Kazakhstan: We are Only a Few In Kokshetau, But Over 66 Million Worldwide LWF General Secretary Noko Visits Lutheran Congregations in Kazakhstan
KOKSHETAU, Kazakhstan/GENEVA, 22 December 2006 (LWI) * "You are but a small congregation but you have brothers and sisters all around the world." Those were the words of the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, during a visit in mid-September to a small chapel in Kokshetau, some 400 kilometers north of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Noko suggested the following reply to those who may ask how many people were members of the Lutheran congregation: "In the congregation we are only a few, but within our Lutheran family we are over 66 million in 78 countries!"
The LWF general secretary was in the region for the Second Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on 12 and 13 September in Astana. As a follow-up to the congress, he was invited by Bishop Yuri Novgorodov of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan (ELCRK) to visit ELCRK congregations in Astana, Kokshetau, Letovochnoye, and Kamyshenka. Noko was accompanied on his visits by Bishop Novgorodov, Rev. Gennadiy Konin of Almaty, Rev. Hans-Wilhelm Kasch, who is responsible for ecumenical affairs at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg, and Bishop Callon W. Holloway of the Southern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as Dutch journalist Praxedis Bouwman, and Regina Karasch, public relations officer of the LWF German National Committee.
Discussions with ELCRK parishioners revolved largely around finance and education. Noko was, moreover, impressed with the congregations' great diaconal commitment. The Kokshetau congregation, for example, regularly serves around 25 people in its soup kitchen. The kitchen mostly serves adults who lost their jobs when their farming collectives (kolkhozy) were disbanded or due to other regional economic problems, old people whose pensions, equivalent to around EUR 50, do not provide them with enough to survive, and children whose parents who are too poor to provide them with regular hot meals.
Lena, 8, and Masha, 6, are two of those children, both of whom have unemployed parents and younger brothers and sisters. They come to the soup kitchen every day because "it tastes so good and there is nothing at home," the girls said nearly in unison. Meals in the parish soup kitchen are often the only meals available each day. This is true especially in the wintertime, when the temperatures of the steppes fall below minus 40 degrees, short-term employment grows even scarcer than usual, and the families begin to use up the last of their scant reserves.
Provost Ewald Krassowski, whose great personal commitment is the driving force behind the diaconal work of the ELCRK, brings along an empty bag whenever he visits parishioners' homes, "so that the people can give me potatoes, vegetables, or whatever they can do without for the soup kitchen!" This collection adds to the equivalent of around EUR 1,000 each year in produce, while the partner church in Mecklenburg provides further financial support. In total, three quarters of the ELCRK budget is financed through support from Mecklenburg. Representatives from the two churches meet to discuss and set budgetary priorities.
"We have encouraged the pastors to get involved in diaconal work," Rev. Kasch explained. "When the economy broke down in the early 1990s, it was urgent that we find alternatives to the state system." The Kazakh economy has now begun a slow recovery anchored in the ample natural gas and petroleum reserves. People in rural areas have, however, yet to benefit much from this trend, in contrast to Astana, which was made the country's capital in 1997, and which has virtually been one immense construction site ever since.
Education was another focus of discussion in Kazakhstan. Following the great emigration wave of the past 15 years, the ELCRK is now composed of only 46 parishes and parish groups. The number of registered members has stabilized at around 1,060. Around three times as many, however, attend the church's worship services. The church currently has 12 pastors and 44 lay preachers on its roster. Its theology students attend the seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) in St. Petersburg, Russia. The church seminary in Astana primarily trains lay preachers and Sunday school teachers.
The ELCRK is an independent regional ELCROS church. (This article is based on information provided by Praxedis Bouwman of the Netherlands, and by Regina Karasch, public relations officer of the LWF German National Committee.)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
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