Evangelical Lutheran Parish of
St Gertrude - Russia
As summarized by Bob Craypoe
The Evangelical Lutheran Parish of St. Gertrude was established
in 1723, the same year as the city in which it resides. The city
is called Ekaterinburg and is the only city that was founded by
Lutherans, in Orthodox Russia. After a tough communist era, the
church was reestablished in 1989 by people with Lutheran
backgrounds; those who had kept their faith through the many
horrible years of communist repressions. The memory of those
that suffered for their faith is carefully kept to this day.
After the communist upheaval in 1917, the Church was
closed and the Lutheran pastors, as well as many
followers of the Lutheran faith, were either killed or
sent to concentration camps. Shortly thereafter, the
Church building itself was destroyed and a block of
apartments was erected in its place. In 1989, the
descendants of those Lutherans who were fortunate enough
to survive the communist period, gathered together and
restored the Church. Later, a memorial tablet was
erected on the building to commemorate the Lutheran
Church in Yekaterinburg.
The St. Gertrude Parish not only
gathers together to praise and worship Jesus Christ but
also follows his words, as he had commanded when he
said: “Just as the Father sent me forth, so I send you”
and “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe everything that I have commanded you.”
The first
mission project of the parish was the Prison Ministry,
which was started in the year 2000.The Prison Ministry travels 100 miles
from
their home city of Ekaterinburg to the
women’s prison located in the city of Nigniy Tagil. The
prison has a Children’s House for the children that were
born there. The ministry tries to persuade mothers not
to leave the children in orphanages after they are
released. The prison administration had faced this
problem for a long time and tried to solve the problem
themselves, with very little success. To the right
is a photo of what is seen when looking out the window
at the women's prison.
So now they go the prison almost every month and have a
Bible study with mothers. They tell them about Christ’s
love, about his great sacrifice on Golgotha and about
what a blessing their children truly are. After they
started the ministry, several mothers took their
children with them when they were released. The love and
the word of Jesus Christ totally changed their hearts
and their lives. Inspired by these results, they
continue their work of helping these mothers; not only
spiritually, but they also provide them with medicine,
utilities, medical equipment and different appliances
for their babies.
Unfortunately, because of very poor financing,
the Children's House is in need of many things. There
are currently130 children from newborn to 3 years old.
Seven of them are AIDS/HIV infected. Below are some
photos of the children in the children's house.
Another place where St. Gertrude’s Parish works to
improve upon the lives of others is an orphanage for
children they had found begging in the streets. This was
actually an opportunity they had prayed for. As they
would put it: “We knocked in the Name of Jesus Christ
and our Lord graciously opened another door for us!”
Almost every week they go there and tell the children
about Jesus, play with them, draw pictures and read
Bible stories. In fact, when they read Bible stories to
these Children, they feel they become the blessed
witnesses of the greatest wonder of all times – the
coming Kingdom of Heaven.
There are 69 children in this orphanage at the time of
this writing. They are
provided with shelter, clothing, basic medical care and
they attend a nearby school. Each child has his or her
own favorite Bible story and speak about them endlessly.
Just imagine them speaking about the Bible all together!
The parish follows the teachings of Jesus as outlined in
the Gospel of St. Matthew, where Jesus says: “Let the
little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for
the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such a these”.
To the right is a photo of children who were staying at
the orphanage.
I first learned of the Evangelical Lutheran Parrish of
St Gertrude after having met Pastor Roman A Heidemann
(pictured on the right), online. Roman was born in
Yekaterinburg in 1967, to a German family. Roman’s
father’s ancestors came to Russia in 1915 from Riga,
Latvia, where they lived before World War One. His
mother’s family came to Russia from the Polish/German
area, at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1985-87, Roman served in the Soviet Army, in a
construction unit that was called the "construction
battalion", or as they called it in colloquial Russian -
"Stroybat". This, coincidentally were the exact same
years I was serving in the American Army, stationed in
what was then West Germany.
After his military service, Roman returned home to a
completely different country; where there were tickets
for food and long lines in the shops, due to shortages.
In 1991 a
friend of Roman’s got him a Bible by mail from a
Christian organization, whose address he had heard on a
radio program. It was almost impossible to buy a Bible
anywhere in Russia at that time because the Bible was
cursed by communists. So, Roman got acquainted with the
Bible for the first time, at the age of 24. When he
started reading the Bible, he was continually astonished
to find that it was just the opposite of what he had
been taught!
After he began studying the Bible, he started to attend
St. Gertrude's Parish and eventually went on to become
one of the leaders of the congregation. He did all of
the paperwork, accounting and correspondence. He was
also responsible for contacts with state authorities. He
worked hard and worked for free. He devoted all of his
spare time working for the congregation and in his
doctrinal studies. For a long time the parish was
without a pastor, so he was called to be a preacher of
the parish, and in two years he got a call to be a
pastor. He has been a pastor of the parish since.
More
information about the parish, Roman and their work may
be found on their website. This page is basically a very
condensed summary of the content on the site. Below, I
have included the contact information and a link to
their website. Please consider giving to their cause.
They are doing great things for the kingdom of Christ.
Bob Craypoe
Contact Information for the Evangelical Lutheran
Parish of St Gertrude
To Send a Letter or a Parcel
The mail address for letters (except checks) and parcels is as follows:
Evangelical Lutheran Parish of St. Gertrude
App. 46, 123-B Kuibyshev Str.
620026, Ekaterinburg
Russian Federation
Telephone:
If you would like to call them from USA or Canada please dial:
Telephone/Fax (Office): 011-7-343-262-3386
Mobile telephone (Pastor): 011-7-902-262-0533
