Missionary movement finds receptive audience in Ukraine (04/20/03)

Missionary movement finds receptive audience in Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - At Sunday church services of the Embassy of the Kingdom of God in Kyiv, held in a transformed indoor running track on the left bank of Kyiv, the faithful clap and sing the praises of Jesus Christ. Behind the pastor, who stands on a large stage, singers dressed in flowing robes sway to the musical rhythms and lead the crowd in prayer. At times, some in the audience fall into a frenzied dance, while others begin speaking in unknown tongues.

Meanwhile, in a church building on the other side of the Dnipro River, Ukrainian Presbyterians gather for prayer services in a borrowed building. The meeting is dignified, calm and sedate, and is followed by a bible study class. The church attendees tend to be the elderly and the indigent.

These are two sides of a multi-faceted missionary movement that has achieved huge successes in Ukraine and has brought to this country several non-denominational and U.S.-based religions not previously known here, among them strong evangelical and a charismatic movements.

Since the fall of the USSR and the Communist Party's official atheistic stance a decade ago, the country has experienced a religious resurgence among all its confessions, along with a significant church building boom. The buildings, while not always full, are seldom empty.

While Ukraine's Christian faithful continue to support its traditional Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, they are losing momentum if not membership to less conventional Protestant and U.S.-based religious denominations.

A study by the Religious Information Service of Ukraine showed that about 50 percent of Ukrainians claim membership in one of the three Orthodox Churches that exist in Ukraine today and about 6 percent to 8 percent say they belong to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, with fewer than 2 percent claiming Roman Catholic Church affiliation. The study stated that there were probably no more than 700,000 to 800,000 Protestant believers in Ukraine.

However, another survey, this one conducted by the Association for Spiritual Renewal in Moscow, disputed the figures for the number of Protestant believers and noted a 33 percent increase in membership and a doubling in median attendance in what they termed "Evangelical Christian-Baptist Churches."

In Ukraine, these Churches consist of the traditional Protestant religious confessions, such as the Baptists, who have been in Ukraine since the mid-19th century; the Lutherans, who have been here since at least the 16th century; and the Seventh Day Adventists who appeared in the 1880s. But they also include an influx of missionary movements from Africa and the United States, bearing witness to the particular beliefs of the Presbyterian Church, the Church of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses and other religions further on the fringe, including home-grown religious sects such as the White Brotherhood, which achieved notoriety in Kyiv in 1992-1993.

Charismatics come to Ukraine

Perhaps the most striking feature of the popularity of non-denominational religious affiliations, which de-emphasize formality and traditions in favor of very specific attitudes toward Christ and worship, is the explosion of the charismatic religions, such as the Pentecostals, who believe in communion with God through hypnotic trances and speaking in tongues.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of God has become among the most popular of the Pentecostal Churches. Its founder, Pastor Sunday Adelaja, a 36-year-old Nigerian from a religious Christian family who studied journalism in Miensk, Belarus, came to Kyiv after the Soviet Union fell. In 1993 he began a bible-reading group.

Once the group expanded to 47 individuals, it decided to register with government authorities as a religious confession. Today Pastor Sunday, who speaks Russian and English, but not Ukrainian, claims that his Church has more than a million believers scattered across Ukraine in more than 200 communities. In Kyiv alone he claims more than 20 churches and 20,000 members. He said he also has Ukrainian congregations in the United States in the cities of Minneapolis, Sacramento and Miami, as well as churches in Russia, Canada, Holland and Dubai.

The religious leader, who is driven around in an expensive German-made automobile, but has relatively modestly furnished offices but with all the accouterments of a well-run organization, said his work is successful because he is filling a spiritual and social need.

"We try to present the Bible in a way that is understandable to people," explained Pastor Sunday. "We preach in a way so that people can relate to God in their everyday lives."

He claimed that is his advantage over the Orthodox Church, which he said made Jesus Christ incomprehensible to a contemporary society.

Pastor Sunday said that many of his flock are former alcoholics, prostitutes and drug abusers, whose lives changed after they joined his Church. He said that he simply tells people to listen to his sermons, pray and attend services, and their lives will get better.

"I tell people if in the next six months you do not see positive changes in your lives don't come anymore because this Church is not for you," explained Pastor Sunday.

He also explained that while alcohol and tobacco are not forbidden in the Church, their use is discouraged.

The Church does more than mend people's souls. It funds a rehabilitation center for detoxification and counseling for alcoholics and drug addicts, and a center for women and homeless children. There is also a soup kitchen that feeds 1,500 to 2,000 people daily.

The programs are supported by a policy of tithing, which while not strictly required, is strongly encouraged. About 35 percent of the members of the Church tithe the full 10 percent of their annual income, as requested.

"We say that if you give to God, God will not leave you unrewarded," explained Pastor Sunday.

Presbyterians doing God's work

The Presbyterian flock of the Holy Trinity Church of Kyiv on the other side of town has a more toned-down approach to its spiritual work. One of its organizers is Al Moore, a visiting pastor from McLean, Va., who has been "visiting" in Ukraine since January 1995 and who said he had no plans to leave until "God takes us to a different place or somebody says we have to go."

He said that about 500 people attend the Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church each Sunday, which he said has "traditional Presbyterian-Anglican services." Mr. Moore said Ukrainians join the Presbyterian congregation to fill a vacuum in their lives.

"For 70 years they were told there was no God," explained the longtime missionary. "Many of them tell me that even so they had long felt God within them. They have told me that certain things happened to them or they were somehow protected, which made them believe that indeed there had to be a God."

A graduate of Moody Bible Academy in Chicago, who has been a missionary since 1977, Mr. Moore works with Ambassadors for Christ International, a non-denominational ministry. He is currently on loan to Music Mission Kiev, founded by Roger McMurran, who is also director of the Kyiv Symphonic Orchestra and Choir.

Mr. Moore, who has done missionary work in the South Pacific islands and the Caribbean, said that in Kyiv he ministers to about 400 indigents, elderly pensioners and World War II veterans. He receives information about their situation from Music Mission Kiev, which sponsors a food distribution center frequented by the needy.

Mr. Moore visits them at home to determine what other unfulfilled needs they have, including reading glasses or medical attention, and provides what he can. During his visits he also offers them a Bible and broaches the subject of spiritual needs and "finding God through Jesus Christ." He encourages them to take part in correspondence courses on the Bible and to attend church services at the Holy Trinity Church.

Mr. Moore acknowledged that to receive food from the Music Mission Kiev soup kitchen, the people are required to accept at least one visit from him. He underscored, however, that no one is forced to join the Church.

"We are committed to helping them whether or not they allow Jesus to take them," explained Mr. Moore. "Most people are at least open to listening and have a desire to grow."

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