Ukrainian protestants prepare for the Festival of Hope
On June 20 one of the largest religious events of 2015 - Festival of Hope will be heldin Lviv. The venue is Arena Lviv Stadium. The main speaker of the Festivalwill be Franklin Graha, the son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, president of the Evangelical Association of Billy Graham.
The organizers of the Festival of Hope are: Billy Graham and the Protestant churches of Ukraine, Pentecostals, Baptists, charismatics and other unregistered communities. Now more than 1,000 Protestant churchesare involved in the preparation of the event.
According to organizers, the main purpose of the festival is to give the Ukrainian people hope for a better life.
The musical atmosphere will be created by a combined choir, consisting of 2015 men who will be accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Also an American singer and composer Michael Smith, holder of three Grammy and 40 DoveAwards, and jazz pianist from Jamaica Huntley Brown, have been invited.
The Festival of Hope expects more than 30 thousand participants. For those willing to attend the festival, the organizers ordered extra trains and buses from Rivne, Volyn, Transcarpathian region, Ivano-Frankivsk and other regions of Western Ukraine. The youth and members of the nurse and prayer ministry of local churches are involved in the preparation, a policing group was set up to maintain order.
“At the festival, people will be able to hear the pure and holy Word of God without ceremony and established custom, they will be able to communicate with each other and see the unifying element of the choir,” said VolodymyrYakimov, one of the event coordinators, senior CEF pastor in Lviv regionduring the presentation of the project in Ukraine on January 15.
In addition to the Festival of Hope, the organizers are planning a number of social projects of targeted assistance and evangelism activities.
The Festival of Hope is an international project that is conducted in many countries. In Ukraine the previous similar event took place in 2007 in Kyiv, at Olympic stadium with Franklin Graham.
