World Day of Prayer in Congregations of the Union of Evangelical Lutheran Church

Pictures from around our church of celebrations of World Day of Prayer in March.

Astana (Kazakhstan)

Berdyansk (Ukraine)

Komsomolsk-on-Amur (Russia)

Moscow (Russia)

Odessa (Ukraine)

Perm (Russia)

Prishib (Russia)

Samara (Russia)

Tomsk (Russia)

Ufa (Russia)

Vladivostok (Russia)

World Day of Prayer 2015

  The World Day of Prayer has become an important part of the calendar of church events in the Lutheran church here. On the first Friday in March women in many congregations of the CIS and Europe prepare a special worship service focused on one particular country. In 2014 that country was Egypt and in 2015 it was the Bahamas. It is wonderful to learn about and pray for a country that we, perhaps, have never and will never see; we learn to sympathize with other Christians in their struggles while not forgetting about the need to pray for our own countries. For that reason this year many of our congregations prayed particularly fervently for peace between Russia and Ukraine. At the same time the worship service was filled with the colors and music and (in some cases) food of the Bahamas while focused on the theme - “Do you understand what I have done for you?” (John 13.12).

Baku

Chernogorsk

Ephpatoria

Kaliningrad

Kharkov

Kiev

Lviv

Odessa

Omsk

Samara

Simferopol

St. Petersburg

Tbilisi

Vinnitsa

Vladivostok

World Day of Prayer With Children

St. Petersburg
  Irina Loseva, the youth leader at Petrikirche, writes: “Many of us love to travel. For some of us it is tied with work; for others it is simply a matter of pleasure. We travel together with colleagues, with friends, with children's groups, with the elderly, with families. Since the fall of the 'Iron Curtain' travel abroad has become a typical part of life.
  There is another way to get acquainted with various countries; this works well with children in the church – the World Day of Prayer (WDP). I heard about the idea of holding WDP especially for children the fall of 2012 when I was in Germany for an internship as a part of the “Kirche mit Kindern” program of the Rheinland Union. A pastor from Essen, Michael Banken, told me that for a few years they had been using WDP to help children learn more about countries and their residents through getting acquainted with the lives of Christians in those countries.
  WDP for children and for “big kids” is held at the beginning of March at a children's, family, or regular service of the congregation. On the WDP site you can find many things to download – illustrations, Bible texts, songs, recipes, etc. recommended for WDP with children and teens.
  And so, inspired by this example and equipped with this knowledge, a few members of the German Evangelical Lutheran congregation of St. Anna and St. Peter in St. Petersburg decided to try to initiate a new tradition by bringing various generations together on March 2.  Together we created an order of service, chose Biblical texts and made skits, songs, crafts and games for children.
  While WDP has been held for many years in our congregation, this was the first year in which we involved children, and it was a success. Many thanks to all who took part in its preparation, and we look forward to doing it again next year.”