The Tallin Conference

  ‘Living with Boundaries' - September 2005

  There could hardly be a better place than Tallinn for a conference considering ways   in which the Christian community faces up to the challenge of change.

                                 
Few places in the world have seen such a dramatic shifting of boundaries during the past 30 years. Estonia has moved from being part of the Soviet Union to full membership of the European  Union. Her people have experienced the change from communism to capitalism and  are enjoying the benefits and disadvantages of becoming property owners in an
 aggressive market economy.

                                                                                                                                  How  How have the Churches coped with all this change?
 Has being a member of a Christian community helped people  make sense of it all? How do today's young people regard  the Churches?  What influence, if any, do Christian leaders  have in helping to shape Estonia's future? What might  others learn from Estonia's experience that might be helpful in  their own context?

 These were some of the questions the conference sought  to address. Members were assisted in the task by a panel of excellent speakers.

 



 Dr Alaar Laats of the Tallinn Theological
 Institute gave an excellent introduction to  the history and culture of Estonia. Dr Pille  Valk and Ms Salme Rannu spoke of the  challenges facing the Christian community  in the spheres of education and broadcasting.  A paper from Dr Johann Dalman offered a  perspective from neighbouring Sweden where  the Lutheran Church has been disestablished   since 2000, and Dr Randar Tasmuth spoke eloquently of his personal experience of   the choices that faced the churches under soviet domination and today. Dr John Arnold
  described Jesus Christ as the boundary crosser par excellence and Bishop Erik Vikström
  spoke of the wisdom needed when crossing boundaries with the Gospel. Dr Lowell   Almen offered an account of  the attempt to accommodate cultural difference in the USA.

Summaries of some of the lectures were published in issue number 78 of ‘The Window' in November 2005. The Society hopes to make the whole series available on this website soon. Meanwhile, Mimi and Tom Van Poole from Arlington, USA, have provided a personal account of the conference which you can read by clicking here .

   

Meetings were arranged with The Right Rev Andreas Pöder, the newly elected Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, and with members of local churches both in the city of Tallinn and in the rural areas. They shared their experiences of living through a period of constant change in a very frank and moving way.

Worship took place both in the conference centre and in cathedrals and churches of different denominations and traditions. We enjoyed a rich diet of Anglican and Lutheran liturgy.

Participants enjoyed getting to know each other and having time to socialize. They had ample opportunity to explore the city of Tallinn itself and some went further afield, some getting as far as Helsinki.

It was generally considered a splendid conference, as all our conferences are, and participants left Tallinn looking forward to the next one. Since then it has  been decided not to hold an American conference in 2006 so the next one will be in September 2007 in Dublin, Ireland.

You can find a personal account of the conference by Mimi and Tom Van Poole, ALS members in the USA, here .

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