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Belarus

The New
Reformation Movement

Those from among you shall build


The old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations
Of many generations;
And you shall be called
The repairer of the breach,
The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isaiah 58:12
The New Reformation Movement

Contents

The New Reformation Movement


Seminars and Sermons
Education
Cultural Projects
Journalism
Youth Ministry
Belarus

Academic Projects
Publishing
Plan 2005-2017
Contact us

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The New Reformation Movement

The New
Reformation
Movement The New Reformation Movement in
Belarus was founded in 2001.
The initial members included pastors and
activists from Baptist, Pentecostal and
Charismatic denominations.
Belarus

The purpose of the movement is:


- to form a Biblical worldview in the
Belarusian people;
- to create unity among the Evangelical
churches and denominations;
- to assist Belarusian Protestant churches in
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social and political activities.
The New Reformation Movement

Seminars and
sermons
Seminars and sermons on social activity and
the history of the Reformation have been
held since 2001. A sermon on the inf luence of
Biblical Christianity on society was heard by
20 000 Belarusian Christians.
The Anniversary of the Reformation in
Belarus in 2003 was also the impetus for
various lectures and speeches in universities,
Belarus

schools, convention halls, where non-believers


could hear about a Christian worldview.
The seminar
“The Golden Age of
Belarus”,
Pinsk, October 2001

The Biblical
transformation of
society conference,
Minsk, June 2005

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The New Reformation Movement

Seminars and
sermons
Since the beginning of 2002, the New
Reformation School has been held on a
regular basis. The school has helped to equip
the almost 1000 church ministers who have
passed through it.
January, 2005 was the start-up date for the
work of the Nehemiah Club. The main task
of this club is to help Christians in Belarus to
Belarus

become true patriots.

Nehemia Club
in excursion,
June 2005

Nehemia Club,
March 2006

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The New Reformation Movement

Education

Sermons and seminars on Christian education


have been held since 2001. As a result, in
Minsk there are a few Christian groups in
public kindergarten. In 2005, the Church
of Jesus Christ (Minsk) opened the doors to
Belarus’ first Christian kindergarten.
The idea of home-schooling has become more
popular and families are beginning to teach
Belarus

their children at home.

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The New Reformation Movement

Cultural Projects

450th anniversary of
the Reformation in
Belarus,
the concert in Minsk,
August 2003
Belarus

2003 was the year of a massive program


celebrating the 450-th anniversary of the
Reformation in Belarus. During the course
of the celebration there were hundreds of
concerts and seminars throughout Belarus.
The National Organizing Committee
on Celebrating the 450-th Anniversary

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The New Reformation Movement

Cultural Projects

of the Reformation in Belarus included


Belarus

representatives of the academic and cultural


elite of Belarus, and representatives of all
Protestant denominations in the country.
The celebration of the anniversary of the
Reformation became the largest-scale cultural
project of the last few years to be carried out
without any support from the state.

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The New Reformation Movement

Cultural Projects

Since 2002 every year concerts in honor of


Reformation Day have been held in Minsk on
October 31. The musical “Golden Age” was
first performed on Reformation Day 2003.

The musical
“Golden Age”,
October 31, 2003
Belarus

The concert
in honour of
Reformation Day,
Minsk, October 2005

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The New Reformation Movement

Cultural Projects
Belarus

On June 1, 2005 a pro-life concert was held in


Minsk with the support of several Evangelical
churches. With the help of this concert
Christians wanted to defend the unborn
babies who have right to life given to them
by the Creator Himself. Pro-life posters were
displayed all around Minsk, and the event was
publicized for two weeks.

The pro-life concert


in Minsk,
June 1, 2005

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The New Reformation Movement

Journalism

At the end of 2000, the Christian Information


Center was established. It actively seeks to
cooperate with the secular media, and even
now remains a unique center in Belarus,
possessing information about Protestant
churches and their activities. For the years
2001-2005, more than 50% of the information
about Protestant churches that appeared in the
Belarusian mass-media was directly connected
Belarus

with the activity of the Christian Information


Center.

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The New Reformation Movement

Journalism

Beginning in 2001, the newspaper


“Evangelical Belarus” has been printed
once every two months, and nearly every
pastor in Belarus receives this newspaper for
free. It contains information on the life of
churches from the 4 mainstream Protestant
denominations in Belarus as well as articles
aimed at encouraging Christians to get
involved in public life. The publication serves
Belarus

to unite Belarusian Evangelical churches.


The newspapers
“Evangelical Belarus”

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The New Reformation Movement

Journalism

Since last year the informational website


“Evangelical Belarus” www.info.belreform.org
has been in operation.
www.info.belreform.org
Belarus

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The New Reformation Movement

Youth ministry

Youth seminars have been held since 2004.


Participants in the seminars share that they
feel confident that today’s young people can be
what God wants them to be - light and salt to
the world - like Daniel and his friends.

The youth seminar


in Bierazino,
Belarus

February 2006

The youth seminar


in Zaslaul,
August 2005

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The New Reformation Movement

Youth ministry

A youth camp is held every summer in


Aksakaushchyna (near Minsk). Since 2004 it is
called “The generation of winners”. More than
400 young people from different Belarusian
Evangelical churches come to the camp every
year to spend a week praying and studying,
working together and having fellowship with
one another.
The youth camp in
Belarus

Aksakaushchyna,
July 2005

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The New Reformation Movement

Academic Projects

The international
academic conference
“The Reformation
and society”,
November 2003
Belarus

In 2002-2003, three international academic


conferences devoted to the Reformation and
its inf luence on different spheres of social
life were organized. This project included
a writing contest for students and young
researchers on the topic of the Reformation in
Belarus.
A website, dedicated to the Belarusian
Reformation, was established in 2002: www.
belreform.org
www.belreform.org

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The New Reformation Movement

Academic Projects

The Catechism,
edited in 1562
Belarus

‘The Catechism’ (Christian teaching in


questions and answers for simple people who
speak Belarusian) was reedited in 2005. This
book was edited for the first time in 1562
and is the second most important book in
Belarusian culture, but until 2005 there were
no copies of this book in Belarus.
In June 2005, the reedited Catechism was
presented in the National Library of Belarus.
News of this event was even broadcast on
national TV.
The Catechism,
reedited in 2005

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The New Reformation Movement

Publishing

The book “The Golden Age of Belarus”


was printed in the Russian and Belarusian
languages, with a total circulation of 10,000
copies. This book is the first analysis in the
history of Belarus of spiritual sources of the
16th century, the Golden Age of Belarus. In
just 3 months, more than 7,000 copies were
sold, which is unusual for Belarus.
Belarus

Audio tapes are recorded with the materials of


seminars and sermons teaching Christians to
take an active position in the life of society.

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The New Reformation Movement

Publishing

Besides the book “The Golden Age of Belarus”,


several other books, booklets, calendars,
songbooks, and other materials have been
published.
Belarus

Also, the books “Liberating the Nations” and


“Watchmen on the walls” have been translated
from English.

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The New Reformation Movement

Plan 2005-2017

Goal:
To unite the Evangelical churches of Belarus
in a number of issues, to publicize the
Church’s stances and to inf luence society.
2005-2011 – to create necessary structures to
facilitate work with the Church to insure that
Evangelical Christians will strive to inf luence
society.
Belarus

2012-2017 – to carry out programs that will


inf luence the society.

1. To create a fellowship of Evangelical


leaders who have a single purpose
for Belarus. To cooperate with
representatives of other denominations.

2. To carry out educational projects for


the Church:
a. to lead educational seminars and
conferences;
b. to establish two educational centres (Minsk,
Brest) with the infrastructure, needed to
constantly carry out educational projects;
c. to hold an annual conference of the New
Reformation movement;
d. to start an educational Internet-project
(e-libraries, conference materials, sermons,
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teaching materials).
The New Reformation Movement

Plan 2005-2017

3. Education:
a. to create a Christian educational system
(kindergartens, schools, universities);
b. to establish a support centre for Christian
education;
c. to found an Association for Christian
education (teachers, pastors);
Belarus

d. to establish international contacts in the


sphere of education.

4. Culture:
a. to create cultural product as an alternative
to the secular culture;
b. to help Christians to spread Christian
culture;
c. to start a Christian cultural centre
(musicians, artists, theatre workers; training,
product release, production centre);
d. to organize an Annual Christian music
festival;
e. to organize celebrations of Christian
holidays and known dates on the national
level (Christmas, Easter, Reformation Day,
etc.)
f. to start a film studio (documentaries,
educational films, advertising)
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The New Reformation Movement

Plan 2005-2017

5. Mass media
a. to found the Informational agency
‘Evangelical Belarus’ (informational and
analytucal magazine for Christian ministers,
social and political magazine presenting
Christian view of events; web-site);
b. to start an association of Christian
journalists;
Belarus

c. to start an association of Christian


informational initiatives;
d. to print a Christian cultural and
educational magazine or newspaper;
e. to run a radio station, to cooperate with
other radio stations;
f. to establish a board for TV programs;
g. to publish a youth magazine.

6. Politics
a. to forme providential political thinking in
Evangelical Church;
b. to start a Christian political movement.

7. Youth
a. to start a Christian youth movement based
on Christian and patriotic values;
b. to create a youth centre as a base for youth
22 programs.
The New Reformation Movement

Plan 2005-2017

8. Prayer for Belarus


a. to start a prayer movement for Belarus on
the national level.

9. Reformation Institute
a. to create an academic and analytical centre
to work on the problems of providential
history, church history, social doctrine of the
Belarus

church and analysis of different spheres of life.

10. Mega-programs
a. 2007 – repenting for Communism (1917-
1937-2007);
b. 2008-2009 – Christians for Belarus;
c. 2013 – 600th anniversary of the Evangelical
church in Belarus;
d. 2015 – the year of Mikalay Radzivil the
Black;
e. 2017 – 500th anniversary of Reformation,
500th anniversary of Skaryna’s Bible.

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The New Reformation Movement

Contact us

E-mail : belreform@yahoo.com
Belarus

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