Christ in the Center

Ufa
 A good tradition of hosting theological seminars has been established in the Lutheran church in Ufa. At the end of last year there was such a seminar with participants from Bashirk State Pedagogical University, and recently a week-long seminar on the theme “Christ in the center” was held in the diaconal center of the Ufa kirche. It ran from February 20 to 24 with participants from congregations in Ufa, Sterlitamak, Orenburg, Sol-Iletsk, and the village of Prishib. Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov spoke about justification, the theology of the Word in Lutheran theology, and the theology of the Cross. Igor Zhuravlev spoke about prayer and an overview of the Gospels of Mark and John. Bradn Buerkle spoke about the synoptic Gospels, diaconal service and Christian ethics. There was a lot of dialog and discussion in these themes, including exercises and watching the films “Winter Light” and “Silence” together.
It seems that during such events the idea of the Reformation that Martin Luther led 500 years ago are brought to life - Christianity as a system of faith becomes no longer the prerogative of the clergy but belongs truly to the people. Through studying together the Word of God becomes clear and understandable to ordinary people and they begin to build all aspects of their life around it.
Sergei Rusakov

Meeting of Staff from the Omsk Region

Omsk
The annual meeting of staff of the Omsk region took place in the Christ Church Center in Omsk on February 10. Pastors, lay preachers, staff and specialized ministers came together to report on the past year, plan for the year ahead, and have fellowship with one another and with guests from Germany and the USA.
Those in attendance heard about various events in the areas of family ministry and women's ministry, and about the men's seminars that take place twice a year. The people responsible for youth and family ministries in the deanery gave presentations on the summer camp, children's evangelization ministry and the “Together with Mom” project that includes ministry with special-needs children.

Bishop Alexander Scheiermann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Urals, Siberia and Far East greeted those in attendance and passed on greetings from the other regions and congregations of the church; he spoke about his ministry and about the state of affairs in the Church. The main subject of the meeting was a lesson entitled “Inviting Congregations” led by retired ELCUSFE Bishop, Volker Sailer. He spoke about what a hospitable congregation looks like, about church workers and the qualities that they have that can draw people to church (or turn them off to it), about the different types of congregations and about how small and large congregations need different methods for ministry.
Viking Dietrich, regional representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Global Mission was a guest at the meeting; he was accompanied by Pastor Bradn Buerkle, who talked about the “Equipping for Service” educational project that he leads and the distance education program of the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary.

Cooperation with PCUSA

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has worked in Russia since shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union; their unique role throughout the years has been to cooperate with the ministry of the country's historic Christian denominations (which, speaking generally, does not include Presbyterians, but does include Orthodox, Baptists and Lutherans). Their efforts to show support across denominational lines has been an impressive witness of commitment to true Christian unity.

While PCUSA has been engaged mostly with Baptist and Orthodox churches, but they've supported the Lutheran church in significant ways, too. In particular, for many years they supported the teaching ministry of Dr. Joseph Kang at the Theological Seminary in Novosaratovka, and through their area representative, Ellen Smith, they've also occasionally worked out partner congregations between the U.S. and Russia.

It was with working toward this goal that Ellen Smith joined fellow American, Pastor Bradn Buerkle (who leads the off-site, “Equipping for Service” educational program for our church), on a trip to the Northern Caucasus deanery near the end of March. Area Dean Sergey Maramzin received the guests, whom he invited to visit congregations in the region and to take part in a deanery seminar about the anniversary of the Reformation. Pastor Buerkle prepared lesssons, while Dean Maramzin prepared the place; he has been working very hard to construct (much with his own hands) a small retreat center that could be used for deanery-wide events or simply for individuals looking for a place of spiritual restoration.

The building was filled with capacity, then, when twelve people from four different locations came for the day-long seminar; there they got a short refresher course in the basics of Lutheranism, met Ellen and heard about her church, and also checked out the new retreat center. A good impression was formed on all sides – clearly the retreat center is useful and comfortable, the lessons were helpful review and also provided new perspectives on a few questions, while the hope of developing a relationship between the region and a U.S. congregation seems realistic. After a long period of stagnation, it is clear that the Lord's Spirit is moving among the believers in the Northern Caucasus, and God has blessed the region with a commitment by the church to support its further development.

Ellen continued to contribute to our church life later in the month by helping to arrange a seminar in Moscow for those engage in diaconal ministry. Artis Petersons made the arrangments on the ELCER side, and the “Equipping for Service” program covered expenses.

Two teachers from PCUSA - women engaged in diaconal ministry in very different ways (one through the organization of lay ministers groups, the other as a sociologist) – shared their knowledge with the ecumenical, international, and intergenerational group that gathered for 3 full days of classes.

Both the teachers and the participants of the course came away feeling enriched, and in this way the seminar reflects all the ways we have interacted with PCUSA throughout the years. 

Mamy Rakotonitama Blessed as Lay Minister

Moscow

On November 6, 2016, in Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral Mamy Rakotonitama was blessed as Lay Minister of the Central Russian Deanery of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia. Archbishop Dietrich Brauer led the service and he was assisted by Dean Elena Bondarenko and Lay Minister Artis Petersons. After worship with the French-speaking congregation the Archbishop and the church council president shared special words of greeting. The youth sang a celebratory hymn and then invited everyone to a feast prepared by Fara Rakotoarievelo.

The 25th Synod Assembly of ELCUSFE Elects a New Bishop

Omsk

From October 14-16, 2016, the anniversary 25^th synod assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Urals, Siberia, and Far East took place in the Christ Church Center in Omsk.

Those assembled heard reports from all four deaneries of the church; then Archbishop Dietrich Brauer spoke about the situation in the church as a whole. An important theme of the synod was mission; delegates spoke about the opportunities and difficulties they see in this regard. Changes were made in the church bylaws concerning pastoral ministry and wages.

The main event of the assembly was the election of a new bishop for ELCUSFE - Alexander Scheiermann. He had served for many years as the Dean of the Samara deanery.

A special joy for all those present was the ordination of three pastors: Evgeny Maul (Azovo, Omsk oblast), Vitaly Moor (Tomsk) and Valery Smirnov (Chelyabinsk). Lay preachers were also blessed: Sergei Zaibert (Zvonarev Kut, Omsk oblast), Maksim Shekker (Tjumen), Vitaly Schmidt (Tomask), Anna Gurai (Kuragino, Krasnoyarsk krai), Vadim Ermolaev (Omsk), Tatyana Ivanova (Berezovka, Omsk oblast).

Visitation in the Northern Caucasus Deanery

  On May 29th Archbishop Dietrich Brauer completed a visitation to the congregations of the Northern Caucasus deanery. He had visited congregations in Krasnodar, Novorossisk, Dziginki, and representatives from other congregations of the deanery were present as well. 
  Archbishop Brauer took part in leading worship and answered the congregational members' many questions. Included in the discussion was the theme of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and future events in the deanery dedicated to celebrating that anniversary. 
  In Novorossisk the Archbishop met with representatives of the city government. The topic was the development of further cooperation and the participation of the congregation in the life of the city. During the visitation Dietrich Brauer also spoke with candidates for lay preachers in the deanery. 

Visit to Congregations in the Samara Deanery

Samara, Russia
  On April 15-17 Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia Dietrich Brauer made a trip to the congregations of the Samara Deanery. 
On Friday the 15th, Dietrich Brauer arrived at St. George congregation; he also had two important meetings that day, with the meeting of the Metropolitan Sergei of Samara and Syzran of the Russian Orthodox Church and with the administration of the governor of the Samara oblast. The question of the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation was discussed; the bishop of the  Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg    Dr. Frank Otfried July will make a visit during the upcoming year and an ecumenical conference will be held. 
  On Saturday April 16 Dietrich Brauer led worship in congregations int eh deanery – in the cities of Pokhvistnevo and Otradny, where he commissioned David Kreimer as lay minister. In the beginning of January 2016 the former leader of the congregation, Alexander Fridrichovich Mut, who was its council chairmen for more than 50 years, left this world. Thankfully he was able to raise up a successor, and now David Kreimer will lead the congregation. 

New Lay Preacher for the Congregation in Perm

Perm, Russia

  On May 15th in St. Mary's Church Archbishop Dietrich Brauer blessed Vladimir Schaefer as an authorized lay preacher. The 46 year old Schaefer is a member of the church council; at present e is studying in the distance education course of the Theological Seminar of the ELC in Novosaratovka.
  During this service there was another joyful event – Pastor David Rerich baptized Vladimir's youngest daughter, Maria. 
  The worship service was attended by representatives of the local government – the deputy chair of the Department of Domestic Politics of the Perm Krai, Vladimir Konev. In his own name in the name of the Governor he wished the Lutherans of the city a happy Pentecost

Lay Preacher Blessed in Moscow

Moscow
On February 7th ELC Archbishop Dietrich Brauer commisioned Artis Peterson as a lay minister.

32-year-old Artis  is a member of the Moscow congregation and a catechist of the Central Deanery. At present he is studying both at the Theological Seminary in Novosaratovka and at the St. Thomas Institute in Moscow. Artis has a degree in information engineering. He does public relations and tech support for the cathedral congregation in Moscow; one of his projects is recording videos of sermons which are then posted on the lutherancathedral.ru site.

Artis will mainly be serving in the congregation in Kostroma, but will also serve in other congregations of the Central Deanery - Moscow, Kolomna and Smolensk.