The seminary of the Estonian Evangelical Christian-Baptist Union (EKB) has spent October running short courses in local congregations rather than on its own campus. Two courses took place on site this month: "Thankfulness in Relationships", led by Aleksander Pulver and Ruth Shimmo at Tartu Salem Baptist Church, and "Beside a Person: Loss, Grief and Healing Relationships", led by Monika Lige and Einike Pilli at Kärdla Baptist Church on the island of Hiiumaa. Both were supported by Estonia's Ministry of the Interior and drew people from beyond the host congregations.
The seminary says it is not only a place of higher education. Each year it organises a series of continuing courses, some of them jointly with local churches, as part of a wider commitment to adult learning in the union. The October programme also included training for the seminary's own mentors and lecturers on "Mentoring in a Neurobiological Environment", led by Ruti Einpalu, while rector Einike Pilli led a change-management course for store managers at the Sõbralt Sõbrale charity shop chain.
The article presents the courses as encounters rather than lectures, noting that in adult learning much is learned from one another. It describes an exercise used with the shop managers in which each participant explained a problem to two colleagues, then turned away and listened while the others discussed it. "As soon as I turned my back, I knew what I had to do," one manager said. The seminary says it will keep working with congregations and with the union's departments to design and fill such courses, adding that "together we are wiser".
(Originally published in Estonian. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Estonian Evangelical Christian-Baptist Union (EKB) — kogudused.ee
