Svetlogorsk/Kaliningrad
At the end of the summer the Kaliningrad deanery became a place filled with lively activity - meetings, prayers, and theological discussions. From the 28th to 31st of August a seminar for women theologians of ELCER was held in Svetlogorsk (Raushene) on the Baltic Sea coast. The first such meeting took place in 2010 in Erfurt, then in 2011 in Samara and 2012 in Kazan. The leader of the seminar was the pastor of the Emmaus congregation at the German consulate in Moscow, Kristina Schnepel. Participants came from Moscow, Samara, Tolyatti, Kazan, Baku, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad to discuss the meaning of the Reformation breakthrough for pastoral care in a congregational setting; in addition, they also took place in events throughout the deanery. For the first time two new women pastors took part – Sofia Tikhomirova and Svetlana Yanchurkina, ordained not long before this meeting, on August 24th.
The coordinator of diaconal ministry in the ELCER, Elena Kurmyshova, also came to this meeting in preparation for her soon-to-be-completed internship in Samara and soon-to-begin service in the Gusev congregation and in the Karl Blume Home for the Elderly. The committee of the Kaliningrad deanery approved her candidacy and at the end of the seminar, on August 31st, she visited Gusev in order to get acquainted with her new place of ministry. On the 30th of August the women theologians took part in the deanery-wide meeting. Pastor Thomas Figel, who at the time was acting as Area Dean, warmly welcomed the women theologians. The President of the ELCER executive committee, Olga Temirbulatova, led morning prayer. In her reflections she reminded participants that we are to serve in that place that God has planted us, just as we sometimes find wild carnations among weeds and thorns. After the deanery meeting a seminar for lectors was held. “Lectors” are congregational members in rural and small congregations without a pastor; they have been given the responsibility to lead worship and read sermons prepared by pastors. This seminar for the preparation of lectors was prepared by the Dean of the Central Deanery, Elena Bondarenko and Pastor Thomas Passauer.
This seminar was very important and the women who participated are especially thankful to Gustav Adolf Work for help in running in the seminar and for giving theologians from Siberia to Azerbaijan to Kaliningrad and Chernyakhovsk the possibility to gather on the Baltic Sea.
At the end of the summer the Kaliningrad deanery became a place filled with lively activity - meetings, prayers, and theological discussions. From the 28th to 31st of August a seminar for women theologians of ELCER was held in Svetlogorsk (Raushene) on the Baltic Sea coast. The first such meeting took place in 2010 in Erfurt, then in 2011 in Samara and 2012 in Kazan. The leader of the seminar was the pastor of the Emmaus congregation at the German consulate in Moscow, Kristina Schnepel. Participants came from Moscow, Samara, Tolyatti, Kazan, Baku, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad to discuss the meaning of the Reformation breakthrough for pastoral care in a congregational setting; in addition, they also took place in events throughout the deanery. For the first time two new women pastors took part – Sofia Tikhomirova and Svetlana Yanchurkina, ordained not long before this meeting, on August 24th.
The coordinator of diaconal ministry in the ELCER, Elena Kurmyshova, also came to this meeting in preparation for her soon-to-be-completed internship in Samara and soon-to-begin service in the Gusev congregation and in the Karl Blume Home for the Elderly. The committee of the Kaliningrad deanery approved her candidacy and at the end of the seminar, on August 31st, she visited Gusev in order to get acquainted with her new place of ministry. On the 30th of August the women theologians took part in the deanery-wide meeting. Pastor Thomas Figel, who at the time was acting as Area Dean, warmly welcomed the women theologians. The President of the ELCER executive committee, Olga Temirbulatova, led morning prayer. In her reflections she reminded participants that we are to serve in that place that God has planted us, just as we sometimes find wild carnations among weeds and thorns. After the deanery meeting a seminar for lectors was held. “Lectors” are congregational members in rural and small congregations without a pastor; they have been given the responsibility to lead worship and read sermons prepared by pastors. This seminar for the preparation of lectors was prepared by the Dean of the Central Deanery, Elena Bondarenko and Pastor Thomas Passauer.
This seminar was very important and the women who participated are especially thankful to Gustav Adolf Work for help in running in the seminar and for giving theologians from Siberia to Azerbaijan to Kaliningrad and Chernyakhovsk the possibility to gather on the Baltic Sea.
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