Dean Manfred Brockmann writes:
It had been a relatively long time since Dean Brockmann had visited the St. Luke’s Congregation. What a pleasant surprise awaited him when he made a visit at the beginning of January 2015. In the previous year and a half year the congregation has developed and consolidated nicely; a cross and sign made it very clear that their building is a church, and the rooms in the interior of the house have been made quite beautiful - the sanctuary with its altar, organ and icon; the fireplace and the office for the pastor; the kitchen, the meeting room with a library, the guest rooms and also all the faithful members and staff.
St. Luke’s is very active ecumenically, especially in relationship to the Roman Catholic Church. We visited the Catholic congregation in Arsenyev and had a very lively and fraternal discussion with their Pastor John. Pastor John even joined Pastor Lapochenko for a joint ecumenical service at St. Luke’s.
All of this is the result of Pastor Lapochenko’s continual work as well as the work of organist Svetlana Filotovitch and the ever-faithful Tamara Jershova, the heart and soul of the congregation's building. There has also been additional hard work by all of the members of the congregation, especially the very proficient Valentin Yavorskiy and Zhenya Slinchenko. We cannot forget that all of this is possible thanks to the financial help from their partner congregation Trinity Lutheran Church, Great Bend Kansas, led by their dedicated pastor, Jim Strasen, who invited Pastor Lapochenko and Zhenya Slinchenko to visit the Central States Synod from June 6th to June 25th, 2013.
Despite the progress made in remodeling of the church building and cost-saving measures such as installing insulated doors and windows, there are still some major structural problems with the building. St. Luke’s is built on swampy ground, so they are going to have to solve the problem with ground water or else the foundation will be damaged. The chimney for the fireplace needs to be repaired and the ceiling in the entryway needs to be completed. Some money has been raised for this, but they need more. We are confident that it will be done thanks to help from our friends and partners and to the work of dedicated members of the congregation.
With thanks to all and wishes for God’s blessings!”
It had been a relatively long time since Dean Brockmann had visited the St. Luke’s Congregation. What a pleasant surprise awaited him when he made a visit at the beginning of January 2015. In the previous year and a half year the congregation has developed and consolidated nicely; a cross and sign made it very clear that their building is a church, and the rooms in the interior of the house have been made quite beautiful - the sanctuary with its altar, organ and icon; the fireplace and the office for the pastor; the kitchen, the meeting room with a library, the guest rooms and also all the faithful members and staff.
St. Luke’s is very active ecumenically, especially in relationship to the Roman Catholic Church. We visited the Catholic congregation in Arsenyev and had a very lively and fraternal discussion with their Pastor John. Pastor John even joined Pastor Lapochenko for a joint ecumenical service at St. Luke’s.
All of this is the result of Pastor Lapochenko’s continual work as well as the work of organist Svetlana Filotovitch and the ever-faithful Tamara Jershova, the heart and soul of the congregation's building. There has also been additional hard work by all of the members of the congregation, especially the very proficient Valentin Yavorskiy and Zhenya Slinchenko. We cannot forget that all of this is possible thanks to the financial help from their partner congregation Trinity Lutheran Church, Great Bend Kansas, led by their dedicated pastor, Jim Strasen, who invited Pastor Lapochenko and Zhenya Slinchenko to visit the Central States Synod from June 6th to June 25th, 2013.
Despite the progress made in remodeling of the church building and cost-saving measures such as installing insulated doors and windows, there are still some major structural problems with the building. St. Luke’s is built on swampy ground, so they are going to have to solve the problem with ground water or else the foundation will be damaged. The chimney for the fireplace needs to be repaired and the ceiling in the entryway needs to be completed. Some money has been raised for this, but they need more. We are confident that it will be done thanks to help from our friends and partners and to the work of dedicated members of the congregation.
With thanks to all and wishes for God’s blessings!”
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