Our Ministry

Located in the Ural Mountain region—the border of Europe and Asia—the Chelyabinsk Learning Center offers pastoral ministry and Christian education classes to students from the Bashkortistan, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Perm, Udmurtia, and Yekaterinburg regions. Director Igor Maksakov oversees the region’s only seminary-level education, it provides students in this geographically isolated region a rare chance to study and prepare for ministry at the college level.

MTS's newest regional center is located in the Urdmurtia region, an area famous for both the birthplace of Tchaikovsky as well as its abundance of freshwater springs. Director Nikolay Tretyakov is the pastor of Izhevsk Baptist Church, the first protestant church in Urdmurtia, established in 1911. This site offers an in-depth 3-year diploma program in Fundamentals of Practical Theology. Program highlights include Survey of Old Testament and New Testament, Evangelism & Discipleship, Preaching and Biblical Counseling.

Moscow Theological Seminary offers a Bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Ministry, Theology, and Christian Education, as well as a Masters’ degree in Pastoral Ministry. Students can also earn certifications in preaching, youth ministry, biblical counseling, and social/rehabilitation ministry. The curriculum highlights Old and New Testament studies, preaching, systematic theology, biblical counseling, church history, Hebrew, Greek, English, and other subjects. Chapel services are conducted 5 days a week during the school year. All seminary students and the all-Russian faculty are involved in local church ministry as well.

Supervised by MTS graduate Vadim Kruglikov, this training center in Nizhny Novgorod opened in November of 2022. The inaugural class consists of 50 students consisting of pastors, deacons, youth & children's ministry leaders, and hearing-impaired ministers, all who are all eager to apply their improved Bible training. Students will earn certificates in Fundamentals of Practical Theology as well as Christian Education.

The North Caucasus region is home to more than 50 ethnic groups, spread across 7 provinces and speaking 48 languages. Most ethnic groups are traditionally Muslim. Many communities have no churches or Scripture in their languages. North Caucasus Bible Institute (NCBI) is dedicated to preparing church-planters for this region. NCBI offers courses in pastoral ministry, theology, Christian education, worship arts, biblical counseling and evangelism training. In addition to classes, students are involved in children’s camps, worship conferences, Bible studies, evangelistic outreach, and pastoral internships. “NCBI’s affiliation with MTS helps us raise the academic level of our school … this in turn attracts more students – especially those who want a quality education like that at MTS but cannot afford to go to Moscow for classes.” Andrey Kravtsev, former NCBI president

Focusing on ministry training, North Moscow was the first center for extension ministry support in Moscow outside of the main campus. Currently, the North Moscow Training Center offers a 3-year program on Biblebased drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry. All of the students enrolled in this program are directors of church-based rehabilitation centers in the Moscow region, and most of them are former addicts who came to faith through centers like the ones they now direct.

The Novokuznetsk Training Center is located in southcentral Siberia and is meeting a great need as many students in this region hunger for a seminary education. Since 2006, this strategic center for ministry preparation has been led by MTS graduate Viktor Fedorovsky. Novokuznetsk Center offers programs for church leaders in Pastoral Ministry and Christian Education.

Located just below the Arctic Circle, Noyabrsk is the most remote of our learning centers. With programs in Pastoral Ministry and Christian education, the Noyabrsk Learning Center is comprised of students eager to apply their new knowledge to their local church ministries. Many of our Noyabrsk alumni serve in the Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysky, and Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous regions in the far north. MTS alumnus Alexander Podkolzin serves as the Learning Center Director. He reports, “Our students have become a force in our region within just the past 2 years. I have received reports of improvements in their preaching. Some of our churches have Sunday schools for children for the first time because we now have trained teachers. We have a new sense of hope in our region because of the fellowship we have when we come together. We look forward to planting more churches and bring the Gospel to our region.

Located in southern Russia in the village of Beregovoye, South Learning Center is our newest center to open beginning this fall! This center will be directed by MTS graduate, Pastor Dmitry Kotov who also leads the Sudak Church. Due to the hardships and fallout of the war, this culturally diverse and well-trafficked region is uniquely positioned to minister to those who are suffering from loss and asking for spiritual guidance. Many area Christian leaders desire to address the community’s spiritual hunger, but they do not have any Bible or ministry training. The fields are white for the harvest (John 4:35), but the skilled workers are few; South Learning Center is stepping up to prepare these workers for the harvest by offering the region’s first Bachelor of Church Ministry program.