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From the 17th to the 20th of October of this year, the annual joint conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession (ELCAC) and the Karelian Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC) was held in Moscow. These churches are bound in agreement and friendship by shared altars and are actually a confessional union of two centralized religious organizations.

Gathered at the conference were representatives of Russian Lutheran churches from the primary regions of the Russian Federation: from Kaliningrad in the West to Irkutsk in the East, from Karelia in the North to Krasnodar in the South. Also present were representatives from fellowships of foreign ELCAC churches.

The theme of the conference, “Unity in Diversity” , highlighted the urgent need of the church today to overcome dissension, especially in the face of external enemies: militant secularism and international terrorism.

The conference began with a report from the President of the ELCAC General Synod, Bishop Vladimir Pudova of the ELCAC Diocese in Kaliningrad.

The key note speech of the conference was a speech by Bishop Konstantin Andreev of the ELCAC entitled “Convergence: The Place of Russian Lutherans in the Modern Evangelical Movement.” In his speech he defined his vision for a church building for the Russian Union of Lutherans and marked its objectives and priorities.

Bishop Alexander Franz of the Church of the West Siberian ELCAC Diocese spoke on “The History of Lutheranism in Siberia and the Far East” and acquainted the participants with perspectives from the Convergence Lutheran Mission in the region.

The bishop of the Southern ELCAC Diocese, Anatoly Malakhov, together with Pastor Lev Dumachev, presented a model for the organization of Lutheran settlements and farming in their presentation “Social projects and the Revival of the Lutheran Tradition of Agriculture: Ribensdorf Farm.”

Bishop Igor Knyazev of the Northern ELCAC Diocese, together with Pastor Ivan Ponomarev presented the existing projects and activities of the ELCAC in Asia.

International activities were presented by the ELCAC International Diocese Bishop Paul Levushkan. The parishes of this diocese are located in different countries: Latvia, Sweden, Israel, the Philippines, Pakistan and other countries.

ELCAC Auxiliary Bishop Paul Begichev read a report on “Educational Projects”.

Special time was also dedicated to community development and the growth of the church.

The ELCAC and KELC are recognized today as members of the International Convergence Movement, uniting conservative Christian churches of different traditions around traditional Christian values.

The conference itself was attended by the Archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of Slovakia, His Eminence Augustine Bachinskii and senior pastor of the Finnish Community of Conservative Lutheran Churches, Ismo Valkoniemi.

Bishop Alexander Kuznetsov of the Karelian Evangelical Lutheran Church told the conference participants about the conservative mission of the Russian Lutherans in Finland.

Following the decision of the official Finnish Lutheran Church to bless and marry homosexual couples, many Finns left the church. Several communities now recognize as their bishop Alexander Kuznetsov.

Heads of major foreign conservative convergence churches joined the conference through teleconferencing. Speakers included Archbishop of the Orthodox Anglican Church, the Orthodox Metropolitan of the Anglican Church, Reverend Thomas Gordon; The Bishop of the European Diocese of the International Communion of Charismatic Episcopal Churches, Reverend Jose Elmer Belmont; General Secretary of the Bishops’ Council of the Evangelical Episcopal Church, His Eminence Archbishop David Scott.

This conference opened new discussion in Russian protestantism regarding convergence. Time was spent in corporate prayer for unity among Christians during the gathering of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians. Also, talks were held with the leaders of the union, Bishop Sergey Ryakhovskyi and Mats Ola Ishoel.

The delegation of convergent churches was led by the Archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of Slovakia, Avgustin Bachinskyi, ELCAC Bishop Konstantin Andreev, and KELC Bishop Alexander Kuznetsov.

Decisions were made to strengthen the cooperation between churches of different Christian traditions, and a plan was mapped out for overcoming divisions in the Body of Christ. The preaching of the gospel and Christian moral values were determined to be priorities for cooperation between churches.

During the conference, a consecration ritual was also performed, due to the growth of the church and the need for more ordained ministers.

During the forum, a meeting was held of the Russian Conference of Conservative Lutheran Bishops, formed in 2015, and Bishop Alexander Franz was elected its new Chairman.