St. Paul's Reaches Out

Our Commitment to the Struggling Christians in Estonia

In late 2005, a plea went out over the internet to help support a mission effort in Estonia; an effort spearheaded by Reverend Oleg Sevastyanov, a clergy member of the Ingrian Church (a Russo-Finn Lutheran fellowship).

In response, St. Paul's of Lockport, IL committed to both financial support and on-going external fund-raising to encourage and maintain this worthy mission effort. The Christian brothers and sisters in Estonia can now hear the Gospel in their native language (Russian). Many of these fine people are first-generation refugees whose families moved to Estonia in the early 20th Century as the violent Marxist revolution engulfed their homeland. These families kept hidden their teaching of Martin Luther's catechism but now can freely practice the proper understanding of the Christian Faith.

Rev. Sevastyanov has gathered a core of 30 Christians in Narva (on the Russia-Estonia border) that consistently receives Word and Sacrament ministry. He has expanded his influence and currently engages the Russian speaking peoples of the entire Eastern portion of Estonia. He has a weekly radio program in Talinn (the Estonian capital) as well as teaching "basic Christianity" (Luther's Small Catechism) in the elementary schools of Narva. He travels twice weekly to Talinn to reach both Christians and nonChristians with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

if you would like to contribute financially to this mission, please contact the St. Paul's office at (815) 838-1832.

Here are the latest updates from Oleg and his supporters:

News article from Narva newspaper (no English interpretation)
News article from Talinn (English interpretation)