Since 2003 the prayer house of the congregation in Astana has been located in a demolition zone. Constant changes in the economic situation means that the timing of this demolition is uncertain, but what is clear is that sooner or later the moment will come when the building will be torn down. In order not to end up without a home for the congregation they and the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan have decided not to wait the demolition notice, but to begin construction of a church.
The city set aside a lot for the construction in 2014. A building plan was made and submitted for inspection. In May 2015 the construction process began.
This is the first time Lutherans in Kazakhstan have had the opportunity to build an actually church building, rather than a prayer-house like construction. There will be two buildings on the church grounds - one will be the church itself, with a large and bright first half floor; there, according to plans, youth and diaconal ministries will be centered.
The other building will have 3 stories and will include: on the first floor - space for congregational work, Sunday school, the pastor's office and the library. On the 2nd floor - the Church administration, the archive and seminar rooms. On the 3rd floor there will be 8 2-person guest rooms will a small kitchen/dining room.
At present the ground floor of the church building is up, as are all three floors of the other building. The buildings are hooked up to electricity and work is being done on the plumbing.
The structures are being built with the help of offerings from citizens and organizations in Kazakhstan, and we are very thankful to those companies that have helped: the "Astana" engineering center for the plans, the general contractor KazGerStroy," and the following building companies: the BIGroup, Alyansstroyinvest, Bazis, HeidelbergCementCentralAsia, Gornoe Buro, Zhambylskaya Cement Production Compnay, Strokonstruktsiya, Knauf, Funke-Kazakhstan, Astana Su Arnasy, Baly Mining, Akmola-Feniks, Geotek, Akpan, Iskander, KSPSteel, Ulmusbesshoky, Brick Factory #1 "15 years of Kazakhstan," Kaztsink. We thank as well the city of Astana, the Committee of Religious Affairs of Kazakhstan, and the Administrator of Religious Affairs of Astana.
We thank as well all the congregations of our Church, our ciricle of friends in Mecklenburg. We thank personally Albert Rau, Sergey Emirova and many, many others.
Kazakhstan is a surprising country, where around your Christmas table the majority might be Kazakhs. And at Muslim holidays in Kazakh homes around the traditional Central Asian tablecloth you will see representatives from the whole former Soviet Union - Russians, Ukrainians, Germans.. That's how we live. It is our heritage - we learned from our ancestors how to get along with and value our neighbors.
And so they are helping us building our church, despite our differences in ethnicity and religion. And we are thankful to God and to our fellow countrymen.
Yuri Novgorodov, Bishop
The city set aside a lot for the construction in 2014. A building plan was made and submitted for inspection. In May 2015 the construction process began.
This is the first time Lutherans in Kazakhstan have had the opportunity to build an actually church building, rather than a prayer-house like construction. There will be two buildings on the church grounds - one will be the church itself, with a large and bright first half floor; there, according to plans, youth and diaconal ministries will be centered.
The other building will have 3 stories and will include: on the first floor - space for congregational work, Sunday school, the pastor's office and the library. On the 2nd floor - the Church administration, the archive and seminar rooms. On the 3rd floor there will be 8 2-person guest rooms will a small kitchen/dining room.
At present the ground floor of the church building is up, as are all three floors of the other building. The buildings are hooked up to electricity and work is being done on the plumbing.
The structures are being built with the help of offerings from citizens and organizations in Kazakhstan, and we are very thankful to those companies that have helped: the "Astana" engineering center for the plans, the general contractor KazGerStroy," and the following building companies: the BIGroup, Alyansstroyinvest, Bazis, HeidelbergCementCentralAsia, Gornoe Buro, Zhambylskaya Cement Production Compnay, Strokonstruktsiya, Knauf, Funke-Kazakhstan, Astana Su Arnasy, Baly Mining, Akmola-Feniks, Geotek, Akpan, Iskander, KSPSteel, Ulmusbesshoky, Brick Factory #1 "15 years of Kazakhstan," Kaztsink. We thank as well the city of Astana, the Committee of Religious Affairs of Kazakhstan, and the Administrator of Religious Affairs of Astana.
We thank as well all the congregations of our Church, our ciricle of friends in Mecklenburg. We thank personally Albert Rau, Sergey Emirova and many, many others.
Kazakhstan is a surprising country, where around your Christmas table the majority might be Kazakhs. And at Muslim holidays in Kazakh homes around the traditional Central Asian tablecloth you will see representatives from the whole former Soviet Union - Russians, Ukrainians, Germans.. That's how we live. It is our heritage - we learned from our ancestors how to get along with and value our neighbors.
And so they are helping us building our church, despite our differences in ethnicity and religion. And we are thankful to God and to our fellow countrymen.
Yuri Novgorodov, Bishop
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