A new Seventh-day Adventist church in Ukraine's capital city Kiev has provided more than just a new place to worship. After decades of struggling with limited religious freedoms, Adventists say last month's opening of the Podol Adventist Church in Kiev marks their place in the Orthodox country.

For years, government officials wouldn't allow Adventists to build a permanent structure within city limits, church leaders said. But a proposed church that blended into the area with similar architecture as other churches was finally permitted two years ago.

"I was hugely impressed with the church, both the building and the spirit of the celebration," Adventist world church president Jan Paulsen said following his visit. While in the Eastern European country, Paulsen met with the nation's Vice Prime Minister Ivan V. Vasiunyk and Yuriy Bogutskyi of the president's office.

Government officials and the prime minister are aware of Adventists' work in the Kiev area, Paulsen said. An Adventist college has seen strong enrollment growth in the past five years, now with about 2,000 students.

Paulsen said he was encouraged by the involvement of young people at the Podol congregation. "I particularly noted how many children, youth and young professionals attended this church," he said, citing a marked difference from other congregations around the world he's visited.

The Adventist church, in the heart of the government and business district, is one of only three buildings owned by the church in the area. Like other Adventist congregations currently renting worship facilities, the Podol congregation had to rent a building for 17 years. Kiev, the largest city of the Ukraine with an estimated population of 2.7 million, has now 26 Adventist congregations.

There are about 60,000 adult baptised Adventist Christians in the Ukraine, a nation of roughly 46 million people. [Editors: Ansel Oliver, Yuriy Kuzmenko and Christian B. Schäffler for ANN/APD]