Update #21:
28th October - 4th November |
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Please join us on Monday 28th November 1900-2000 GMT for a prayer meeting for Ukraine over Zoom. |
As the war continues, the cold winter draws near, and the number of displaced people in Ukraine continues to be over 6 million, we would like to encourage you to pray earnestly for Ukraine. We hope to be joined by a couple of people working in the region, who will be leading our prayer times. |
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Last week, we had the privilege of having Volodymyr Kostyshyn, along with his friend and co-worker Ivan Hontar come to the UK to lead a seminar at the Grace Baptist Mission annual mission day and talk to churches about the situation in Ukraine. It wasn't easy for them to come over, but they were very eager to thank people who had given them such support in prayer and giving. It was a great blessing for those of us who had the chance to meet with them; but they were also very encouraged as they saw the heartfelt support and prayerfulness of Christians in the UK.
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You can see a short video below where Ivan and Volodia share a couple of prayer requests for Ukraine, as the weather turns cold. |
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As we talked to them about the current situation in Ukraine, the chilling reality of the recent widespread Russian campaign to attack energy infrastructure across Ukraine kept coming to the fore. The prospect of temperatures dropping down to -200C or below brings home the ruthlessness of this campaign, and already 40% of the country's electricity distribution capacity has been destroyed, along with much of the gas supply infrastructure. |
The morning after they arrived in the UK, having travelled for 22 hours, both Ivan and Volodia were woken by the noise of an ordinary motorbike on the road outside. Why had this startled them both? This was the same sound made by the Iranian-made drones. They could laugh it off, "Have the Russians really sent drones to get us in the UK?", but there was a sad reality underlying this. |
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What will happen to the many millions of people in Ukraine, particularly the 6.5 million displaced people, living with inadequate homes, disrupted gas and electricity supplies? Ivan and Volodia's hope and intention is to help as many evangelical churches as possible become 'warm hubs' where people can gather in warmth, get some hot food, and re-charge their phones. |
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It was so encouraging to hear about the work of the 25 evangelical churches around Ternopil which had decided from the very first day of the war to work together, along with Ivan's Light of the Reformation charity, to help Ukrainian people. Every few weeks Ivan's team sends a vanload of supplies over to sister churches in Kharkiv to help them.
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In late September, they made a trip to the areas which had just been liberated from Russian occupation. The team found some of the stories of the people harrowing, many of the people having spent much of the last few months in shelters. Please take a look at this video which Ivan shared with us from the trip. |
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Ivan Hontar and his team frequently take aid supplies to churches in Kharkiv; a few weeks ago they visited the areas recently liberated from Russian occupation. |
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Please do pray for evangelical churches seeking to support needy people in Ukraine, both with humanitarian support and in sharing the gospel. Pray that the Lord will raise up more evangelical Christian workers with a heart for the gospel, to serve in Ukraine. |
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| Donations Received (approximate): |
£1,263,000 has been received since the start of the appeal. |
Funds Disbursed (approximate): |
£960,000 has been disbursed since the start of the appeal.
70% to Ukraine 20% to Moldova
6% to Poland 3% to Romania
1% for across Italy, Hungary, Spain and literature from UK |
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We are currently giving direct regular support to 13 evangelical churches across Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and Romania, and others on an as-needed basis. But some of this support is also channelled to other churches, particularly in the warzone. In some cases, we are also providing support to particular families, to enable them to support the work of their church. |
We're very grateful to everyone who has given so generously. We'd particularly like to acknowledge a recent grant of $100,000 received from our sister mission organisation Come Over and Help; they work in Ukraine too, but they also wanted to help us. We are preparing to send a truckload of generators and other winter supplies to Ukraine, to make best use of this and other funds.
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For more details of how we are working to make effective use of the generous donations entrusted to us, please click here. |
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The week before last, we caught up over Zoom with Vitalii and Liudmyla Mariash at their home in Kyiv, along with their friend Sasha Diankov, who was in Chenivstsi. Vitalii had been in the war zone as a military chaplain for weeks but had just come home for his first period of leave. Whilst Vitalii had been ministering to Ukrainian soldiers on the Eastern Front, Liuda had taken on more of the responsibility for distributing aid back in Kyiv, with their church 'The Bible and Life Church'.
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Oksana Kostyshyn is a very skilful musician, and has translated many hymns and songs into Ukrainian. She kindly recorded this beautiful version of this Ukrainian folk song "Моя молитва нехай лине" ("Let my prayer Arise") for us. Do take a few moments to listen to this sad but beautiful song. |
| Oksana Kostyshyn plays and sings the Ukrainian folk song "Моя молитва нехай лине" ("Let my prayer Arise") |
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Phil Dunn (EMF Northern Ireland Representative) |
| Martin Tatham (EMF Church Partnership Coordinator) |
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