LCC Missionary to Ukraine installed in Nikolaev

The congregation in Dn gathers to welcome Rev. Navrotskyy (far right in clerical collar).

UKRAINE – Approximately 60 people gathered for the installation of Lutheran Church–Canada’s (LCC) missionary to Ukraine, Rev. Oleksiy Navrotskyy, as pastor in Nikolaev on August 21.

“I am excited to minister to this congregation, and to serve the surrounding community with the Gospel,” Rev. Navrotskyy writes of his new call. “I pray the Lord will help us to build up a church zealous to share the Gospel within our church’s community.”

SELCU Bishop Urchenko installs Rev. Navrotskyy.

Bishop Alexander Urchenko of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine (SELCU) led the service, preaching on Exodus 3:4-17. Bishop Urchenko stressed the importance of understanding God’s vocation in our life—both in vocation of pastoral ministry, as well as in the vocations of elders and laypeople. He called the congregation to gather around their new pastor, to support him, and to enter into their shared vocation of the Church within the world—to proclaim the Gospel to the surrounding community of Nikolaev.

The service ended with greetings from SELCU Bishop Emeritus Viktor Graefenstein, other SELCU pastors, and Lutheran Church–Canada.

“Brothers and sisters, we encourage you to run the race of faith with perseverance, humility, and joy, knowing that the Lord of the Church has called you by His name through your holy Baptism,” wrote Rev. Dr. Leonardo Neitzel, LCC’s Executive for Missions and Social Ministry in a letter to the church. “The Lord Jesus has many people in Nikolaev and region that are still in darkness and sin, lonely people, dispersed, marginalized, who need His hand of grace and mercy extended to them, to bring and receive them into the fold of Jesus Christ. This is the reason He has established you as His family of faith in this place.”

Rev. Navrotskyy is now transitioning back into regular service in Ukraine. He and his family spent the past two years in Canada, as he pursued a Master of Divinity degree through Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Edmonton. Prior to that, he had served as LCC’s missionary in Dnepropetrovski for several years, after studying for the pastoral ministry through LCC’s Concordia Seminary in Odessa, Ukraine.

It is hoped that Rev. Navrotskyy’s seminary studies in Canada will be of assistance to the Ukrainian church both to the churches in Nikolaev as well as at the nearby seminary in Odessa.

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