GRADUATES OF THE DIAKONIA SCHOOL

Eight ULC communicant members became graduates of the Diakonia School that was conducted in the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Kyiv. They are: Anatoliy Dmytrenko, Serhiy Berezin, Dmytro Prokopchuk, Emilia Zinchenko, Anzhela Horpynchuk, Hanna Kuchma, Svitlana Leschenko and Victoria Sukhotska. They received special Certificates from the Ukrainian Lutheran Theological Seminary of Saint Sophia and in the near future they will receive special tasks to "wait on tables" (Acts 6:2) in order to serve the needy and assist their pastors in other ways.

NEW COMMUNICANT MEMBERS IN THE RESURRECTION LUTHERAN CHURCH

With Christmas celebrations on January 7 (since Ukrainian Lutheran Church follows Julian Calendar as most churches in Ukraine do), 3 more men were invited to become communicant members of the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Kyiv: Dmytro Bobrynets, Oleksiy Boiko and Hryhoriy Samoilenko.  After Catechism studies, examinations  and public confession of their Lutheran faith, they were welcome into our fellowship. According to a long-standing tradition each of them was presented with a copy of the Ukrainian translation of the Book of Concord ( published by the LHF), a Luther's seal pin, and a white rose, symbol of Christ's righteousness.

A NICE GIFT FOR A NEW YEAR

A nice New Year gift was received by Lutheran theology followers and good and qualitative Christian literature readers.  The Lutheran Heritage Foundation has published the next volume of the People's Bible series in Ukrainian: Galatians/Ephesians. The book is written by Rev. Professor Armin Panning who is well-known to Ukrainian readers by his commentaries on the Epistle to Romans. The book can be ordered at local Lutheran congregations in Ukraine or by writing to my e-mail address: vhorpynchuk@hotmail.com. Have a happy and blessed New Year and pleasant, edifying reading!

UKRAINIAN LUTHERAN CHURCH CONVENTION

Ocotber 21 and 22, 2009. The 18th, annual Sobor (Convention) of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church took place in Kremenets. Key points of the Sobor included a wonderful essay of Pastor Serhiy Kudryk "I Believe in the Communion of Saints". Pastor Kudryk who serves Ukrainian Lutheran Church in Cerhnihiv has researched what it means to confess those words from the Apostle's Creed today. After many years of studies and negotiations the Sobor has incorporated into the ULC two Lutheran congregations from Belarus (Minsk and Zhodino) on their request. Pastor Badrusev is ministering those congregations. He has also translated the Book of Concord into Belarusian.
At the Sobor Liturgy, a Saint Sophia Seminary graduate, Dmytro Didkivskiy, has been ordained to the Holy Ministry in Malyn, Zhytomyr Oblast. Special words of thanks were given by the Sobor to Pastor Neil Schroeder from WELS for his active part in building the ULC and charitable work among our nation. Three pastors were congratulated on 10th anniversary of ordination and pastoral ministry: Rev. Taras Kokovskiy (Head of the Galician Eparchy); Rev. Yuriy Fizer (Pastor of the Nativity Lutheran Church in Kiev) and Rev. Andriy Honcharuk (Pastor of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Kam'yanets-Podiliskiy).