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Kiev Church Sees Financial Miracles
01 November 2006
Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, caught the imagination of the world two years ago with its so-called Orange Revolution.
People rose against the corruption of the ruling pro-communist regime.
Today, however, most of that passion has dissipated and people have grown apathetic about politics and the future of this city.
Hillsong Church, Kiev is remarkable enough for having grown to over 3500 active members in just a few years; but all the more remarkable because it is in a city which was a communist centre just a little over a decade ago.
As we reported recently, the church is reinventing the image of Christianity for generations that have never seen anything of Christianity apart perhaps from the more staid Orthodox Church approach.
Pastor Zhenya Kasevich reports that the church recently received a free-will offering of more than $160,000 USD. The target for this offering, which is to go toward the various community programmes of the church, was $100,000 USD.
The amount actually pledged and received more than doubles the offering collected last year.
Meanwhile, the recent Hillsong Conference, Kiev, attracted more than 2,000 daytime registered delegates and 2,500 each night. An album was recorded featuring Darlene Zschech and a music team made up of people from the Kiev, London and Sydney Hillsong congregations.
Mal Fletcher, director of Next Wave International, visited the church as a guest speaker again recently. He says: 'This church really shows that God loves to do things when people say they can't be done!'
'To receive an offering of this size in any church is great. But to do it in a city like Kiev -- in a church largely made up of young people -- is a breakthrough.'
'It shows what Christians can do when their hearts are really into a vision.'
'I've seen first hand some of the things Zhenya and his team are doing with this money and I can tell you, they're making a difference in people's lives.'
For more on Hillsong Church Kiev, visit www.hillsong.com.ua.
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