The Church on a Sheet of Paper

Kvareli, Georgia

From April 20th to 22nd in the congregation in Kvareli a seminar was led by Seminary President Dr. Anton Tikhomirov from the St. Petersburg and the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Georgia Markus Schok.

The themes of the seminar were the life and theology of Martin Luther as well as our Church. It is worth noting that this was the first time that the congregation in Kvareli has had such a collection of guests. Church staff, pastors, and youth sat next to one another with an equal level of interest and engagement and this made for a lively, creative atmosphere.

The theme of the first day was the Church and our understandings of it. Bishop Schock suggested that each of the participants draw on a piece of paper how they see our church and what they would like our church to become. After this it became clear that we can “build” a Church to which people will come with joy. After all we were exceptionally unified in our vision of what the church should be - the drawings had at the center the cross, a heart filled with faith and love, the Bible, children and adults holding hands....

The theme of the second day was the life and theology of Martin Luther. Anton Tikhomirov spoke about the Medieval context of the Reformation, the daily life and religious experience that affected Luther. We saw how the Reformation developed in stages and how it became the basis for the teachings of both Lutheranism and many other Protestant denominations. Everyone took part in conversations; the youth, too, were active and tried to grow in knowledge. That means that the youth love their church and want to actively participate in its life and to take on responsibilities for ministry. This is a great sign that our church has a future.

Shamil Somkhishvili