Hillsong Church Kiev
| Hillsong Church Kiev | |
|---|---|
| Country | Ukraine |
| Denomination | Assemblies of God |
| Website | hillsong |
| History | |
| Founded | October 1992 |
| Clergy | |
| Senior pastor(s) | Brian and Bobbie Houston |
| Pastor(s) | Yuriy Ravnushkin |
Hillsong Church Kiev (formerly Kiev Christian Life Centre) is the Kiev-based offshoot of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia.
In September 1992, an outreach began in the October Palace in Kiev with team members from Hills Christian Life Centre (now known as Hillsong Church). Australian worship leader David Evans, US pastor Mike Berry and former Hillsong youth pastor Darko Culjak as a part of Hillsong's Nation Builders mission outreach officially began the church in a 700-seat movie theatre in downtown Kiev. But none of this would have been possible without the assistance of Pat Robertson's CBN and their television ministry into the former Soviet Union under Steve Webber. Through their assistance hundreds of young people committed their lives to Christ. Out of these initial outreaches Darko Culjak became the senior minister and established the church (then called "Kiev Christian Life Centre") officially on October 4, 1992. Darko Culjak lead the church, raised up a ministry team from among the new converts and oversaw the new church until Kiev's locally educated leaders could take over the work and come under the guidance and governance of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. On June 1, 1997, Darko turned the church over to a Ukrainian couple - Yevgeny (Zhenya) and Vera Kasevich, who had been with the church since the day it was planted and have thus become the new pastors of the church. After their appointment, Pastor Darko left and spent some rest time in the USA until he returned to Australia to pastor the Newcastle City Church.
As of 2007, the church holds 6 to 7 services each weekend (the number changes from season to season) with a combined attendance of around 3000. Pastors Zhenya and Vera have since gained an international recognition and are being invited to speak at various churches and Christian conferences around the globe. In February, 2014, Zhenya and Vera resigned, and Yuriy and Tetiana Ravnushkin were appointed as the new Lead Pastors of Hillsong Kiev.
Hillsong Kiev tries to align its ministries structure with that of the mother church in Sydney. There are three-part courses for new believers, named "Discovery". The church reflects the belief that small "connect groups" are essential for the fellowship spirit within the church, especially as it gets larger. Connect groups and sometimes special services are held for people of various ages and with various interests, such as youth, or "people over 40", or those who like fishing or computers. Hillsong Kiev is characterized by a high level of involvement of its members in serving at the church and is believed by observers to have the best level of the organization of ministry among all Protestant churches in Europe.
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