City was full of ads posted everywhere without any permission of some Christian center called “History-makers” at the beginning of July. Our correspondent visited their meeting to get to know the benefits, promised by Nick Mufunvainty, the pastor.  

Their feasts...

The leaflet contained the common list of good things that were supposed to happen with believers: there were deliberating from various addictions, destroying the curses and changing life for better. Besides, they made a show program, dedicated to Apostle (this was just how this word was written, from the capital letter) Kim Hong Ing’s arrival from the Southern Korea. Some Korean students came with him to preach the Bible too. 
I came to Polovetskaya Street, 5 as it was told in add. Olga, the pastor’s wife told me at once that their center has been working since April and that they sometimes go to other cities of Ukraine to preach. They call themselves an international center (I guess, the only reason for it is that the majority of their flock here are students from Africa). After I asked her why their center has such a bombastic naming Olga felt uneasy and told me “well, because… we are making the history”.
In order to make me feel less confused, they collected all the information about me, such as my name, contacts, and place of studies. Besides, they asked me to tell as many details as possible about my family and my interests.
The sermon was hard to listen to and hardly worth listening at all. The hall the center leased, reminds school assembly hall. Thus, it was very difficult to hear anything. Moreover, pastor Mufunvainy was telling his sermon in English and the interpreter was translating it at once, without any pause, so it was even harder to understand anything. After the sermon the congregation was dancing and jumping in aisles, they clapped their hands and hugged one another. They seemed to be sure this is how the sermon should look like and how people should pray God.
After this “celestial party” people were asked to become witnesses, i.e. to tell about the divine miracles in their life. Only some Korean students like Kim Chu Shi and Ikky KHion came to stage. The God didn’t make any miracles for the aborigines, I suppose.
After the end of the show… I mean after the end of the sermon, Apostle Kim Hong Ing took the chair. He told that the modern society cannot do without evangelization. He told that everyone should follow his Korean volunteers’ example. Everyone should first evangelize his friends and relatives and after they are already Christians, you should preach for anyone you see, as people are stupid if they are not Christians.
Then they prayed for the novices. I was among them. The rite of initiation was simple; it included putting the pastor’s hands on the novice’s head, and shaking the novice thoroughly. I was surprised with the text of the prayer. It sounded as the following: “My Heavenly Father, I was a sinner, and now I profess this sin”. I wonder if the pastors know the difference between the words “profess” and “confess”. According to the dictionary, “to profess” means to worship some religion, and to be a disciple of it. Then, anyway, professing sins is a bit strange thing for the Christians.
Then there was a group prayer. People split into groups, each of them included five persons. Then the members of groups started saying some monotonous prayers in English, Russian and Korean. After it there were traditional hugs, though sometimes it seemed there was more lust than faith in those hugs. I had to explain one of preachers that I already have a boyfriend and that it is not right to feel up the girl, whom you don’t even know. At the end of this breath-taking event they gathered donations. Everyone donated. No one doubted. And I thought there were no visible miracles and healings, though they were supposed to happen. 

...And routine
I visited their sermons on Saturdays. They used to take some quotation from the Bible and discussed it for two hours, and they did it in a very odd way. For instance, Mr. Mufunvainy’s wife translated a quote from her husband’s sermon like “Job was the businessman”. Sometimes he made a pause in his sermon to tell about something he considered to be very important, for instance about the modern girls’ ability to make soup. Before the services started anyone could come up to the pastor’s wife and take a Bible. The sample, I happened to get, made me feel a bit odd. On the very first page there were given names of branch churches, like “Gideon”, “Yelim”, “Good News”, etc; their addresses and directions how to get there. I wonder if it is possible to use the Holy Script as an address book and if those who do it are religious at all. Besides, the pastor’s daughter, Angelica was present during all the services… She behaves just as a normal child: she cries, she wants her mom and dad’s attention, and she is asking for more love, care and sweets during the sermons. The priests have to calm the child down, and thus it doesn’t make the sermon better. After I had visited the “History Makers’” meetings four times I understood that I’m unlikely to get any healings or miracles there. So I decided to have fun at least. I asked whether it is possible for the Orthodoxies attend the “History Makers’” sermons. They were happy to tell me this was all right. Then I made a very predictable question for a novice: I asked them what branch of Christianity they worshipped. The pastor’s wife looked very confused. She looked at her husband, as if she wasn’t sure in her answer and supposed that they “are Protestants”. Then why wasn’t it written on the ad? Moreover, it’s strange for me to hear that it is possible to be a member of two absolutely different denominations at a time. After I doubted that the pastor knew anything about Christianity I supposed that it is impossible to belong both to Orthodox and to Protestant churches. The pastor’s wife told me at once: “Oh, this is all the same. We just don’t worship the icons”. Thus she showed that she was very ignorant in all that dealt with religion. After I told her that these religions differ a lot she smiled and invited me to visit their next service. So, I didn’t get any miracles, healings or even correct services again.  

Xenia Chubuk                                                                                                                                                (o 10)