There are not enough leaders where a great number of people are coming to faith today in the countries and regions with SGA-supported churches. But together—through the generosity and prayers of friends like you—we can help fulfill the command of 2 Timothy 2:2 to entrust the Great Commission to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

We’re serious about training leaders and equipping them with resources so that they can reach their cities, towns, and villages with the Gospel and disciple those coming to faith. That’s why SGA supports Antioch Initiative lay leadership training to provide excellent, effective biblical preparation for the churches we serve. One of these locations is in Yakutsk, Russia. Our director of training ministries—Dr. Larry B. Duncan—shares more about this and the development of Advanced Antioch Initiative training in his report below.

The Antioch Initiative location in Yakutsk, Russia, is the pilot for current and future efforts of training faithful servants in each of the countries is which SGA has Antioch Initiative ministry. After students completed the Antioch Initiative training three years ago, there was a desire for more in-depth training by some of the students. The concept of an advanced level of training was introduced. The advanced training, for Yakutsk, has a focus on hermeneutics and homiletics build around the book of Ephesians. The students in the advanced training, about eight men, plunge more deeply into the discipline of accurate interpretation—hermeneutics, and then use the skills in developing their sermon preparation and preaching—homiletics. At the conclusion of the advanced training the men will emerge with greater interpretive skills and as solid expositors of God’s Word. The advanced training occurs over a three year period, and the men meet twice a year.

Some of the men will go on to further training at the SGA-supported seminary in Novosibirsk. In fact, most of the advanced classes are taught by professors from Novosibirsk Biblical Theological Seminary (NBTS). Perhaps one or two of the men who move through the Antioch Initiative classes, then on to the Advanced Antioch Initiative and finally from NBTS will also serve as adjunct professors at NBTS while pastoring local churches.

The strategy is to train men at a foundational level in the Antioch Initiative courses, which usually takes four to five years to complete. Some who have the desire and skill will enroll in Advanced Antioch training to further develop as servants of Christ. One or two from the Advanced training will then go on to train at NBTS. This cycle is already occurring in Russia.

The purpose is to train theologically solid men and women to serve in their local church ministries. It is also to train men who can further develop this training ministry in Russia. The pilot program is proving successful, and SGA anticipates it being replicated in churches of the other countries SGA serves.

The photos you see here are of the current sessions in Yakutsk, Russia. Romans is being taught to the new Antioch Initiative class, which is designated “Yakutsk AI 1-3. The other three photos are of the Advanced Antioch Initiative class designated as Yakutsk AAI 1-3.