On December 17, 2024, a meeting of the Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches of Ukraine (CEPCU) chaired by Senior Bishop Anatoliy Kozachok of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church was held to summarize the results of the current year, accept new members to the Council, and discuss several pressing issues.
Viktor Yelenskyy, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), in his speech, emphasized the important role of evangelical churches in providing spiritual, social, and humanitarian support to the Ukrainian people during the war. He also informed the participants of the CEPCU meeting about the current state of church-state relations and the government's initiatives to support the activities of religious organizations. During the discussion of this issue, the head of the State Emergency Service addressed questions from the participants of the meeting of the Council of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church regarding the status of church clergy and the development of a legal mechanism in the context of the right to alternative service during martial law. Oleksandr Zaiets, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Religious Freedom, informed the heads and authorized representatives of churches about the monitoring of religious persecution in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and some aspects of mobilization activities.
The leaders of the evangelical churches discussed the conditions for conducting pastoral and chaplaincy ministry during the war and analyzed the results of the Forum of Military Chaplains, which was held in Kyiv on October 10-11, 2024. The members of the Council supported the initiative to coordinate efforts in military chaplaincy and to support the work of volunteer chaplains.
In accordance with the Regulations on the Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches of Ukraine, new members have been admitted to the Council. These include the Charismatic Evangelical Church of Ukraine (formerly known as the Spiritual Directorate of Evangelical Christians of the Ukrainian Christian Church “New Generation”), the Union of the Church of God of Ukraine, the Center of Christian Evangelical Churches of Ukraine “Victory” and the Union of Jewish Communities of Messianic Judaism.
The CEPCU has granted observer status to the following organizations: the All-Ukrainian Missionary Religious Center “Light of the Gospel,” the Association of Bible Missionary Churches of Ukraine, and the Association of Methodist Churches of Ukraine. Currently, the Council of Evangelical Churches of Ukraine consists of 24 evangelical churches, including 21 full members and 3 observers.
In addition, the Council discussed the ARROW LEADERSHIP educational project and decided to support it and create a group to implement the project in Ukraine.
In accordance with the Regulations of the CEPCU on alternate chairmanship, starting January 1, 2025, Oleksandr Zaitsev, the Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church, will chair the Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches of Ukraine for one year.