History

The roots of the Evangelion Chorale lie in the new paradigm of ministry which emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Beginning with initial contact in Zolotonosha, Cherkassy, Ukraine in 1992, a ministry which would later become The Shepherd's Foundation caught a vision for professional-to-professional contact with Ukrainian people. The Minnesota Baptist Conference joined hands with that endeavor and became the first sponsoring organization. Its Sister Church connection was a powerful means to center this unique ministry. The new climate created a remarkable opening for penetration into a now-free society with the Christian message.

Dennis Port, then professor of music at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota, was first introduced to Ukraine in 1994. The following summer he led an octet of four Ukrainian and four American college students, returning again in 1996, accompanied by professional Twin City instrumentalists Roger and Michele Frisch.  The musicians presenting concerts in the Soviet-built palaces of culture so that Non-Christians who would not enter a church would feel welcomed.

After two summers of traveling and singing in the Cherkassy Oblast only, the ministry expanded, clarified, and further focused its direction. High musical art had been a staple of the communist system but had shut out Evangelical Christians for seventy years. The emerging vision of this developing ministry was to build a high-caliber classical choral ensemble that could encourage and inspire Ukrainian Believers and present the gospel message to the larger arts community.

That vision brought about the formation of Evangelion Chorale, "Good News" in Greek. The Chorale's first trip was in 1998 with fourteen singers and in the four subsequent tours has grown to an ensemble of forty musicians.

By God's grace, bolstered by a challenging repertoire, and benefiting from excellent audience responses, Evangelion has now gained access to the highest artistic venues in some of Ukraine's major cities. Evangelion now sings in major performing halls in Cherkassy, Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Rivne, Luts'k, and L'viv. The biennial trips have been received with standing-room only audiences in all of the above cities.

The Chorale sings a wide variety of musical styles (see "Listen"), purposefully including Ukrainian folk music and the works of Ukrainian composers in order to honor their rich musical tradition and to draw in the public and arts community. The heart of Evangelion's musical ministry remains the worship of the One Eternal God and a clear presentation of His life-giving truth. The Chorale comes in the name of Christ, presents the truth of the Gospel through music, points people to the scriptures as its source of truth, and to the local church as the base for its ministry.

Singers from the Chorale are drawn largely from Minnesota's rich collegiate choral tradition, and include graduates of Bethel University, Northwestern College, St. Olaf College, Augsburg College, and Concordia College, among others. Because the group rehearses only once each month, some singers are also continuing members of other professional Twin City groups such as National Lutheran Choir, Minnesota Chorale, VocalEssence, and the former Dale Warland Singers.

Singers pay for their own expenses for the two-week tour and the Chorale is dependent upon the generous gifts of its family and friends to finance its biennial tours (see Supporting Evangelion).

In March of 2006 the Evangelion Chorale was welcomed under the auspices of The Shepherd's Foundation where it will serve as the music extension of Shepherd's professional-to-professional ministries. This will begin a new and exciting chapter for this cutting-edge ministry.