Tbilisi, Georgia
Vladimir Vinogradov writes: “We are very far apart, geographically speaking. But all the same we are tied together by faith and many years of friendship (three of us studied together at the Theological Seminary in Novosaratovka.) It is so important for us to support this fellowship, to remain close and to work up a plan of cooperation. Youth coordinators from around the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (formerly ELCROS) met in the Georgian capital from the 13th to the 16th of November. The Church of Reconciliation opened wide its doors for us. Represented were the coordinators from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia – Vladimir Vinogradov (ELCUSFE) and Vera Tkach (ELCER), as well as Nikolai Vorobyev (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kyrgyzstan), Igor Shemigon (German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine), and David Dzhandieri, Irina Soley and Irina Mamisashvili (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Georgia). A special guest at the gather was the leader of the “Evangelical Youth in Germany” movement, Dirk Thesenvitz. One of the main questions we asked at the meeting was whether or not to form an “Evangelical Youth” movement uniting young believers regardless of their country of residence. Our brother Dirk, who has done youth work in the Evangelical Church in Germany for many years, shared his experience with a similar initiative. Everyone liked the idea, and we began to discuss such practical questions as creating a logo, structure and formulating the general principles of the movement. In discussion it became clear that the yearly “Youth Sunday” liturgy does a lot to unite young people from various regions. We agreed to continue the good start that was made at this meeting using the draft documents that Vladimir Vinogradov prepared. We also touched on the need to modernize confirmation lessons for children and youth; because we don't have enough modern confirmation books and other materials, it was decided to make a new translation of some of the older, though successful programs. We also remembered the important theme of education for youth leaders and the necessity of holding seminars and conferences for them. It was noted that the International Bible School in Ukraine is still open as before for youth leaders both in “on-site” and “on-/off- site” programs. One of the most important questions was the best way to use the Internet; concretely, how to find the best content for the children's www.nebesite.ru site and the “youth and children's work” section on www.elkras.ru. The coordinators made a calendar for renewing materials and came up with a “to do” list in order to most effectively use these common, virtual resources.
Since the members of this group are far away from one another and don't have the chance to meet often, they agreed to meet for a monthly on-line conference which will certainly become a good instrument for the further coordination of events and for deciding current issues. Of course it is important that these annual face-to-face meetings continue into the future. The next meeting is scheduled for November 2015, in agreement with the council of Bishops, in Bishkek. Finally we discussed the status and leadership of the Committee of Youth Coordinators; it was agreed that Vladimir Vinogradov would continue in this position until the 2017 Reformation anniversary celebrations.
The work of the coordinators was arranged in such a way that it was possible for them to spend time with the youth of the host congregation. Vladimir Vinogradov led a seminar called “Youth Ministry” for the youth group of the Georgian Lutheran Church. Young Christians not only received useful materials about the types and means of youth worship services, but also helped them to actually lead such a service on Sunday evening in the Church of Reconciliation; Igor Shemigon and Vladimir Vinogradov preached, while the local youth themselves took on all the other tasks. Despite initial doubts about their own abilities, the youth did a great job. Afterwards they received the recommendation to hold a youth service in the congregation once a month. Perhaps that will provide an answer to the question that frequently came up in our days of meetings – how might it be possible to draw non-Christians to the Lutheran church? All the coordinators suggested their own answers to this question; it was particularly interesting to hear the experience of Nikolai Vorobyev, who is serving in a Muslim country. It was a blessing for the coordinators to have the chance to participate in Sunday worship. Pastor Vladimir Vinogradov gave a word of greetings there; Igor Shemigon preached, and Pastor Nikolai Vorobyev and coordinator Vera Tkach were readers. The coordinators expressed their thankfulness to Pastor Irinia Soley and everyone else in the local congregation for their hospitality and for making our time in Tbilisi an unforgettable blessing. Thanks were also expressed to the head of the Youth Coordinators' Committee, Vladimir Vinogradov for his hard work, optimism, and organization of the meeting and to Vera Tkach for her help in translating, for playing piano and taking pictures.
This meeting showed once again that when we are together we can accomplish a lot!”
Vladimir Vinogradov writes: “We are very far apart, geographically speaking. But all the same we are tied together by faith and many years of friendship (three of us studied together at the Theological Seminary in Novosaratovka.) It is so important for us to support this fellowship, to remain close and to work up a plan of cooperation. Youth coordinators from around the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (formerly ELCROS) met in the Georgian capital from the 13th to the 16th of November. The Church of Reconciliation opened wide its doors for us. Represented were the coordinators from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia – Vladimir Vinogradov (ELCUSFE) and Vera Tkach (ELCER), as well as Nikolai Vorobyev (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kyrgyzstan), Igor Shemigon (German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine), and David Dzhandieri, Irina Soley and Irina Mamisashvili (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Georgia). A special guest at the gather was the leader of the “Evangelical Youth in Germany” movement, Dirk Thesenvitz. One of the main questions we asked at the meeting was whether or not to form an “Evangelical Youth” movement uniting young believers regardless of their country of residence. Our brother Dirk, who has done youth work in the Evangelical Church in Germany for many years, shared his experience with a similar initiative. Everyone liked the idea, and we began to discuss such practical questions as creating a logo, structure and formulating the general principles of the movement. In discussion it became clear that the yearly “Youth Sunday” liturgy does a lot to unite young people from various regions. We agreed to continue the good start that was made at this meeting using the draft documents that Vladimir Vinogradov prepared. We also touched on the need to modernize confirmation lessons for children and youth; because we don't have enough modern confirmation books and other materials, it was decided to make a new translation of some of the older, though successful programs. We also remembered the important theme of education for youth leaders and the necessity of holding seminars and conferences for them. It was noted that the International Bible School in Ukraine is still open as before for youth leaders both in “on-site” and “on-/off- site” programs. One of the most important questions was the best way to use the Internet; concretely, how to find the best content for the children's www.nebesite.ru site and the “youth and children's work” section on www.elkras.ru. The coordinators made a calendar for renewing materials and came up with a “to do” list in order to most effectively use these common, virtual resources.
Since the members of this group are far away from one another and don't have the chance to meet often, they agreed to meet for a monthly on-line conference which will certainly become a good instrument for the further coordination of events and for deciding current issues. Of course it is important that these annual face-to-face meetings continue into the future. The next meeting is scheduled for November 2015, in agreement with the council of Bishops, in Bishkek. Finally we discussed the status and leadership of the Committee of Youth Coordinators; it was agreed that Vladimir Vinogradov would continue in this position until the 2017 Reformation anniversary celebrations.
The work of the coordinators was arranged in such a way that it was possible for them to spend time with the youth of the host congregation. Vladimir Vinogradov led a seminar called “Youth Ministry” for the youth group of the Georgian Lutheran Church. Young Christians not only received useful materials about the types and means of youth worship services, but also helped them to actually lead such a service on Sunday evening in the Church of Reconciliation; Igor Shemigon and Vladimir Vinogradov preached, while the local youth themselves took on all the other tasks. Despite initial doubts about their own abilities, the youth did a great job. Afterwards they received the recommendation to hold a youth service in the congregation once a month. Perhaps that will provide an answer to the question that frequently came up in our days of meetings – how might it be possible to draw non-Christians to the Lutheran church? All the coordinators suggested their own answers to this question; it was particularly interesting to hear the experience of Nikolai Vorobyev, who is serving in a Muslim country. It was a blessing for the coordinators to have the chance to participate in Sunday worship. Pastor Vladimir Vinogradov gave a word of greetings there; Igor Shemigon preached, and Pastor Nikolai Vorobyev and coordinator Vera Tkach were readers. The coordinators expressed their thankfulness to Pastor Irinia Soley and everyone else in the local congregation for their hospitality and for making our time in Tbilisi an unforgettable blessing. Thanks were also expressed to the head of the Youth Coordinators' Committee, Vladimir Vinogradov for his hard work, optimism, and organization of the meeting and to Vera Tkach for her help in translating, for playing piano and taking pictures.
This meeting showed once again that when we are together we can accomplish a lot!”
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