Pray for Belarus

                                     

BELARUS (ASSIST News Service)

     On March 13th, Georgi Vyazovsky of Christ's Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Belarus was freed from a Minsk prison on completion of a 10-day sentence for conducting religious worship in his own home. After his release, Pastor Vyazovsky told Forum 18 News Service he felt "splendid" and even joked he had lost weight due to the "good diet." Held in cells with five and later 13 other inmates, he said both they and the warders were "amazed" he was there for religious activity. One of the staff remarked the judge must have gone crazy. To Forum 18's knowledge, Pastor Vyazovsky is the first person to have been imprisoned for religious worship in Belarus for 20 years. When 30 members of various Protestant churches gathered at the prison to meet Pastor Vyazovsky, police roughly moved them some 400 meters away, while some 20 special police officers stood by. Pastor Vyazovsky confirmed there has been no further attempt to prosecute church members since his conviction. However, the Pentecostal bishop of the Minsk region is now threatened with prosecution as well. Sergei Tsvor, who is also first vice-chairman of the Pentecostal Union and pastor of the Minsk-based Good News Church, told Forum 18 that police visited the free-standing residential house where his 100-strong congregation met during a service some six weeks ago. When an officer drew up a protocol against the bishop on the grounds he had no right to lead the gathering under the law on public demonstrations, Tsvor told Forum 18, "I told them that it wasn't a demonstration or a picket, but a worship service." He was summoned to a hearing at Minsk's Moscow District Court on March 9th, but the judge was busy with another case and told him he would be summoned again. He has heard nothing since.

     Pray our almighty and all-powerful God will protect His followers in Belarus. Pray every Christian will be a witness of Jesus' persevering love. Pray the Holy Spirit will move in power to bring the light of Christ to all countries with a heritage of communistic atheism.

5:36 AM - Mar. 22, 2006 - post comment

Missionaries

Persecution