Update #16:
5th & 12th August |
We're sorry this update is a bit delayed this week, due to other commitments. |
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Please do continue to pray for Vitalii Mariash who is now in military training, and for his family. |
Please also continue to pray for Andrii & Yolanta Kaustov, with the latest troubling news on Yolanta's tumour, and also the time it's taking to complete all Andrii's tests before a course of treatment can be agreed. | | Vitalii Mariash now in training |
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As the situation in Ukraine fades from the news headlines in the UK, it would be easy to assume that things are returning to normal in the country. And of course, in any situation, people will work to establish a level of stability. But the UNHCR figures continue show the enormity of the problems with 6.6 million people displaced by the war and over 6.3 million refugees present across Europe. Nearly 2 million of these are now in Russia, but there is no information as to how many of these are voluntary and how many forced repatriations. In the words of the UNHCR report, "Many people who are trapped are unable to meet their basic needs including for food, water and medicines. The delivery of life-saving aid remains challenging, with a lack of safe humanitarian access in areas where intense fighting is ongoing."
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Last week, we spoke to Pastor Vasyl Ostryi, of the Irpin Bible Church, who gave us a moving and insightful view of the challenges and opportunities they are facing as a church, and their experiences over the last 6 months. Your donations have been helping to support the work of the church in Irpin since the invasion. Do take a few minutes to watch the video.
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Irpin is located just to the north west of Kyiv, and was on the main road which the Russians used as their route into Kyiv at the start of the invasion. You might remember the pictures of the destroyed bridge, with refugees and helpers finding their way across the river. The church was instrumental in helping around 3,500 get to safety, providing shelter when it was too dangerous to move.
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| Listen to Vasyl Ostryi from the Irpin Bible church talking about their experience in ministering to needy people |
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Since that time, the church in Irpin has continued to minister to people in the area in a sacrificial way. They have now set up 6 volunteer centres in different towns, where they provide humanitarian aid, work with children and families through camps etc., provide psychological and spiritual support, and also crucially share the gospel. |
But Vasyl's most important request for prayer is for more Christian workers to step forward, with a heart for the gospel, in what he refers to as 'this special time'. For everyone, it's a struggle to survive and to provide for their family, establishing some sense of normality. But Vasyl sees the great need to serve people, and with so many willing to listen to the gospel, his prayer is for Christians to be moved to give themselves in sacrificial service.
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Oleg Larkov, pastor of the Bozhiy Dizayn Baptist Church in Kyiv shared a similar picture. Before the invasion, he and his wife, Alena, both had jobs to enable them to serve their small church. But with the war, they had to give up their jobs in order to give themselves to serving needy people in the city, and had been struggling to survive.
We'd been supporting the work of the church, through your donations, since the start of the war, but only recently had Oleg's family situation become clear to us. When we let him know that we wanted to support his family as well as the work his response was, "Thank you for taking care of our family. This decision moved us to tears." |
| Pastor Oleg Larkov, sharing the gospel with people at his church in Kyiv. |
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Please do pray for the Lord to raise up more evangelical Christian workers with a heart for the gospel, to serve in Ukraine. |
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| Donations Received (as of 12th August): |
£993,198 has been received since the start of the appeal. |
£827,895 has been disbursed since the start of the appeal.
68% to Ukraine 21% to Moldova 6% to Poland
4% 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, and as mentioned above, we extended this support to Oleg & Alena Larkov and their family, to enable them to continue working full time in the service of the church. |
| Oleg & Alena Larkov with their family, taken in happier times. |
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This week, a further shipment of clothes has just been sent to Mihai Chisari in Moldova - just as the previous supplies ran out - and we're very grateful to Anna & Pal Borzasi in Romania, along with Pastor Simon Gay in the UK, for a lot of hard work in this. |
We're also very grateful to Krzysztof Rutkowski for getting another 2,500 copies of the New Testament and Psalms in Ukrainian printed in a very short space of time, and these are due to be shipped into Ukraine on Monday. |
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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Since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, Mihai Chisari, his wife Irina, and the small group of believers in the Imago Dei Baptist Church in Chisinau, Moldova, have given of their best in their effort to provide support for those who were arriving in their little country with barely a suitcase full of belongings. Then summer arrived, and the normal annual work in camps and children's clubs began, alongside ongoing youth work. |
Do take a moment to read this short but very encouraging article about the work of the church amongst teenagers and young children, both Moldovan and Ukrainian, and the fruit this is bearing, and how the small church is managing to combine this with its ongoing support for Ukrainian refugees. |
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But it was a great joy for Mihai to see his sister Stela recently professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She was baptised by him in early August 2022. We rejoice too with Stela and Mihai!
Please do pray for Mihai & Irina, and for Stela, and others in the Imago Dei Baptist Church. |
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Mihai Chisari and his sister Stela in Chișinău, Moldova. |
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Phil Dunn (EMF Northern Ireland Representative) |
| Martin Tatham (EMF Church Partnership Coordinator) |
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