wfn.org | Looking for Lutheran congregations in Siberia

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Thirty addresses found after only a few days

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia/GENEVA, 20 August 1998 (lwi) - In the course
of his search for surviving Lutheran congregations in the Altai
region in Central Siberia, Propst Rudolf Blumcke has come up with
about 30 new addresses. According to the latest issue of the church
newspaper for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other
States (ELCROS), Blumcke has already discovered numerous extant
Lutheran congregations. Now it remains to be seen whether there is
still a congregation at each of the newly found addresses.

Blumcke wants especially to guarantee pastoral care for these
congregations. Most of them do not have a permanent gathering place. In
particular, Blumcke remembers an encounter with Lutherans in Slavgorod.
During a service with them, an old woman, filled with joy, prayed aloud,
"Lord, thank you for letting the brethren find us."

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