Below I would like to present some of the reasons why we think so.

  A. Kiev is a center and a citadel of Eastern Orthodox culture. In this culture there is a strong conviction that a church building is absolutely necessary for a Christian church. Those who call themselves Christians but don’t have a church building are likely to be viewed as sects or cults. Because of this very reason in Soviet times the communists vigorously destroyed church buildings with the hope that they would be able to uproot the Christian church. We as reformed believers understand quite well that our congregation is the church. However for the sake of many Ukrainians, both believers and non believers, we feel it is very important that we invite our visitors to a church building. It will communicate to them that we are not a cult or a sect but that we are a Christian church, firm and unshakable, which is here in Kiev to stay.
Besides we think that it is very important for our church building to reflect something of God’s glory and sense of beauty. For people who were raised and continue to live in the Orthodox culture, it is extremely important that the place of worship is beautiful and somewhat glorious. We know that we can worship God anywhere and anytime, although if we can help it we would do our best to make the place of Christian worship look more beautiful.
  B. The simple fact that the church of the Holy Trinity is the largest Presbyterian church in the country and is located in the capital city of Ukraine puts us in the center of attention of many people. Looking at our church and visiting our church they will form their opinion of the Presbyterian and Reformed church in general. That is why we strive for excellence in every aspect of our worship. Our Almighty and Merciful God deserves the best and we want to communicate it to all the people.
  C. The church of the Holy Trinity is not a self- centered church. Our faithful response to the Great Commission is to invite the lost to Christ, bring them to the church of the Holy Trinity and to train them to plant many other Presbyterian churches in Kiev and across Ukraine. We believe that planting new churches is the best way to grow the Presbyterian Church in Ukraine. That is why we want the church of the Holy Trinity to become a training center for new church planters.
  D. Our church has many ministries and most of them require some kind of facility. These facilities are scattered across the city. It has become very difficult to coordinate those ministries let alone expand them. Having a building would enable us to expand existing ministries and would give us an opportunity to start many charitable and social programs for the neighborhood community.
  E. Our church building would provide classrooms and auditoriums for Christian conferences and seminars. Unfortunately we presently have to turn down some proposals to host conferences because it is hard to find an auditorium. We would regard the additional classrooms as an opportunity to become even more effective in the teaching of the Holy Scriptures.
  F. The church of the Holy Trinity has a very advanced music ministry. If we had a sanctuary, besides using it for its direct purpose - the worship of God – we could use that sanctuary for concerts of classical Christian and spiritual music. These kinds of concerts have already proved themselves to be a great means of evangelism and have attracted many people to our church.
  G. The Session of the church and the deacons encourage the church members to tithe generously. We usually have a good response. And we are quite aware of the fact that among our church members there are many poor and destitute people, as well as many widows and students. Some of them give in the offering plate their last money trusting God to provide for them. We want to be responsible stewards of the funds that God gives to us. Our heart breaks when we give away for the rent of our meeting place three fourths of our offering. Having our own building would enable us to direct these funds to other ministries rather than spending them on the rent. It will help us to save lots of money for the Kingdom even though there will be some maintenance cost.
   H. Our church is united by our faith and our desire to serve Christ through various ministries. Building the Sanctuary would become ad additional unifying factor. This project would provide an opportunity for many people to volunteer their time and skills for the good of the church.

   The congregation of the church of the Holy Trinity presently consists of about 500 members. Our goal is to build a church building with the sanctuary seating about 1000 people. It will give us sufficient room to grow and it will correspond with the vision for our church. It is difficult to estimate the cost of the construction like that. However having done some research and comparing the costs of the similar buildings we've learnt that we may need about $1.5 -$2ml to accomplish our goal.

   We know that we are dreaming big and asking for a lot but we are doing it with the only goal, which is to give honor and glory to our God and to expand His kingdom in Ukraine.

   Thank you for your consideration of our need.