Authorities of Smila in Cherkasy region dispersed Baptist festival

For months Baptists planned a the God Is Always Near Festival in the town of Smila in the Cherkasy Oblast. Pastor Valerii Bieliaev was the main organizer of the event. A statement was submitted to the town council with a request to organize the Christian festival. The authorities signed the statement but did not allow to hold the event.

According to the press service of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christian Baptists, the event was planned as a large-scale evangelization. The organizers invited an American evangelist, Don Bets, the choir of the Cherkasy Baptist Church, and musical groups. The town prepared itself for the festival in advance: advertisments and invitations were spread, posters were put up. It was a big event for such a small town (approximately 70 thousand residents).

On Sunday, January 23, at 3 p.m., at the central House of Culture, about 700 people gathered. But it turned out that the entrance door was locked and the people had to crowd in the vestibule. The director of the House of Culture disappeared, no representative of the town authorities answered telephone calls.  

At 3:30, the deputy mayor of the town accompanied by the police came to the place and prohibited the event, claiming that the place doesn't meet proper regulations.  

His announcment angered the residents of Smila. But the organizers of the festival had to stop the program.

According to the press service of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christian Baptists, on Friday, two days before the event, at the session of the Town Council of Smila, the head of the ruling faction brought forth an ultimatum by saying that he “is ready to dismiss a lot of people if the event is held in Smila.”   

Representatives of Baptist Churches and organizers of the festival await a response from the mass media and the public.

It is not the first religious scandal in Smila. As RISU reported earlier, on January 11-12 , a group of unknown persons attacked the Revival Christian Rehabilitation Center at the Light of Life Protestant Church in the town of Smila.

On the night of December 19, unknown persons attacked the building of the Church of Birth of John the Baptist of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.