they were not pleased by the contrast between their subordinate position and their greater opportunities for creative, professional, and personal development outside the church. Georgian Baptist Malkhaz Songulashvili also notes: 

In most former Soviet countries women have gained higher status in all spheres of social life—except religion. There have been female prime ministers, presidents, governors, and university presidents in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic republics, and Georgia. However, leadership positions in most faith groups are still denied to women.15 

In a church context, ECB women still primarily provide comfort for the brothers (serving tea, cleaning, and washing dishes). The failure to empower women in the ECB denomination fuels a host of related problems:

• As noted, domestic violence against women in Christian families remains a taboo subject, causing much suffering to its victims.
• Women receive few opportunities for spiritual development through theological education, particularly due to restrictions placed by male church leaders.
• Women are unable to utilize their talents fully in the church. 
• Despite being the vast majority of the church membership, women have no voice in decision-making.
•  Facing such discrimination, female ECB members are leaving churches. 

This failure therefore becomes a hindrance not only to personal, but also to congregational growth. 

Moreover, the problems faced by women in churches in Russia are in direct contravention of the spirit of Jesus’s teaching of love for one’s neighbor in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:43-48). Such a situation can no longer go unnoticed; it is necessary to take steps and set goals to improve the quality of life for women through the cultivation of civility in situations of conflict. In April 2016, at a conference organized by St. Petersburg Christian University entitled “Woman: Christian Perspectives, History, Theology, Practice,” I called upon the Baptist community to reconsider the unspoken rules that exist in many churches regarding attitudes toward women and women’s ministries. I believe that these rules prevent the women of many Evangelical churches in Russia from developing their spiritual gifts and evangelizing in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Yet improving the status of women appears not to be a priority for many male members of the ECB. One denominational leader whom I invited to participate in a focus group session declined, citing a busy schedule. Approximately 10 ECB leaders and pastors in the Moscow area who received personal invitations in writing did not respond, participate, or send their assistants. However, others who did take part in my research project recognized the necessity of transforming the existing culture of relationships within the church, family, and society, and showed readiness for dialogue with female leaders in this sphere. Participating ECB male leaders from the Moscow area admitted that gender inequality was a serious problem, with one male respondent referring to it as “the historical humiliation of women.” Most of the men surveyed acknowledged that women are not given a voice in decision making, and that too many restrictions are in place preventing women from exercising their spiritual gifts. Some men also appeared ready to afford women more opportunity in ministry.

Greater awareness

The ability to post information about my research on the Russian ECB website in December 2018 is just the beginning of a greater awareness by male leaders of the need for change in family relations and of the longing of ECB women for a different attitude towards them and their ministries. Male respondents in my study—all from the Moscow area—believed that talented Christian women should be permitted to preach, teach, and lead programs and projects, including evangelism. In other parts of Russia, however, ECB restrictions upon women remain the rule rather than the exception. 

Based on the results of the data-gathering phase of my project, as well as the focus group and a seminar, I have developed collaborative strategies to pursue major changes to the ways in which a variety of relationship problems are resolved. I see my research to date as a prologue for further, much-needed transformation in the culture of communication between genders in ECB churches and families. I intend to utilize this project as a catalyst for the creation of new training programs on relationships with the participation of Christian psychologists and counselors. Parts of the project may also be adapted for use in courses and lectures in Bible schools and seminaries. 

I will suggest to new ECB leaders that new forms of education for Russian women be introduced in churches, including the organizing of self-help groups aimed at empowering them to work with one another to overcome culturally based gender discrimination. I will also propose programs on preparation for marriage, monthly couples’ fellowships in churches, and training in family counseling. Such programs would follow the compassionate ministry to others of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and encourage spiritual formation “rooted and established in love” (Ephesians 3:18).

Notes: 

1. These claims reportedly featured in the Ministry’s October 2019 response to a query from the European Court of Human Rights, which is currently considering a relevant application brought jointly by four Russian women. See, “Russia’s Domestic Violence Problem Is ‘Exaggerated,’ Justice Ministry Says,” Moscow Times, 19 November 2019, https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/11/19/russias-domestic-violence-problem-isexaggerated-justice-ministry-says-a68233.
2.  [In Russian] “Domashnee nasilie v Rossii,” RIA Novosti, 29 January 2013, https://sn.ria.ru/20130129/920211298.html. 
3.  “Russia: Bill to Decriminalize Domestic Violence,” Human Rights Watch, 23 January 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/23/russia-billdecriminalize-domestic-violence#
4. See themed issue “Focusing on Women in Ministry,” EastWest Church and Ministry Report, vol. 6, no. 1 (1998); [In Russian] G.A. Obrovets, Rol’ khristianki v sovremennom obshchestve, Moscow: Institute for East-West Christian Studies, 1998.
5. [In Russian] G.A. Obrovets, “Iz opyta zhenskogo sluzheniia  v evangel’skikh tserkvakh,” Bogomyslie, no. 18 (2016), 78-85, http://www.bogomysliye.com/index.php/zhurnal-onlajn/book/96.
6. Elena Chernyak and Betty Barrett, “A Chicken is Not a Bird, Is a Woman a Human Being? Intimate Partner Violence and the Russian Orthodox Church,” Currents: Scholarship in the Human Services, vol. 10, no. 1 (2011), 2, 11, https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/currents/article/view/15921/12613.
7. [In Russian] Irina Luk’ianova, “Priuty dlia zhertv est’, a slova ‘nasilie’ net – pochemu Tserkov’ molchit, kogda v sem’iakh b’iut i unizhaiut,” Pravmir, 14 August 2018, https://www.pravmir.ru/priyutyi-dlya-zhertv-est-a-slova-nasilie-net-pochemu-tserkovmolchit-kogda-v-semyah-byut-i-unizhayut/.
8. Mark R. Elliott, “Has the Role of Women in Evangelical Churches in the Former Soviet Union Changed in the Past Two Decades? An Interview with Pastor Shirinai Dosova,” East-West Church and Ministry Report, vol. 24, no. 2 (2016), 1.
9.  Natalia Turlac, “Women’s Ministry in Evangelical Churches in the Former Soviet Union: A Response to Shirinai Dosova,” EastWest Church and Ministry Report, vol. 24, no. 4 (2016), 3. 
10.  [In Russian] Elena Boretskaia, “Muzhchina i zhenshchina v XXI veke v tserkvi i sem’e: dialog ili monolog?”, Russian Union of the Evangelical-Christian Baptists’ website, 16 December 2018, https://baptist.org.ru/news/main/view/article/1487153. 
11. Mary Raber, “Before and After: Baptist Women in Post-Soviet Ukraine,” East-West Church and Ministry Report, vol. 24, no. 4 (2016), 8.
12. https://countrymeters.info/en/Russian_Federation#population_2018.
13. [In Russian] Irina Kargina, “Protestanty v Rossii – sovremennye tendentsii (po rezul’tatam sotsiologicheskikh issledovanii),” Materialy II Vserossiiskogo sotsiologicheskogo kongressa, 2003, http://krotov.info/library/11_k/ar/gina_02.htm. 
14. Ibid.
15.  Malkhaz Songulashvili, “A Merging of Protestant and Orthodox Theology and Practice: Evangelical ChristianBaptists of Georgia,” East-West Church and Ministry Report, vol. 24, 4 (2016), 12. 

Galina Obrovets (Doctor of Transformational Leadership) is director of the Center for Biblical Enlightenment (Russian: Tsentr Bibleiskogo Prosveshcheniia) in Moscow