Representatives of the Metropolitan District attended a synod meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kazakhstan.

On August 9, 2024, in Astana, a synod meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kazakhstan (ELC RK) took place at the main Lutheran spiritual, cultural, and administrative center—the Church of Christ the Savior.

Representatives of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were invited to the event. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, the synod meeting was attended by Bishop Benjamin of Talgar, Vicar of the Astana Diocese, and Archimandrite Sergius (Karamyshev), Dean of the capital's parishes.

Among those present at the meeting were Yeraly Nukenov, Chairman of the Committee for Religious Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Archbishop Tomasz Bernard Peta, Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Astana; and representatives of Lutheran communities from Kazakhstan, Russia, and other CIS countries.

The members of the synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kazakhstan gathered to address pressing issues related to their life and activities, including the election of a new spiritual leader for the Lutherans residing in Kazakhstan.

Bishop Benjamin read a greeting address from the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, which included the following remarks:

Since 2005, the Lutherans in Kazakhstan have been led by Archbishop Yuri Timofeevich Novgorodov—a man distinguished by extraordinary diligence, a talented organizer, and a prominent preacher of the Gospel truths. He has successfully established friendly relations with Orthodox and Catholic hierarchs and has worked extensively and actively to strengthen inter-Christian and interfaith cooperation.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Archbishop Yuri, there has been a steady strengthening and development of Lutheran communities in Kazakhstan. May God grant that all the good and beneficial things achieved during the two decades of his leadership be preserved and multiplied.

The concern for spiritual and moral perfection, grounded in the Gospel and characteristic of traditional Christian denominations, allows for the unification of efforts aimed at overcoming the many diverse social problems facing society.

We are called to bear witness to our understanding of the family, based on Christian moral values, mutual marital fidelity in a single marriage, the beauty of large families with devoted motherhood, and sacrificial fatherhood. In this regard, it is essential to strive to influence public initiatives in defense of the dignity of the human person in its biblical understanding.
I would like to express hope that Christian interdenominational cooperation will continue and expand. Regular meetings at various levels will allow us to strengthen our collaboration in education and enlightenment, help us coordinate joint statements in the public sphere, and develop a unified position before the state and society on pressing spiritual and moral issues.

Archimandrite Sergius (Karamyshev) read out the decree of Metropolitan Alexander awarding Archbishop Yuri Timofeevich Novgorodov with a high honor of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan—the "Beibitshilik pen Kelisim" (Peace and Harmony) order. The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kazakhstan (ELC RK) received this special ecclesiastical recognition for his significant contribution to establishing interfaith peace and interethnic harmony.

By decision of the synod, Pastor Rostislav Novgorodov was elected as the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kazakhstan (ELC RK). Since January 23, 2024, Pastor Rostislav has been serving as the deputy to the Archbishop.

Protestantism in Kazakhstan has a long history. The first Lutherans appeared in the territory of Kazakhstan among the residents of military settlements composed of Germans after the region's annexation to Russia. The number of settlers from the European part of Russia increased in the 1880s. It was during this time that the first Lutheran communities were formed. There were significant influxes of followers of this denomination during the Stolypin reforms, Stalinist repressions, and the forced deportations of the 1930s and 1940s. Among the settlers were more than 360,000 Volga Germans.
In 1936-1937, the Lutheran Church in Kazakhstan suffered a devastating blow. Prayer houses were closed, all property was confiscated, and clergy were repressed. Of the two thousand ministers of the Lutheran Church in the USSR, only three survived. In 1955, a Lutheran church community was established in Akmolinsk by one of the three surviving pastors, Pastor Bachman. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lutheran communities operated in nearly all cities and most settlements where the German population resided.
The urban Lutheran communities once numbered several thousand members, but the mass emigration of Germans in the 1990s sharply reduced both the number of members and the number of communities. Until 1993, these communities were part of a unified Lutheran Church across the post-Soviet space. However, Kazakhstan's independence spurred the registration of the autonomous "Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan." Since 2005, the Lutheran community in Kazakhstan had been led by Yuri Timofeevich Novgorodov, who was proclaimed Archbishop in 2017.