Synod Assembly of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine

Dnepropetrovsk

September 8-10 in St. Catherine's Church the synod assembly of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine.

Pastor Igor Taranenko and Bishop Sergei Mashevsky led the opening worship; the guest preacher was Pastor Gennday Khonin (Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan).Another guest, the administrator of the Archbishop of the ELC (in Russia) Marina Khudenko, read greetings from the head of the Council of the Bishops of the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches Bishop Yuri Novgorodov and Archbishop Dietrich Brauer.

The synod confirmed the makeup of the acting Presidium, which has changed in the last year. The members of the presidium of the GELCU at present are: President of the Synod Konstantine Burlov-Vasiliev (Kiev), preacher Alla Wolfe (Lozovaya), Pastor Alexei Chizhov (Odessa), Ljubov Galimova  (Dnepropetrovsk) and added to the members of the group pastor Vladislav Tsekhanovich (Shostka).

For the first time representatives from congregations in Crimea did not take part in the the synod. According to the 3 way agreement between GELCU, ELC - European Russia and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and also in according with documents adopted in April 2015 at the Bishops' Council of the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Church, GELCU Bishop Sergei Mashevsky proclaimed that the Lutheran congregations in Crimea are no longer a part of the GELCU. At the same time he emphasized their voluntary decision to re-register in the Russian Federation.

The leadership of the Church confirmed the list of congregations that belong to the GELCU. 21 congregations received membership papers in the GELCU, while in the future it will have to be determined whether or not the congregations in Novogradovka, Donetsk and Zmeevka will be considered members of the church. 

In the past few months a difficult situation has developed in the Ukrainian church: conflict with the founders of the "Kirchenbau" company (founded to support the upkeep of the GELCU church compound); the end of the long-time partnership with the ELC Bavaria, a lack of financing, including for the wages for pastors for a couple of months. Synod Presidnet Konstanine Burlov-Vasilev spoke about all this in his report. The task of the church today is regain church property and to form an effective and transparent system of administration. At the same time, according to Bishop Sergei Mashevsky, these problems have been a blessing for the church. In some ways they have encouraged an "awakening" of congregations, an independent search for means of financing their ministries and the work of the GELCU office. 

  But it would be wrong to say that the assembly spoke only about problems. Ljubov Galimova spoke about diaconal work in her report - now in the GELCU there is a unit for diaconal and humanitarian work. The foundation of this structure began at a seminar in Odessa in December of 2014 with the cooperation of the "Interdiac" international academy. The coordinator of youth ministry Igor Shemigon spoke about the "Confirma" camp; the church council president in Berdyansk, Arthur Kozhevnikov, informed the synod about the registration of the church building there. Bishop Sergei Mashevsky emphasized in his report the importance of the education of staff of the church. The GELCU plans to hold continuing education course 6 times in a year. Also this year 20 congregation members from various congregations of the Ukrainian church applied for entrance into the distance education program of the Theological Seminary in Novosaratovka.

Synod delegates listened with thankfulness to the report of Elena Dyakova, the editor of the church-wide "Der Bote" magazine, about all the press resources that unite the whole Union of Churches: the magazine, the website, and the "Lutheran News" bulletins.

The synod worked upon and approved a new liturgy for use in GELCU congregations. Having a unified liturgical practice in all congregations is one of the tasks of the church. Small groups of delegates discussed the identity of the church and strategies for its development. Pastor Vladislav Tsekhanovich gave a theological report on the theme of the appearance and development of various church offices, foremost, the office of the bishop, and also on the preservation of church traditions.

The assembly closed with a worship service with Holy Communion. For the first time in many years the synod met somewhere else other than Odessa. This experience allowed synod delegates to become acquainted with the life of various congregations. In the future, if possible, the synod will also be held in various regions of the church.