ROSKhVE ON SITUATION IN CONTROVERSIAL KIEV "GOD'S EMBASSY" CHURCH
"We are following the situation and praying for the fallen and the victims"
Portal-credo.ru, 25 March 2016
At a meeting of pastors and board of elders of the Ukrainian church "God's Embassy" on 23 March in Kiev, the famous preacher Sunday Adelaja confessed that for a long time he lived in the sin of adultery and that he repented before the audience.
A minister from the U.S.A. known as "Apostle Toff," who over the course of several years performed spiritual care for God's Embassy church and personally for Sunday Adelaja, announced the unfrocking of Sunday and his removal from all forms of ministry: leadership of the church, preaching, and counseling, "until restoration," the press service of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (ROSKhVE), which belongs to the same protestant movement as God's Embassy, reported.
The meeting of ministers was held within the framework of the traditional Congress of Ministers that occurred on the eve of the 22nd anniversary of God's Embassy Ukrainian Christian church in Kiev. More than 200 pastors and ministers assembled for fasting and prayer before the annual conference. Earlier the leadership of ROSKhVE sent "Apostle Toff" an official statement about the impermissibility of covering up the sins of ministers of the church, including pastors, and about the necessity of public confession and repentance. It was reported that Sunday Adelaja will perform confession and repentance before parishioners on Thursday, 31 March, at the first service of the annual conference of the God's Embassy church in Kiev.
Information about the fall of Sunday Adelaja
was received by
the leadership of ROSKhVE "with pain and regret." Despite this,
ROSKhVE
"acknowledges and values the work that the Holy Spirit has
accomplished .
. . in this church." (tr. by PDS, posted 27 March 2016)
STATEMENT FROM PRESS SERVICE OF ROSKhVE
Despite the mistakes and disagreement with many of the doctrinal and practical questions regarding what happened in the God's Embassy church and personally with Sunday Adelaja, we acknowledge and value the work that the Holy Spirit has accomplished, and we believe he will continue to accomplish in this church and through those of its members who follow the Lord with all their heart. At the same time, the Word of God requires that a person who has committed such sins not only be removed from the ministry, but also deprived of pastoral leadership and excommunicated from the church (1 Cor. 6.9-10), which is what is said in particular in the canonical rules of ordination of clergy of the ROSKhVE.
In this difficult situation for the entire evangelical community, the ROSKhVE churches will pray:
--personally for Sunday Adelaja and his family and for his profound awareness of the causes of what happened and sincere repentance and correction and restoration of relationships with the Lord, his spouse, and children;
--for the leadership and pastors of the God's Embassy church, that the Lord will grant them wisdom and courage and direct them in the work of ministry of the church in this difficult period;
--for all parishioners of the God's Embassy church, that the Lord will help them to pass through these trials and preserve faith in God and confidence in the church, which is built not on the authority and charisma of individual persons but by the Word and Spirit of God and has its foundation in Jesus Christ. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 March 2016)
Russian original posted on CNLNews website, 25 March 2016
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