Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church Splits

Representatives of 235 churches of 345 have signed a statement of withdrawal from the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church (UCEC), headed by Bishop Leonid Padun, a member of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, Invictory reports.

This is stated in a declaration, the text of which is published on the website of the Word of Life Odesa church. Scanned originals of all the signed statements are on Dropbox.

Among the signatories are 12 bishops (former board members of UCEC), pastors of foreign churches from Haifa (Israel), Faro (Portugal), and Pervomaysk (Transnistria, Moldova), and prison ministers.

“For a long time our senior bishop was Leonid Padun. Unfortunately, during the last years of his leadership of the church and the union, some negative trends have arisen, specifically, abuse of power. Subtle for some, it is obvious to people who knew him,” reads the statement.

The signatories stressed that various parties attempted to help Leonid Padun see inconsistencies in the biblical standards of the episcopacy and wanted to help him change, but all the “ongoing efforts were in vain and were perceived by him as a threat to personal power, an attempt to take over his authority and position.”

“We are all hurt to see that instead of humility to admit his mistakes, Senior Bishop Leonid Padun began to actively discredit those who disagree with him, to spread false information about the true causes of the problems. For this reason, according to the statutes of churches registered under the Law of Ukraine ‘On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations,’ our churches decided to withdraw from UCEC,” reads the statement.