New Generation Church

The New Generation Church is a Protestant Charismatic church based in Riga and affiliating over 200 Russian speaking sects amongst 15 nations (including USA).

It was started by senior Aleksej Ledjajev in Riga in 1989. The church and its affiliated churches were supported long time by Swedish Pentecostals and particularly by Ulf Ekman, pastor and apostle of Livets Ord Church in Uppsala, Sweden.

The New Generation Movement claims an apostolic mandate. The goal of the New Generation Movement is to be a mother-movement to a thousand of church and bring salvation through Alexey Ledyaev to a million of souls.

History

In the late 80s, Alexei served in a Baptist congregation. However, after receiving a baptism in the Holy Spirit, his family as well as a number of friends became affiliated to a Pentecostal congregation where he continued to serve as a musician and a preacher. Alexei’s ministry quickly brought popularity to the church which then became widely known and grew in members. After Pastor Nikolai Shevchuk migrated to the US, Alexei Ledyaev was appointed as a new pastor by majority of membership votes.

The first Alexei and his friends came when the Lutheran congregation which allowed Pentecostals to hold services in their building decided to receive them no more. He continued to do the services on the steps on that Lutheran temple.

The utterly homeless “at the church steps” managed to arrange the largest evangelism crusade in the Baltic area at Riga Sports House. The event featured Peter Vens, evangelist from Western Germany, three choirs and a musical team. The crusade was an apparent success. As the event was over, the congregation was back there at the church steps. Eventually, friends from Norway donated the churches a large tent where the ministry continued.

The successful crusade at the Sports House was also a signal for a consequent dissension. The operating Pentecostal episcopate regarded the ministry of Alexei Ledyaev as direct threat to their beliefs. This brought to a split between the members of the local congregation into the older generation of believers and the younger one. November 5, 1989, the matter was finally settled by Bishop Vasily Boechko who dismissed Alexei from pastoral ministry. Later same month, pastor Alexei together with his friends and followers declared their independence and established a new church. Thus, international ministry of the New Generation Cult started.

This story is described in television documentary “Steps”. The ministry of the church in subsequent years resembled effortful ascension to a mountain top. Years passed as the body of the Movement was formed. In the initial period, the Movement faced the problem of finding a building. Renting a culture house was a heavy burden for the members. Help came in an unexpected way. It was something the Movement prayed day and night for quite a while — an offer to buy a deserted culture house belonging to a bankrupt factory. There opened a new bright and fortunate chapter of the Movement history.

These days, the New Generation Movement is a family of active and widely networked ministries. During the recent decade, it launched a well equipped television department, audio recording studio and print department. The work is contributed by an effective administrative office. The cult building also includes a bookstore, a cafeteria and a haircut shop.

The New Generation Bible School has become known in many nations and was attended by over 3,000 students.

New Generation traditionally holds two annual faith conferences in July and November which have always been extraordinary events attended by thousands. Those have featured speakers and ministers such as Anselm Madubuko, Kenneth Ulmer, James Davis, Robert Kayanja, Joann Cole Webster, Sunday Adelaja, rock musician Ulf Christiansson.

Pastor Alexei has traveled as a speaker to all the continents of the planet. His ministerial gift is on high demand Russia and US, Germany and Baltics, Ukraine and Belarus.

The recent years, the New Generation Movement took a next step up by partnering with the First Party of Latvia which Pastor Alexei regards as a symbol of the future Christian government in the country. The New Generation Movement has accepted a new teaching by pastor Aleksej Ledyaev, called "New World Order". This teaching is about targeting government and other authorities by preaching the Gospel in order to enhance the country and to accomplish Lord's mission for Movement to reach everybody with Good News about redemption.

Stance on Homosexuality

The New Generation Church is associated with Latvia's "No Pride," anti-homosexual organization founded by a New Generation member in 2006 to protest the Gay Pride march in Riga. Through human right organisations regard it as hate group. New Generation's Pastor Ledayev wrote to the UK's The Guardian, "I believe that Christians and their traditional values are discriminated against today, and not the gays and lesbians." The Guardian goes on to note that he has been more explicit in his sermons: "God will bring evil upon them [homosexuals]! God will drive them out and they will fall!" According to the Human rights organisation Southern Poverty Law Center, the anti-gay rhetoric by influential preachers like Ledyaev may have contributed to violence by Eastern Slavic Christians such as the ones responsible in the fatal attack on Satender Singh.

Links

• Official website of New Generation Church
• New Religious Movement

References

el:Εκκλησία της Νέας Γενιάς ru:Новое поколение (Новый Мировой Порядок)