The worship service was led by Bishop Emeritus Arri Kugappi and the Congregation’s Senior Pastor Vladimir Nikiforov. During the dedication ceremony, they were joined by ELCIR Siberian Dean Rev. Melanen, Pastor Dyshenov, Deacon Urmayev, church member Fadeyev, and Senior Pastor Timur Pamyatnykh of the Lutheran church in Novosibirsk. Many thanks to Theological Institute faculty member and secretary Dina Korepanova for her musical ministry on that day as the church’s cantors were away attending a training!

 

This year marks 15 years since the congregation was legally registered in February 2008. The new church building is the best gift for the congregation. Many guests and friends shared in the joy and the blessed celebration! The worship service was followed by greetings and speeches extended and made by ministers of the Roman Catholic Church, Blagosloveniye Pentecostal Church, and the Chinese Evangelical Congregation. A young church member performed a J. S. Bach piece on a piano and church member Erdyneyeva lauded God in a poem in the Buryat language. The church choir sang a hymn in Russian and Buryat.

 

After taking a group picture, everyone enjoyed informal fellowship at a meal together. The guests included senior pastors from the ELCIR Lutheran congregations in Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, and Minusinsk.

 

Thanks be to God for the well-lit and large space where Grace of Christ Lutherans can praise our Lord, hear the preaching of God’s Word and receive Sacrament at a consecrated altar!

 

The Divine Service is celebrated at 11:00 Sundays at 25 Botanicheskaya Street, Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, Russian Federation. Come to rejoice in the deeds of God’s grace!

 

Photo credits: Vladimir Glavatskikh, Rev. Leif Camp