«New Life» is Fighting for its Land and Building :: Charter'97 :: News

The Minsk Executive Committee has deprived New Life Church of its land and the accompanying building according to the Resolution dated August 17, 2005. As it said in the Minsk Executive Committee.s decision, the Resolution was made due to the usage of the building not for it directed purpose. This became known August 29, 2005. The next step of the authorities will be purchasing the cow shed. The administrator of New Life Church, Vasiliy Yurevich commented that: «The church considers this decision to be illegal and will take this matter to court in the near future. We are going to fight for the land that God gave us».

The very same day, the administration of the church made the decision to hold services everyday and continue with a 24-hour prayer marathon for the solution to this situation. In the next few days, the entire church parish is determined to come to the Minsk Executive Committee building to see the mayor of the city, in which questions will be asked.

On September 6, 2005, at New Life Church, a press conference was held in which both the Bishop of the Full Gospel Union, Alexander Sakovich, and the administration of New Life Church met. The topic of discussion was .The Unlawfulness towards the Protestant Church.. The struggling of the relationships between both the governmental authorities and Protestant churches was discussed. At this press conference, Alexander Sakovich admitted: «The fight against Full Gospel Churches has been ongoing since 1999. There were problems with the purchased buildings in Baranovichi, Gomel, Mikashevichi, and other cities. I think that some of the officials have a goal that none of the churches of our union have their own buildings».

On September 10, 2005, at New Life Church, a conference amongst the churches of the Full Gospel Union was held. A film, briefing portraying the history of the church, .The Truth about New Life. was shown to the participants of the conference. Alexander Sakovich read the opened address which was made by the representatives of all of the Full Gospel Churches. In this address, the new amendments of the law were clearly pointed out. In the bill, .The Freedom of Consciousness and Religious Affiliations. made in 2002, brought various struggles between the denominations, giving preference only to the Orthodox denomination.

In this address, the believers demand that government not hinder with giving pieces of land for the purpose of building churches belonging to the Full Gospel Union of Belarus. The believers also demand that purpose of the buildings be changed, through a title, for all buildings belonging to the Full Gospel Union. The reregistering of New Life Church to the address: Kovaleva 72, the changing of the purpose of the building that currently belongs to the church, and granting the permission to conduct worship services within the structure are also in demand.