Belarus grants reprieve to charismatic church

MINSK, Belarus — The eviction of New Life Pentecostal Church from its building in the Belarusian capital of Minsk set for Dec. 5 was called off. “There was a document, there was action; the document was withdrawn, the action stopped,” said court executor Olga Shcherbovich. The church meets in a former cow barn it bought and renovated, but the authorities have never legalized its use and have been trying to evict the church for a decade.

New Life’s administrator Vitaly Antonchikov said, “This isn’t the end, of course — the eviction is canceled, but legally our land and building still belong to the authorities.”