Church Closing in Belarus

(Forum 18) – The authorities are close to obtaining sufficient grounds under Belarusian law, but against international law, to close down the charismatic New Life Church in Minsk , Forum 18 News Service has been told. An official warning against using a cowshed the 600-strong church owns for services was given to the church two days after the authorities fined the church administrator, Vasily Yurevich, about 150 times the monthly minimum wage for organizing an “illegal” service at the cowshed. “We think they’re trying to rush things through,” Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko told Forum 18. Following a second warning, the authorities could, under Belarusian law, move to close down the church. The church has been refused permission both to rent alternative premises and to convert the cowshed into a church. Forum 18 knows of two other charismatic Full Gospel Association congregations, which have also been refused the re-registration the 2002 Belarusian religion law required religious organizations to apply for.