Meeting of the General Consistory

St. Petersburg
In the last days of February the General Consistory (church council) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia (ELCR) met for the first time since the registration of the new constitution of the church in June of 2017.
Now all the members of the administration of the Church have the right to vote: Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, his deputy Vladimir Provorov, the Bishop of ELCUSFE Alexander Scheiermann, the President of the General Synod Andrey Dzhamgarov, his deputy Vladimir Vinogradov, the administrator of the Archbishop’s office, Maria Khudenko, Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov, the head of the ELCER administration, Viktor Weber, and the administrator of ELCUSFE, Tatyana Muramtseva.
On February 27 a working group met to discuss the church’s bylaws. The previous edition of these rules dates back to 1999 and needs to be updated. The Archbishop, the head of the administrations of ELCER and ELCUSFE, and the Seminary President were part of that group; they were joined by Bishop Scheiermann as well. They will need to meet twice more in order to finish the text and present it to the General Synod for approval. 
On February 28th the meeting of the General Consistory began; two guest from the LWFwere present - the director of the department of mission and development Rev. Dr. Fidon Mwombeki and the director of the European Department, Rev. Dr Ireneusz Lukas - and Dirk Stelter from the Evangelical Church in Germany. 

In the second half of the day the guests went with Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov to Novosaratovka, where a seminar for extension students was taking place. 
Members of the General Consistory came to the following decision about the LWF: it is important to come to another way of approaching membership insofar as membership as a whole Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches no longer meets the expectations of the participating churches. 
By Easter 2018 Bradn Buerkle, head of the “Equipping for Service” educational project, will prepare the full text of a new liturgical book with the goal of preparing a printed version of the text by the General Synod in 2019. 
As with every meeting of the General Consistory reports were given by the Churches, by the Theological Seminary and the “Equipping…”  project. The auditors’ commision report was also given. Decisions were made aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the Church’s ministries.
The next meeting of the  General Consistory will be in October-November 2018. 

LWF President Visits the Church in Kazakhstan

Astana
  Bishop Munib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation, visited the church in Kazakhstan on June 11-12.  He shared his impressions through a LWF press release:
  “This was my first visit to Kazakhstan as LWF president. I learned a lot about the joys and challenges of the Kazakhstan Lutheran church. I explained our work together with the member churches: caring for refugees, advocacy for climate justice, women’s empowerment, theological reflections, ecumenical relations and inter-religious dialogue and so on,” Younan said.
  “Being in the communion means we are in pulpit and altar fellowship,” Younan said. “This means when I visit your Church I am at home with my sisters and brothers in Christ as we celebrate the Holy Communion that sends us together to the world with a call to holistic mission.”
  The conversations helped clarify the LWF’s role in the relationship with its member churches. “It was important to emphasize that the LWF as a communion of churches respects the autonomy of each church and that we accompany the churches upon invitation.”
  However, being churches in communion “also means that we are accountable to each other,” Younan remarked.

  Geographical isolation
The ELCRK’s core membership is made up of 2500 people in 50 congregations scattered across the country. The distance between congregations can be up to 3000 kilometers. The president saw his visit as an opportunity to learn firsthand the challenges of being geographically isolated.
Image  “I certainly felt how being far and in such a big country, and in another language context, can be a hindrance. I came to understand the difficulty of even gathering pastors to a national church meeting,” said Younan, who is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
  Education and formation of pastors are key priorities of the ELCRK. The LWF president also heard the church’s excitement over plans to build a new church in Astana that will include a community center, youth services and guest house, and about its good relations with the government.
  Spirituality
But it was the church’s spirituality and deep piety that most struck the LWF president. “You have a certain spirituality in Kazakhstan; and I invite you to come to the table with your spirituality. It is an added value,” he said, referring to conversations with the pastors, and his church attendance.
“I suggested that they should be more involved in the life of the communion, including the Global Young Reformers’ Network, the women’s networks and other aspects of LWF,” he said. “This for me was a pastoral visit, and I let them know how important they are as part of the Lutheran communion.”
  Countering extremism
  Younan was in Astana also to participate in the international Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. At the gathering, he challenged the religious and political leaders to enhance their own engagement in fighting extremism and in peace building efforts.
  “Extremists exist in all religions. None has a monopoly on extremism. How do our speeches in the churches, mosques, temples reflect living together and co-existence? That is a challenge for us right now,” he noted.
  Younan emphasized his call to faith groups to examine the curricula they teach and offer their countries by asking: “Do we promote extremism or acceptance of the other that is different? Do we promote the concept of seeing the image of God in the other?”

Church-wide Assembly - “I am with you always, until the End of the Age”

Novosaratovka, Russia

  The Fourth Church-wide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia was held September 17-19, 2014 in Novosaratovka.

  Two highlights of the event were the visit to the gathering of Lutheran World Federation General Secretary Martin Junge and the election of Dietrich Brauer as the new Archbishop of the ELC.

  Dietrich Borisovich Brauer was born on January 3, 1983, in Vladivostok. He studied at the ELC TheologicalSeminary in Novosaratovka from 2001-2005; from 2005- to 2010 he served as a pastor in the Gusyev (Gumbinnen) region of the Kaliningrad deanery. In March of 2010 he was named as the Visitation Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia; in September of 2012 the Church-wide Assembly (“General Synod”) named him the acting Archbishop of the ELCR. He is married and has two children.

  During his report on his work as Acting Archbishop, Bishop Brauer especially emphasized the strengthening of ties with the Russian Orthodox Church on an official level and with the federal government administration; these developments impact the whole church since so much in Russia depends on the position of government officials. In addition Bishop Brauer outlined his vision for our Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia – a church that is is unified, open, free and dynamic, synodical, multicultural and open to dialog; a merciful church that loves the sinner.

At the end of the assembly Bishop Brauer was blessed for ministry, though his official installation was scheduled to take place later in Moscow in early 2015.

  The General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Martin Junge, (who also visited the Governor of St. Petersburg and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ingria on this, his first trip to Russia) read a paper on the mission of the church based on the verses chosen for the synod's theme – Mt 28.19-20. It acted as a good stimulus for conversation. Delegates asked questions about whether or not they should go and preach the Gospel to people whom they don't know, or if they should start with their own family. They wondered about the relative importance of having a church building and about the right way to reach various social groups. At the end of the discussion it was decided that a working group would be formed that would look at these and similar questions.

  The synod set aside time to discuss the state of education in the church. The President of the Theological Seminary, Anton Tikhomirov, talked about the state of affairs at the seminary. At present a program of distance education is being implemented; there are more than 60 students studying over the course of 3 semesters. Also approximately once or twice a year the seminary hosts continuing education courses. Pastor Bradn Buerkle, former teacher at the seminary, presented the “Equipping for Service” project to synod delegates. This project, launched not long ago, is focused on bringing opportunities for high-quality seminars to people “on the ground” in various regions of the Russian church. Bradn was blessed for this ministry at the closing of the synod.

  The synod was attended by foreign guests from the the Germany consulate, LWF, EKG, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony, the Martin Luther Union, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland, and a para-church organization for Russian Germans in Germany.