History of “Salvation” church

  The history of our church begins in 33 A.D. when the Holy Spirit rested on the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost (The Book of Acts, chapter 2). The Day of Pentecost has a few meanings. It is a festive of thanksgiving for harvest and the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ. It is also the day of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring. The Day of Pentecost is the Church’s birthday. The first preaching, service and water baptism took place on that very day. Therefore people, sometimes, call our church a “Pentecostal” one. There was just one evangelical church till the 5^th century (neither Catholic nor Orthodox Church existed at that time). The Church was persecuted and did not actually have any temples to hold the services. The so-called “Pillars of the Church” were the Apostles: Peter, John, Paul, James, Andrew and also their disciples, such as Polycarp, Ignatius, John, the Silver-tongued and others. Almost all of them died as martyrs. 

  In the 5^th century papacy came into religious power and gradually the Church began to split in three trends: catholic (western), orthodox (eastern) and the evangelical one, which went deep underground for almost one thousand years. During those years the Inquisition burned and tortured hundreds of thousands of true faithful Christians. John Wycliffe, Ian Gus, Martin Luther, Jan Calvin, Ivan Vishenski and Ivan Smera are just few of many ministers and associates of the Evangelical church.

  Since the 15^th century, because of the Renaissance period, the Evangelical church gradually began to come from underground. At the same time, some communities, serving God just like the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church did, began to form in various countries and continents of the world. John Wesley, Ivan Voronaev, Gustav Schmidt and Ivan Prohanov are the heroes of faith, who stood firm proclaiming the true Gospel. At that time the state in alliance with the state church fiercely persecuted the true Church. The believers were called heretics and scoffed at with the use of some mocking names. Nowadays there are more than twelve thousand evangelical churches in Ukraine (fourteen thousand orthodox churches and approximately four thousand catholic ones).

  Today there are evangelical churches in almost every country of the world. The total number of the Evangelical Christians is approximately 750 million people (there are near 900 million Catholics and around 120 million Orthodox believers). Almost all developed countries of the world, such as USA, Norway, England, Sweden, Finland, and Korea do have the prevalent number of the evangelical churches. Those countries are often called “protestant countries”. 

  The “Salvation” church is a traditional Slavic evangelical church, having almost 2000 years of historical background, which was finally planted in Vishneve town in 1993 by the ministry of pastor Philip Savochka. Before the church in Vyshneve town was planted, pastor Philip, together with an evangelization singing group called “Bily Striy, participated in planting of many churches at various regions of Ukraine.  The group arranged evangelization services, held the water baptism services for those people who just repented and came to the Lord, helped to form worship teams in new churches, delegated an organized church structures to local pastors and then moved to another places. A new stage in the ministry of the group was the planting of the “Christian hope” church in Kiev city, for right from the start “Bily Striy” group took upon them the responsibility for its development and then ministered in it for two years. During that period the “Christian hope” church increased to 400 people and needed to expand through multiplication. Lots were cast to know where (whether in Kiev city or Vyshneve town) a new church was to be planted, and God pointed out Vyshneve town. Philip Savochka, a leader of “Bily Striy” group was to become the pastor of that church.

  The first evangelization service in Vyshneve town took place at an outdoor movie theater on 18 May of 1993. Many people repented as a result of the preaching of George Davidiyk, an evangelist. After the evangelization the first cell group was formed and pastor Philip became its leader. The members of the group were new Christians and shortly after, on 3 June of 1993 the first water baptism service was held in the new church. The first person baptized in the water was Yuri Babinets, who is the present day assistant of the senior pastor on administration.

  The first central service was held on the last Sunday of September of 1993. This is the very date, which “Salvation” church recognize as their birthday and celebrate on every year. The first meeting took place in the hall of the “Promin” movie theatre. The following services were held there till the beginning of January. They were so blessed that even the absence of heating in winter time did not scare the people away. The people who assisted the pastor in the ministry were Fedir Nalyvaiko (a leader of the first worship group), Valeriy Saraniyk, Viktor Shymchenko, Sergiy Sergienko and Valeriya Salnyk. At that time there were approximately 30 people in the church.

  The name of the church appeared at the same time. Pastor Philip invited the youth to his house and asked them to express all possible ideas concerning the future name for the church. Then each proposition was written down at a separate piece of paper. The one to be picked up out of many was actually the one with a name the church had to be called by. Everyone prayed and picked up the word “Salvation”. This name exactly represented the mission of the church and became a prophecy of its future growth. When the governing body of the movie theatre increased the payment for renting, the church began to gather at a hall of the Building & Fixing office accommodating 430 people. The first church wedding and funeral were held in that very place. The powerful and anointed sermons, changing the lives of people were preached during the services. A professional worship team and Bible school, aimed at training new leaders, were formed at that time. The church was constantly growing. In 1994 it numbered 82 people, in 1995 – 127, in 1996 – 175, and in 1997 – 273. In 1997 God revealed to pastor Philip a new vision about home groups. In 1998 the church numbered 20 home groups, but at the beginning of 2007 there were approximately 300 of them. The actual church life was going on in the home groups. God was forming the relations of friendship between the church members and drawing new people into it by the home groups. In 1998 there already were 365 people, in 1999 – 549, in 2000 – 1400, in 2001 – 1842, and in 2002 – 2491.

  In due course the church increased so much that the central services began to be held three times: at 10.00 a.m., at 1.00 p.m. and at 04.00 p.m., In 2002 the church began to use “C7” system, which allowed no more than 7 people to be the members of one home group and this made the work of the ministers easier. In due course the “C7” system has become a “visit card” of “Salvation” church.  Another “visit card” of the church is a series of books by pastor Philip, called “Discipleship”. They gave the new Christians and the church members an opportunity to grow spiritually. The “Discipleship” has taught people how to read the Bible and pray, it also helped to change their characters and values. In 2003 the church already numbered 2646 people, in 2004 – 2947, and in 2005 – 3297.

  While the church was still renting a hall for its services, God gave pastor Philip a vision that there would be a temple in Vyshneve town. God showed him how it must look both inside and outside. God also pointed at a place where He wants to see it built. At that time the place was a dump. The church’s request for getting the lot of the land had been refused by the country administration for seven times before it actually got the permission to have it in 1998. The great faith was needed to see the temple at the time when there was neither a lot of land nor enough money for the building. Pastor Philip proved his faith in deed by making the first contribution – he offered his own mini-bus to start the building. The building of the temple began in summer of 1999. In December of 2004 the temple was finished and ready for use. Moreover, all church documents were registered officially without giving any bribes. Each paper, signature and permit was obtained as a result of a long-time fasting and prayer. It is important to note that the temple of “Salvation” church was 97,1% built for the money of the church’s members and just 2,9% for some sponsors’ contributions. This temple has become the realization of God’s revelation and the best architecture construction of the town. At present, it is, without any exaggeration, one of the finest and most modern temples in Ukraine.

  During the time of their existence “Salvation” church have brought up hundreds of faithful ministers, planted roughly 50 branch churches at different parts of Ukraine, helped to find new families for hundreds of homeless children and orphans through the “Father’s house” ministry, fed and clothed thousands of people and held hundreds of conferences and consultations for ministers from other churches. Nowadays the church number over 4000 people and for us this is the most significant thing. Restoration of families, deliverance from addiction to alcohol, drugs and smoking, everyday life in joy and happiness are the main object of the preaching, teaching and ministry of the church, for “Salvation” church is a family in which there is a room for everyone.