Saying Goodbye to Pastor Fara

Moscow
  On July 19th after 8 years of service Pastor Fara Rayarisoa from Madagascar completed her service in the French-speaking Protestant congregation of Moscow. This event was marked by worship in St. Peter and Paul cathedral and by an African barbecue meal in the courtyard after worship.
  Elena Bondarenko, Dean of the Moscow region, is fluent in many languages, including French; this will allow her to be Pastor Fara's successor. The congregation already knows Pastor Bondarenko well thanks to her frequent visits to and preaching in their congregation, which is made up of French-speaking Africans and a few Protestant French citizens who work at the embassy. The congregation has been in contact with the ELCER for 15 years already and celebrates its regular services in the chapel. This year the congregation expressed its desire to become an official congregation of the ELCER while at the same time maintaining its French Protestant identity.

Ordination and Commissioning in Crimea

Simferopol
  On July 12th at worship in the congregation in Simferopol Archbishop Dietrich Brauer ordained Elza Gerko as pastor of the congregation and commissioned Marina Gusarova as preacher. Elza completed her theological education at the Seminar in Novosaratovka and for two years acted as preacher of the congregation. Marina is the church council president and has also been active for many years in church life.
  This is an event Lutherans in Crimea had been waiting for for quite some time. Now they have their own pastor and preacher.
  Archbishop Brauer presided at this ordination as part of his travels to the congregations in Yalta and Simferopol July 10-13. Accompanying him was the president of the Martin Luther Bund in Bavaria Wolfgang Hagemann.

Bishop Cornei Vibe has Passed Away

Tashkent, Uzbekistan
On June 22 at 60 years of age the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Uzbekistan, Cornei Vibe, passed away. He was a part of the rebirth of the Lutheran church in Uzbekistan from the very beginning. He took on an active role in building up friendly relationships with other confessions and religions in the country. He will be warmly remembered and missed.

LWF President Visits the Church in Kazakhstan

Astana
  Bishop Munib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation, visited the church in Kazakhstan on June 11-12.  He shared his impressions through a LWF press release:
  “This was my first visit to Kazakhstan as LWF president. I learned a lot about the joys and challenges of the Kazakhstan Lutheran church. I explained our work together with the member churches: caring for refugees, advocacy for climate justice, women’s empowerment, theological reflections, ecumenical relations and inter-religious dialogue and so on,” Younan said.
  “Being in the communion means we are in pulpit and altar fellowship,” Younan said. “This means when I visit your Church I am at home with my sisters and brothers in Christ as we celebrate the Holy Communion that sends us together to the world with a call to holistic mission.”
  The conversations helped clarify the LWF’s role in the relationship with its member churches. “It was important to emphasize that the LWF as a communion of churches respects the autonomy of each church and that we accompany the churches upon invitation.”
  However, being churches in communion “also means that we are accountable to each other,” Younan remarked.

  Geographical isolation
The ELCRK’s core membership is made up of 2500 people in 50 congregations scattered across the country. The distance between congregations can be up to 3000 kilometers. The president saw his visit as an opportunity to learn firsthand the challenges of being geographically isolated.
Image  “I certainly felt how being far and in such a big country, and in another language context, can be a hindrance. I came to understand the difficulty of even gathering pastors to a national church meeting,” said Younan, who is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
  Education and formation of pastors are key priorities of the ELCRK. The LWF president also heard the church’s excitement over plans to build a new church in Astana that will include a community center, youth services and guest house, and about its good relations with the government.
  Spirituality
But it was the church’s spirituality and deep piety that most struck the LWF president. “You have a certain spirituality in Kazakhstan; and I invite you to come to the table with your spirituality. It is an added value,” he said, referring to conversations with the pastors, and his church attendance.
“I suggested that they should be more involved in the life of the communion, including the Global Young Reformers’ Network, the women’s networks and other aspects of LWF,” he said. “This for me was a pastoral visit, and I let them know how important they are as part of the Lutheran communion.”
  Countering extremism
  Younan was in Astana also to participate in the international Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. At the gathering, he challenged the religious and political leaders to enhance their own engagement in fighting extremism and in peace building efforts.
  “Extremists exist in all religions. None has a monopoly on extremism. How do our speeches in the churches, mosques, temples reflect living together and co-existence? That is a challenge for us right now,” he noted.
  Younan emphasized his call to faith groups to examine the curricula they teach and offer their countries by asking: “Do we promote extremism or acceptance of the other that is different? Do we promote the concept of seeing the image of God in the other?”

16-Meter Spire for the Church in Grodno

 On June 3rd St. John's Lutheran Church in Grodno had its spire replaced thanks to “Grodnopromstroy,” a local construction company. The spire will eventually be crowned with a 2-meter high cross. That is not the end of the construction work, however. “Grodnopormstroy” also took on the responsibility to continue to renovate the outside of the building and the territory around the church; this work was to be finished before the start of an international organ festival in July.
 With time the congregation also hopes to repair the old clock on the tower and to finish the work on the church's interior. Then the only working Lutheran church building in Belarus will be restored to its full beauty.

The Church in Berdyansk Opened up its Doors to Congregation Members and Guests

  On May 10th the Church of Christ the Savior was the site of a Baptism for the first time in 80 years. It was at this time that the Berdyansk Lutheran Church opened up its doors for congregation members.
  The Church is still undergoing repairs, in particular to the interior. But the congregation, which up until now met in a German cultural center, has decided that it is ready to begin services in the church again.
  GELCU Bishop Sergey Mashevsky, presided at the baptism of Alisa Karakulova. There was also a very special guest present that day – Harry Tse, who was one of the last people baptized in the church in the 1930s. During the  day the congregation was acutely aware of how God has worked there in the past and its hopes for God's work there in the future.
  Behind the altar there is a cross nearly 5 meters high that congregation members made themselves out of the ruins of the old roof. It has been decorated by a Luther rose, a gift from Andrey Lokay from Germany.  On the side altar there is a painting of the crucifixion that was recently returned to the church. It had been kept in a private home for many years and the canvas is in need of repair. But it is now in a new frame under glass and reminds members and guests of how the church has suffered.
  Thanks to many years of cooperation the Catholic congregation in town was kind enough to give the congregation an electronic organ for its use temporarily, and citizens of the city are happy to see that the church is coming back to life.

Chizhov Family Begins Service in Odessa

  On April 26th in the St. Paul Cathedral Bishop Sergey Mashevsky presided at the installation of Alexei and Natalia Chizhov as ministers in the Odessa congregation.
  Graduates of the Theological Seminar in Novosaratovka, Pastor Alexei and Deacon Natalia served for the past five years in the congregation in Herson. The congregation there (see photo) expressed their thanks to the family at their final worship service on April 12. They remembered how the congregation was struggling back then – with only 4 active members and grass in the yard as tall as your shoulders. Now the congregation has 30 active members and a lively ministry with children. Diaconal work began, ecumenical relationships developed, contact with the city government was established....the experienced they gained in Herson will serve them well in the cathedral church of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine. Andrey Mattos, the vicar in Odessa, will now become responsible for pastoral ministry in the Herson congregation.

First Hymnal in Azeri Published

Baku, Azerbaijan
  “Isa Rabbim” is translated from Azeri as “Jesus is my Lord.” That is the name of one of the songs in the hymnal published in the Church of the Savior in Baku. It came out on May 7th with a run of 250 copies.
  Menzer Ismailova, pastor of the congregation, says: “in Azerbaijan in all churches we usually sing songs and pray prayers in a foreign  language. A year ago we decided to make more available in our native tongue and started working on a project to that purpose.
While working on the hymnal Martin Luther's Small Catechism and his morning and evening prayers were translated into Azeri. Hymns from various Christian confessions (some of which were already used in the congregation) were included, and Menzer herself wrote a few poems that were then put to music by composer Galib Gasanov.
  The 129 page hymnal included 42 songs. It's publication was made possible thanks to the help of the Lutheran congregation in Kvinstal (Norway) and the Finnish Lutheran Overseas Mission.
  “Today I am so thankful to hold in my hands this hymnal, even if it is small,” says Menzer. To be able to sing and pray in my native language is a great joy.”

Council of Bishops of Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches

Astana, Kazakhstan
  On April 21-23 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, bishops from the former Soviet Union together with church administrator Marina Khudenko and EKD representative Michael Hubner met to discuss common issues and to sign a new version of their agreement on mutual cooperation. In addition the participants signed an agreement related to the spiritual care of congregations in Crimea. From now on three church bodies will have the right to work there – the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Congregations can now legally register in the Russian Federation and will be full members of the ELCER; they will also have the right to attend the meetings of the GELCU as guests with a voice, though without a vote. A third important decision was that all of the churches of the Union are given the right to independently join such international organizations as the LWF and the Conference of European Churches. It was also agreed upon that the question of the Union's membership in the World Council of Churches needs to be studied. Finally, the participants of the Union elected Yuri Novgorodov from Kazakhstan as the President of their council for the next two years.
  In addition to meetings the bishops took part in ecumenical meetings with representatives of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches and found time to talk and pray together about their brothers who were unable to attend – Otto Schaude and Corney Vibe.

The Cross of Lutherans in Smolensk

  The altar in Smolensk is now decorated with a new crucifix. Is it really worth it to write an article about this? In a large congregation with its own church building such a change in the altar decoration would go unnoticed. That's understandable - it's a simple, everyday event. But if the congregation is small, almost a family congregation, which has neither its own building or its own pastor, which actually has nothing at all except its faith and its desire to maintain its Lutheran identity, then such an event becomes significant.
  And this cross has a story. In December of 2014 one of our church members, Vera Tkach, was approached by an Eastern Orthodox family she was friends with. They had a problem. They had a cross hanging in their home for quite some time, but when they brought it to the church to get it blessed, the priest told that the cross wasn't from the eastern Christian tradition, but was a western cross. Since Orthodox believers couldn't imagine either using the cross or throwing it away, they decided to ask their Protestant friends if they might need it. This was the beginning of the path for the cross to become  the altar cross for the congregation in Smolensk.
 We will hope that this event is a good sign...and that eventually it will be possible to put this cross on the altar of the historical Lutheran church building in Smolensk, which is at present occupied by the local chess club.

An Easter Gift in Yalta

  In the days before Easter the congregational members of the church in Yalta once again felt blessed by God's love – the question of their re-registration was finally resolved. Since Crimea became a part of Russia in March of 2014, the Lutheran churches in the region found themselves in a new situation; they needed to prepare paperwork to re-register their congregation in the Russia Federation.  It was a time of self-evaluation for the congregation in Yalta, and in the end it was decided that they needed to do what it takes to remain legally registered. Without their own building and without legal registration it was not even clear if the congregation could meet, so  they decided that they could no longer come together until they received registration...but then just a few days later they received the news that they had gained their new legal status. Now the congregation, made up of 25 members, is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia. As the years pass many congregational members move away; young people leave for studies, elderly people pass on from this world to the next... At times it has seemed like the congregation has no future. But then new people come, bringing their children and grandchildren with them. The congregation not only meets for worship, but also carries out diaconal work and offers German language courses. The congregation takes part in various city-wide events and hopes to some day again have the right to meet in the historical building of the church, St. Mary's. The congregation doesn't have its own pastor at present, but congregational members get by by leading worship themselves, reading sermons that are sent to them. God has preserved this congregation for over 20 years, and there is now hope for a new path of development of the congregation into the future.

Something New Every Time

Abakan
  In 2014 the congregations of Khakasia and the souther part of the Krasnoyarsk region (central Siberia) renewed their efforts (after a long period of dormancy) to organize a Christian summer camp for children. The success of that first effort gave the team of volunteer leaders there the confidence to plan for another such camp in 2015. They were assisted in their efforts by Anastasia Razinkova, the person responsible for youth ministry in the region. Anastasia helped bring them together for a weekend planning retreat this spring; she arrived in Abakan from Omsk bearing gifts, more concretely, with an idea for the camp theme and program. The next step was adapting the material that Anastasia provided so that it fit the ages of those children who were expected to attend and the gifts and limitations of the situation “on the ground.”  In this case it was particularly important to take into account the resources the volunteers could provide – Viktoria Matskevich, who is a talented musician with a lot of experience with children; Andrey Masiorov had many years  experience with the Boy Scouts; the youthful and energetic Arthur Ertel could lead sports and Anna Guray's experience with language camps in the past means she knows a lot about organizing.
  There was good news before the seminar – the number of kids who wanted to attend just kept rising and rising. This helped the volunteers remain optimistic and energized, despite all of the challenges of planning.
  While Anastasia was in the area, she was invited to take part in the youth group meeting in Chernogorsk. This was one more ministry that was inert for quite some time, but lately Pastor Dmitry Schweitz and others in the congregation have helped re-start this important part of the congregation's life; it is hoped that some of the youth from Chernogorosk will take part in the church-wide seminars that are planned in Omsk.

Lutherans and the World's Largest Lake

Irkutsk, Russia 
  Bradn Buerkle writes:
  One of the natural wonders I have had the privilege to visit here is Lake Baikal in southeast Siberia. The deepest and perhaps the most ancient large lake in the world, it contains approximately 20% of the planet's unfrozen fresh water. When we recently planned a retreat of our church's Central and Eastern Siberia region to be hosted by the nearby congregations in Irkutsk and Shelekhov, we thought that we should start by taking out-of-town guests (many of whom had never been to Baikal before) for a visit. It was my third trip to the great lake, and I was struck again by how at the most accessible location (the source of the Angara River near Listvyanka) you don't really realize how unique the lake is. A stop at the natural history museum changed that impression, thanks especially to a great tour guide – a researcher in the area of climate change. I was most struck by what he had to say about the lake's 1000+ endemic species, i.e. those organisms that live in Baikal and nowhere else on the planet. They all have adapted to their environment so well that they are unable to survive elsewhere. When I heard about the fat and lovable Baikal seals, the golomyanka fish (mostly transparent, gives birth to live young, able to survive at most any depth), and supreme water-cleaning crustaceans, all of which have no home other than Baikal, I felt overcome with sadness. It was a completely illogical reaction to scientific fact, I know. Maybe it has something to do with the volatile emotional environment of life in Russia at the moment. Or maybe it is because I couldn't help but comparing endemic organisms to our Lutheran church in Russia. Our approach to Christian faith originated in Europe and has adapted very well to northern European and North American environments... it seems to be on the way to adapting to the warmer waters of Africa...but what about here, in the world's largest “lake,” Russia? Can it survive here? I didn't have much time to contemplate that question, however, because we soon had to leave Baikal in order to make it on time to the “Blue Spruce” center, where we would meet for our retreat.
  My time with congregational members did much to disperse my doubt regarding the viability of our church here. There I saw people (almost 40 of them!) who strove to grow and develop, to apply their faith to everyday life, even if the environment is not particularly welcoming. The theme that our staff in Omsk, Natasya Razinkova and Natalia Sivko, chose for the seminar - “Ironman” - fit very well for this group. Participants were also well supported (both in logistical and in spiritual questions) by Pastor Thomas Graf Grote and by me as the person responsible for the “Equipping for Service” project. Even if we had a limited amount of time together, we were able to hear something new, to reinforce some of what we already knew, to share with one another, pray with one another, and to sing together...well, in regards to music, maybe it is difficult to say we sang together. At seminars with congregations that are spread apart, it becomes quite clear that the development of
various singing styles is part of the local adaption that takes place in each of our congregations in its own way.After the seminar was over, I would have been happy to visit Baikal again. Next time I'm sure that I won't feel sad. Instead I know understand that God created nature (and us together with it) with the capacity to find new paths to abundant life, wherever we may be. Maybe our church is just one tiny “microorganism” in this enormous country, but it also has an important place here. Without it, the environment would be poorer and would suffer. I think we can embrace this identity and go forward.

“The Spiritual Thread” - Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk
  Spring began in the congregation of St. John with a happy event – Pastor Markus Lesinski's visit from March 2 to March 8. Seven days of fellowship breathed new life into the congregation and brought new ideas. During evening lessons the topics of discussion were the Bible and the Koran, Christians and Muslims, Lutherans and Orthodox and where these spiritual paths might intersect in the present or in the future. Pastor Lesinski gave detailed answers to the congregation's questions; he spoke at length about theological questions and about current international affairs. The idea of ecumenism carried through many of these discussions. That was no accident, since  Pastor Lesinski has been a member of the planning team for the EKD Kirkentag for many years. He is always open for discussion with representatives of other confessions from all over the world, for example, his work with Egyptian Copts or singing in an Orthodox choir or taking part in Roman Catholic liturgy in India. It's no surprise, then, that Pastor Lesinksi had contact not only with the congregation, but also with two universities and a school while visiting Khabarovsk. He even received an invitation to give a lecture about Lutherans to the students of the local Orthodox theological seminary; they had a good discussion afterwards. Later a teacher at the seminary invited members of the Lutheran congregation to visit St. Innocent of Irkutsk Church to see its unique frescoes.
  Pastor Lesinski also continued to work with Stas Mel as the latter prepared for baptism; Markus began the classes on his previous visit to Khabarovsk in 2014, and this time they were brought to completion. Stas's baptism was one of the highlights of worship that the congregation celebrated together on the 8th of March.
  For 12 years the spiritual threat that tied the congregation and Pastor Lesinski has held strong; despite his active work in congregations tens of thousands of kilometers away, he continues to remember his former congregation in Russia; he supports them with advice, through material he sends for youth ministry or for use at worship. He always remembers to send cards and letters for special holidays and birthdays...  While the congregation is now small in numbers, both its members and its former pastor are confident that one day the seed of the word that has fallen into the ground will bear fruit and bring a plentiful harvest.

Meeting in Munich

  On March 12th there a meeting was held between representatives of three churches  – the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine by Bishop Sergey Mashevsky, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Ukraine's partner church) by Ulrich Zenker and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia by Archbishop Dietrich Brauer. The discussion was friendly and they spoke about the ways that they together can provide spiritual care for the congregations in Crimea.

Conflict in the Congregation, Society and the World

Novosaratovka
  The first seminar held in Novosaratovka in 2015 looked at conflict from a wide variety of perspectives; Pastor Karin Ludwig-Braun and Pastor Kurt-Juergen Schmidt, long-time friends of our church from Germany, were the central teachers for this seminar. They used their training as chaplains and CPE supervisors to help students work through conflicts in congregations. Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov lectured on conflict and the human condition, while Pastor Bradn Buerkle led lessons on the role of conflict in Church History. The Seminary was also privileged to welcome once again Father Vladimir Fyodorov; he spoke about inter-religious conflict from the point of view of an Orthodox priest.

New Pastor in Tomsk

  On Palm Sunday, March 29th, the congregation in Tomsk (central Siberia) installed Vitaly Moor as its new pastor. After almost two years of a pastoral vacancy it was wonderful to receive the new pastor for whom the congregation had been hoping and praying for so long.
Vitaly Moor was born in Barnaul (also in central Siberia) in a family of Russian Germans who had been displaced there. In 1998 he finished the foreign languages department in Barnaul, and worked for a time as teacher there. In 2002 he and his family left for Germany, and in that same year he began his studies at the Hermannsburg seminary, which he finished in 2011. Vitaly had an internship with Manfred Brockmann in Vladivostok, and that positive experience helped him see that he would like to work as a pastor in Russia. The synod council decided to invite Vitaly to become a pastor in ELCUSFE,  and in 2015 all the details were worked out to make it happen. We wish Vitaly and his congregation God's blessing on their new path together.

World Day of Prayer 2015

  The World Day of Prayer has become an important part of the calendar of church events in the Lutheran church here. On the first Friday in March women in many congregations of the CIS and Europe prepare a special worship service focused on one particular country. In 2014 that country was Egypt and in 2015 it was the Bahamas. It is wonderful to learn about and pray for a country that we, perhaps, have never and will never see; we learn to sympathize with other Christians in their struggles while not forgetting about the need to pray for our own countries. For that reason this year many of our congregations prayed particularly fervently for peace between Russia and Ukraine. At the same time the worship service was filled with the colors and music and (in some cases) food of the Bahamas while focused on the theme - “Do you understand what I have done for you?” (John 13.12).

Baku

Chernogorsk

Ephpatoria

Kaliningrad

Kharkov

Kiev

Lviv

Odessa

Omsk

Samara

Simferopol

St. Petersburg

Tbilisi

Vinnitsa

Vladivostok

Walls to Protect or to Divide?

Omsk
  “Let us go build a wall!” - this was the theme of the latest seminar for Christian men held on February 20-22 at the Admiral Makarov camp in the Omsk region. These seminars take as their theme one particular person from the Bible, and this time it was the prophet Nehemiah. Around 2400 years ago Nehemiah, who occupied a high-level government office in the court of the Persian king, asked to become the governor of the province of Judea and was granted permission to restore the city of Jerusalem. “”Let's go build a wall!,” he told his fellow countrymen. And they responded. Despite enormous difficulties – a huge need for resources, enemy attacks, treacherous friends and the burning sun – Jerusalem was restored.
  The wall that defended the holy city from its enemies was built in a record time – in 52 days! Nehemiah's work was a great success. How did that happen? The book of Nehemiah tells us...and it gives us guidance as to how we can attain our goals in life – that was what the seminar was about. A wall is that which, first and foremost, defends us, our families, our faith. A strong wall cannot be built alone, but only together...yet even unity among people is not enough: “Unless the LORD builds the house,  its builders labor in vain.” Nehemiah inspires us to trust the Lord God in all our endeavors.
  Walls also function in another way - they divide, not only cities and countries, not only people of various nations and faiths, but also people who had once been close to one another – spouses, parents, children... We build these walls ourselves and it is not easy to break them down. During the seminar participants also learned how the Word of God helps us to tear down the walls that divide us. The Scripture lessons were reinforced by time spent in fellowship, for example, through sports – the participants learned how to play rugby this time!

  There were many surprises throughout the seminar, but some things remained the same – wonderful weather, fresh air, friendly fellowship, well-organized events and the Lord's blessing. The latter will help all who participated build walls that protect and tear down walls that divide.

New Life for the Congregation in Yaroslavl

  In the last weeks of 2013 the congregation in Yaroslavl took an important step in itself development when it welcomed its first full-time pastor in 90 (!) years. On December 15, Ivan Shirokov, a native of Volgograd and a graduate of the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary, was ordained and installed as pastor.
  The congregation has 30 to 40 active members, though with the appearance of a new, young Russian pastor, there have been many more new people visiting the church than in the past. They meet in the historic Lutheran church, St. Peter and Paul's, in the center of the city. After many years of neglect, the building had fallen in to disrepair, but Ivan, together with a group of friends from Cassel, Germany, have made great efforts and much progress in making the building into a comfortable home for the congregation and a welcoming space for guests. One of the first steps in this process was building a glass-enclosed chapel inside of the walls of the historic building. This allowed the congregational members to stay warm in the winter and also to keep the space of worship at least somewhat separated from the area being restored.

They've also worked on cleaning up the territory and insuring the structural integrity of the building. However, because repairs to the exterior are lower on the list of priorities, there have been some questions as to whether or not there would be pressure on the congregation from the city administration. Dean Elena Bondarenko and the head of the ELCER church administration Viktor Weber helped the congregation with this issue by meeting with the city administration. Now the congregation has also acquired its own organ, and the building is feeling more and more like home. The most recent news is that the city of Yaroslavl plans to return the ownership of the building to the church. Praise the Lord!

Scripture Alone, Dialog Alone

Abakan, Russia
At the end of February for the first time the congregation in Abakan was visited by guests from the youth group of the local Russian Orthodox Church. In conversation after worship they shared their positive impressions and expressed their desire for further fellowship. The congregation members from the Lutheran side were also encouraged by this encounter and suggested that the contacts between the two confessions grow. That led to a meeting between the congregations leaders – two priests and a youth group leader from the Orthodox congregation and, on the Lutheran side, Pastor Dmitry Schweitz, Alexander Ertel (church council president in Abakan), and Zoya Heintz (preacher in Chernogorsk).The Orthodox guests suggested “sola Scriptura” as a theme for discussion, and Pastor Schweitz spoke about the Lutheran perspective on this Reformation principle, while the Orthodox representatives spoke about their position. Even after a couple of hours of dialog it became clear just how much there is to talk about. Such meetings give hope for the development of inter-confessional cooperation, which is so important in our secular society.

Like a Large Canvas

Moscow
“The Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace” - these words from Ephesian 4 were the theme for the second annual “Church Days of the ELCER,” held February 9-10, 2015, in the Moscow oblast at the “Dom Bosko” Roman Catholic retreat center.
  Representatives of the deaneries of the ELCER – pastors and active congregational members – gathered together for a day of fellowship; they told one another about what life is like throughout the church. Representatives of the deaneries took turnings giving short presentations about their congregations – through pictures it was obvious both how alike and how different the congregations are. One thing unites them all – an accent on diaconal work. Carrying for the elderly, for orphans or the disabled, for those who need pastoral care, for the homeless and for those who are HIV positive...  while most of society is indifferent to such needs, that is not the case with Russian Lutherans. That is one thing that is obvious from the presentations given during the ELCER Church Day. It also remains clear that our church is like a large canvas made up of various pieces that can only fulfill their function by being together.

  A number of congregations and their historical buildings celebrated special anniversaries this year – in Samara, Ulyanovsk, and Perm. Others are working on finding the resources to restore historic buildings or to build new ones; this is the priority of such congregations as Yaroslavl and Saratov. In Kazan the full restoration of the building has been completed...and few people know that there is a building of the Lutheran Church in Vladikavkaz! But right now it is used by the orchestra (as is the case in Archangelsk.)
  There are Lutheran congregations not only in the big cities, but also in villages, for example in the Samara, Saratov and Kaliningrad deaneries. It was news to many that a small, new congregation has now been founded in the Northwest deanery - in the village of Krestsy in the Novgorod region. For the first time, congregations from Crimea took part in the Church Day; the congregations in Simferopol and Yalta are now in the process of re-registration and will soon become official congregations of ELCER. The Crimeans introduced their congregations to the rest of the church and expressed a wish that friendly relationships with Russian church would develop quickly.
  Throughout the day representatives from the ELCER's new partner church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Saxony, were also present and took part. The day ended with Bible study and evening prayer led by pastors Viktor Weber (Moscow) and Elena Bondarenko (Moscow area Dean). The conclusion of the Church Day was worship the next morning, presided at by Archbishop Dietrich Brauer. The preacher was recently-ordained Andrey Dzhamgarov from Saratov.

The Unfinished Business of Ecumenism

Tbilisi, Georgia

  The theme of the 2015 “Luther Days,” held February 10-16 in the Church of Reconciliation, was “The Reformation and Ecumenism.” The main presenter was Siegfried Kasparick, the Dean of Wittenburg, the city where Martin Luther lived and worked. Who else knows so much about the preparations for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 as he does? And who else is so capable of explaining the significance of this event for the ecumenical world, that is, for other Christian churches? The 95 Thesis hung on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg on October 31, 1517, were not a call to split the church, but simply one of many attempts to renew the Church through returning it to its roots – to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Lutheran church that arose as a result was called to witness to the this.

  One of the central events of the “Luther Days” was the round table discussion that took place with the participation of leaders of various religious confessions – a priest from the Armenian Apostolic Church, Narek Kushyan, the Bishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church Malkhaz Songulashvili, the Dean of the Roman Catholic University in Tbilisi Vazha Vardidze, Beka Mindiashvili – a representative of the Center of Tolerance, and Bishop Hans-Joachim Kiderlen. The Georgian Orthodox Church, unfortunately, did not accept the invitation that was extended to them. The whole discussion was led by Nino Lezhava, the director of the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Georgia. Two themes were repeated brought up during this long discussion - “Christian love” between Christian churches and “Christian responsibility” in society. Also ecumenism should be part of the lives of church members, of ordinary believers.

  This time the annual reception that the ELCG organizes for representatives of the state, society and religious organizations was held as part of the program of the “Luther Days.” Dean Kasparick read a paper on the theme “The 500th anniversary of the Reformation from the viewpoint of the Churches.” The evening's entertainment was provided by a choir directed by Nataly Chaganava. Unfortunately there weren't as many people in attendance – from the ECLG, from other churches, from government and non-government organizations - as the church had planned. Yet the organizers of the Luther Days remain convinced that their work is not in vain; it has is bearing and will continue to bear good fruit. 

Installation of Dietrich Brauer as Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia

Moscow
  St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral in Moscow had never held such an event before; perhaps it was the largest event of its kind in the post-Soviet history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia – the consecration of Dietrich Brauer as Archbishop of ELCR on February 8, 2015. There were bishops from foreign churches, representatives of international church organizations, local representatives of churches, of the government and of foreign diplomatic missions (Germany and America).
Image  After two years as the “acting” Archbishop, the title was made official at the General Assembly of the Russian church in September 2014. It was decided then that it would be good to plan the installation as a large meeting of partners and friends of the church, so time was left to invite people and put together plans. In the end the installation was presided at by the Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Estonia Urmas Viilma, who himself had just become Archbishop in Tallinn the week before. Assisting him were representatives of the LWF, the churches in Hungary, Slovakia, Finland, Austria, Latvia, Siberia and Kazakhstan. Ecumenical guests from the Orthodox, Catholic and protestant churches also were in attendance.
  In his sermon Archbishop Brauer spoke about what he sees as priorities – the strengthening of internal church unity and of the structures of the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. He sees the Lutheran church here playing  a positive role in Russian society, in the ecumenical sphere and in the international Lutheran family.

Church Building Burns

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
  The troubling news came on January 27th in the form of a letter sent by Alfred Eicholtz, Bishop of the ELCK. “This morning at around 11 in the morning there was a fire in the central congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bishkek. Preliminary investigations show that there was an electrical short in the roof. It is clear that no arson was involved. Unfortunately, fire fighters were not able to put out the blaze and almost the entire roof of all the buildings was burnt. The attic was destroyed and everything in the sanctuary (with the exception of a few benches) was rendered unusable. The same goes for the church's office equipment – most of it is now unusable. We are thankful to God that no one was a victim of the fire. At the time in the building there were two young members of our staff, but they were able to escape without harm. That evening we met with the congregation for prayer. There was much silence and many tears. We ask for your prayer support!”