Bishkek
In early October I had the pleasure and the privilege of traveling to Bishkek in order to spend a week with brothers and sisters in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kyrgyzstan. While I had made a brief visit to the country almost 10 years earlier – when as a seminary teacher I visited an intern who was my student – this was my first real chance to get acquainted with church life in Kyrgyzstan today. While I admit that my impression is based on limited experience, it certainly seems to me that the Holy Spirit is working through the church's ministers in order to bring help and hope to people in physical and spiritual need.
While I have frequently encountered Lutheran churches which have highly educated ministers but relatively low energy for practical service, what I saw in Bishkek was close to the opposite. This church has a number of very dedicated men and women, some of whom are only beginning their path of deeper theological education. That said, they are not afraid to actually do the work of living the Christian life – sincerely praying, passionately studying the Scriptures, actively finding ways to meet the practical needs of their congregations and of wider society.
My task during this seminar was to focus on the theological underpinnings of our church life in the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. I explored foundational principles of the Lutheran movement; we began by looking through the lens of Luther's life and moved on into more in-depth discussions of those issues that participants found particularly relevant for their ministry. One area that we focused on was the question of a Lutheran approach to ethics. I noted that the idea that our motivation for doing good is a reaction to God's grace was not something new for them; on the other hand, many found that approaching ethics primarily from the point of view of meeting other's needs – as opposed to pure living through subordination to the commandments – to be rather unfamiliar. Among other things we spoke about Luther's understanding of Law and Gospel, what it means to be simultaneously saint and sinner and how Lutherans have both failed miserably and been faithful disciples when faced with such extremely challenging situations as the period of the Second World War.
During this seminar my colleague was Pastor Tatyana Wagner, whom I knew from my days as a teacher at the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary. After serving as a pastor in Russia, Tatyana continued her education in Germany, where she is currently serving. She was able to speak so that all the participants were able to understand, both in terms of language and in regards to her ability to apply the theology and practice of diaconia to the post-Soviet context. This, I believe, was incredibly helpful for the church as it seeks to apply theoretical and practical aspects of this work to Kyrgyz society. That said, the Church there faces challenges that exceed those in most other countries – the exodus of Russian speakers, the Muslim majority, and the restrictive religious laws might lead others to simply to “keep their heads down” and serve only their own, internal needs. Tatyana and I were continually impressed, however, with the variety of small-but-significant initiatives carried out by pastors and their congregations; we heard from them about their desire to share Christ's love with people, yet this is done without a “hidden agenda,” and their willingness to help does not depend on another's openness to our faith.
I am very thankful to those who helped support this seminar through their financial gifts. I believe that the chance given to the seminar's participants for intellectual stimulation, for encouragement, for fellowship and for listening to the ways the Spirit might be moving among them will be of benefit for the participants, will give additional motivation and order to their efforts to meet their neighbor's needs, and will bear good fruit for the church in the future.
Bradn Buerkle
While I have frequently encountered Lutheran churches which have highly educated ministers but relatively low energy for practical service, what I saw in Bishkek was close to the opposite. This church has a number of very dedicated men and women, some of whom are only beginning their path of deeper theological education. That said, they are not afraid to actually do the work of living the Christian life – sincerely praying, passionately studying the Scriptures, actively finding ways to meet the practical needs of their congregations and of wider society.
My task during this seminar was to focus on the theological underpinnings of our church life in the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. I explored foundational principles of the Lutheran movement; we began by looking through the lens of Luther's life and moved on into more in-depth discussions of those issues that participants found particularly relevant for their ministry. One area that we focused on was the question of a Lutheran approach to ethics. I noted that the idea that our motivation for doing good is a reaction to God's grace was not something new for them; on the other hand, many found that approaching ethics primarily from the point of view of meeting other's needs – as opposed to pure living through subordination to the commandments – to be rather unfamiliar. Among other things we spoke about Luther's understanding of Law and Gospel, what it means to be simultaneously saint and sinner and how Lutherans have both failed miserably and been faithful disciples when faced with such extremely challenging situations as the period of the Second World War.
During this seminar my colleague was Pastor Tatyana Wagner, whom I knew from my days as a teacher at the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary. After serving as a pastor in Russia, Tatyana continued her education in Germany, where she is currently serving. She was able to speak so that all the participants were able to understand, both in terms of language and in regards to her ability to apply the theology and practice of diaconia to the post-Soviet context. This, I believe, was incredibly helpful for the church as it seeks to apply theoretical and practical aspects of this work to Kyrgyz society. That said, the Church there faces challenges that exceed those in most other countries – the exodus of Russian speakers, the Muslim majority, and the restrictive religious laws might lead others to simply to “keep their heads down” and serve only their own, internal needs. Tatyana and I were continually impressed, however, with the variety of small-but-significant initiatives carried out by pastors and their congregations; we heard from them about their desire to share Christ's love with people, yet this is done without a “hidden agenda,” and their willingness to help does not depend on another's openness to our faith.
I am very thankful to those who helped support this seminar through their financial gifts. I believe that the chance given to the seminar's participants for intellectual stimulation, for encouragement, for fellowship and for listening to the ways the Spirit might be moving among them will be of benefit for the participants, will give additional motivation and order to their efforts to meet their neighbor's needs, and will bear good fruit for the church in the future.
Bradn Buerkle
No comments:
Post a Comment