Kharkiv, Round Table "Chruch and Society"

Yevgeniy Molodchy's presentation

      March 26, Living Hope Christian Church  in Kharkov, Ukraine hold the second round table “The church and society”, which brought together representatives of various spheres of Christian activity, not indifferent to the crisis taking place in contemporary society. Well known pastors of the city, Association of Christian doctors, university professors, Christian Democratic Party, leaders of various ministries and missions met to discuss the issues raised by the organizers of the roundtable: "What do we need to change in our attitude to society, to help people come to church? How should we reconcile the Church and society without compromising our faith?"

    Pastor Alexander Vyalov, moderator of the round table named 8 questions which needed to be answered for Christians to realize their mission in the world.

      Vyacheslav Kholansky, organizer of the first round table in Kharkov, introduced the questions which allow leaders to understand the inner life in the church communities.

       The issue of Christian identity was widely discussed at the table. The importance of finding it within the Christian community was introduced by Yevgeniy Molodchy, mission minister of Christian Life Church.
       Director of the Institute of Church & State relationships, Sergei Naidenov said: “Ukraine now has a unique opportunity to carry out God's mission in the world as a country which has received such possibility due to God's providence. This is both responsibility and uniqueness of Ukraine.”

     In this context the dialog was continued discussing two upcoming national events in Ukraine this year. The celebration of the 20-th anniversary of Ukraine's independence and upcoming observance of Peresopnytsia Gospel 450-th anniversary translation. The Gospel used in Ukrainian Parliament during president’s inauguration. These events create a precedent for Christians to be more actively involved in public and social life.

     During the discussion the answers were suggested to overcome the wide-ranging crisis at all levels in society, proposed concrete actions to improve the situation in some areas of church and community interactions. Also there was noted the lack of developing dialog at the horizontal level between the various Christian groups and associations of churches. In order to promote futher dialogue, realizing the responsibility of Christians at all levels of life in community, initiative group started to be formed, aiming at consolidating the efforts of Christians in social and public ministry.