By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MINSK/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) - One of the largest Pentecostal congregations in autocratically-ruled Belarus has appealed against plans by authorities to “liquidate” the church after already destroying its building.
The New Life Pentecostal Church in Minsk, the capital, has appealed a lower court ruling forcing it to end all activities, Worthy News learned Monday.
It was not immediately clear when the country's Supreme Court would decide.
However, if it upholds last month’s ruling, any activity conducted by Christians linked to New Life could lead to prosecution and imprisonment, experts said.
The court case comes just months after New Life’s church building in Minsk was reduced to rubble after it was destroyed with a bulldozer, according to footage seen by Worthy News.
The June 20 destruction of the building was reportedly ordered by a construction company owned by the Minsk City Executive Committee.
New Life’s Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko called the demolition an example of “flagrant lawlessness” in a video recorded while the building was being torn down.
‘GOD SEES SUFFERING’
However, he added, “God sees everything, and he sees today our suffering, grief, and pain. He sees likewise today the mockery of wicked people. He sees their blasphemy.”
The Pentecostal church, which started in 1992 and has about 1,500 members, has been under increasing pressure from the authorities over the years, according to Christians familiar with the situation.
In 2002, New Life purchased a former cowshed in the Frunze District on the western edge of Minsk and converted it into a modern structure, Worthy News reported earlier.
The church repeatedly tried to change the building’s legal designation into a religious building but was unsuccessful.
In February 2021, the church was forcibly evicted from the building by police and bailiffs, recalled Pastor Goncharenko. “We had just one day to remove our property before the eviction, and we were not allowed to take many things that belonged to the church and could be used in another building.”
Christians say the eviction may have been motivated by a video the church posted online protesting alleged election fraud following the disputed presidential elections in 2020 when thousands were detained.
Belarus has been ruled with an iron fist since 1994 by President Alexander Lukashenko. Opposition figures and others deemed dangerous to his rule, including devoted Christians, are subjected to harsh penalties.
SEVERAL SANCTIONS IMPOSED
The United States, Canada, the European Union, and Britain have imposed sanctions against Belarus due to perceived political oppression. Further sanctions were imposed last year following the country's role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, the international pressure hasn’t changed the situation of the New Life Pentecostal Church, which has been forced to meet at a parking lot after being removed from its premises.
On September 1, last year, New Life sent a letter to the Minsk City Executive Committee requesting permission for outdoor worship: “We are not law-breakers; we are the best citizens of this country. We would like to have equal rights with other confessions and officials’ respect, as well as support for exercising our rights to freedom of religion and conducting worship meetings,” they wrote.
They also asked back the church’s seized place of worship, but in response, the authorities banned church gatherings, records showed.
After the church went ahead with its Sunday service in the church car park on September 18, 2022, Pastor Goncharenko was summoned to the police station the following day.
He was then detained and fined two months’ average wages for participating in the outdoor service, Christians said.
A week later, police interrupted an outdoor worship service, reportedly threatening to detain anyone who did not leave.
URGING MORE PRAYERS
Since then, the New Life Pentecostal Church has been meeting online and “borrowing the building of God’s Grace Church in Minsk for in-person meetings,” Christians said.
Yet New Life Pastor Goncharenko fears his congregation will be forced underground: “No one will sell us a religious building, and religious communities are not allowed to have regular religious meetings in a non-religious building.”
He has told his church members: “Dear Friends, brothers and sisters, I wish you patience, faith, love… I love you; we will keep moving forward together, and let’s be patient and see what God has prepared for all of us.”
The Voice Of the Martyrs Canada advocacy group, which supports the church, told Worthy News that it hopes that “God will give wisdom to Pastor Goncharenko and the other leaders of this persevering church community as they determine the best approach for the continuance of their ministry activities in the days to come.”
It urged its supporters to “pray that the Supreme Court will make a favorable decision concerning the [continuation of their] church organization.”
Yet, “Whatever the outcome, may the Gospel message continue to spread exponentially throughout this Eastern European nation, leading many more spiritually seeking souls to faith in Christ.”