God keeps Ukraine by his mercy. God blesses Ukraine with your prayers and your help. We sincerely thank all our brothers and sisters, friends and partners.
God keeps Ukraine by his mercy. God blesses Ukraine with your prayers and your help. We sincerely thank all our brothers and sisters, friends and partners.
1.Every day we gather news for you to the sounds of air raid sirens. Each such siren can end in rocket attacks. During the Baptist office in Lviv, at least 10 rockets flew into the city. The Baptist Union Coordination Center continues to receive and send aid across Ukraine. During the 76 days of the war the humanitarian storage in Lviv received and sent more than 127 twenty-ton trucks. At least 320 vehicles were sent from the storage. 2. Even shelling does not stop the work of volunteers These days, Roman and his team in Lysychansk came under enemy fire and were forced to hide under the supports of the railway bridge. God saved their lives, and they continue to serve those who still remain in Luhansk. Lysychansk, like all other unconquered territory of Luhansk region, has been at the epicenter of enemy shelling for several weeks. Another 60,000 people remain in the free Luhansk region. They need the delivery of humanitarian goods with delivery to bomb shelters. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, a team of volunteers from the local Grace Church, led by Roman Kozodoi, has been serving those affected by the bombing and humanitarian crisis: taking out refugees, bringing medicine and food, and visiting basements. "One of the last evacuations was very difficult," says Roman Kozodoy. – An elderly woman with a fracture of the femoral neck can neither walk nor sit. Due to the fact that she could not cope or find volunteers, she made two suicide attempts. We managed to take her to the Dnipro and hand her over to the people who will take care of her". Communications in Luhansk region were completely destroyed as a result of hostilities. Under the current conditions, both electricity and water supply in Lysychansk will not be restored. That is why people here are in extremely difficult conditions for survival. 3. Gifts for children – a special load in deoccupied villages The village of Bilka, Okhtyrka district, Sumy region, survived the Russian occupation in February and March. After backdown, the occupiers left a lot of stretch marks here, mined parks areas, administrative facilities, cemeteries, and plantations. Humanitarian aid here is organized twice a month by Light of Salvation and Hope Poltava churches. There are 220 children in the village. Therefore, among the systemic help, volunteers should keep in mind a special burden – gifts for children. Sweets, cookies, stationery and creative items – any of this will add a little joy and warmth to the younger generation of Ukrainians. 4. Fewer and fewer people want to be evacuated Church from village Horodyshche constantly preparing and collecting all kinds of help in hot spots. Brothers from this church have been visiting Gulyaypole city, in the Zaporizhia region and Kramatorsk city in the Donetsk region. But during the last two days, the occupying forces have been mercilessly shelling these cities. The brothers say that the people who stayed there do not want to be evacuated; they say they are afraid to go into the unknown. They name the reason: they have no money and no acquaintances to whom they would dare to move. The brothers say that a baby was recently born in the basement and now lives with his mother in the basement. The child is simply wrapped in a sheet, without baby’s clothes. Volunteers say that at first they gave help in the amount of one package of 50 cm by 50 cm, and then one thing at a time for everyone to have enough. Ivan Chernyak, a volunteer from Horodyshche, says: “God would allow those people to accept Christ! So that they don't just accept help. And they came to God and received salvation from Him. One day brother who organized a church there wrote an ad: "Whoever wants to come glorify God, come on Sunday". 200 people came. 9 of them repented! 5. In addition to serving the settlers, the church does not let other needy people out of sight The Church of the Resurrection from the city of Chernomorsk, Odessa region, like many other churches of the fraternity, is working hard for the twelfth week of the war. Yes, it is true that the war gave us new types of ministry, – says the pastor of the church Vyacheslav Shcherbakov. But we did not leave our "peaceful" areas of work. We are talking about the rehabilitation service of drug addicts, for example. The church has men's and women's rehabilitation centers, where we help our wards change their lives through faith in and support for the Lord. We study the Bible with them, pray, and volunteer together. And we continue to serve the 25 blind people in our city: we help to clean the apartments, make purchases in the shop, and cook. We also pray together and read the Bible to them.
1. Holidays and weekdays of the Irpin Bible Church Up to 70 volunteers live, eat and work in the church building in Irpin. Every evening they talk about the emotions of the day, followed by a prayer of thanksgiving. Each of them has its own area of work: A team of builders goes to the damaged houses to cover the broken windows with husk, repair the roof, and repair the doors. The boys also help the owners to take out the surviving things from the half-burned or half-destroyed house or apartment. As lunchtime approaches, the boys deliver hot food to the Territorial Defence Forces and the Armed Forces. During the day, people go to church to wash and dry clothes, charge their phones, get basic necessities, vegetables, clothes, and basic building materials. And every morning and every evening the citizens are invited to pray. Pastors and deacons are waiting to listen and be there. We pray that the church will be able to expand its ministry to restore life in the city, helping spiritual revival, emotional healing, supporting the elderly who remained in the city during the war. 2. Along the front line in the Donetsk region crowded church worships Myronivskyi village in Donetsk region has been living near the front line for eight years. The hardships of war motivate people to reach out to God and go to church. Because where to find acceptance and support today? "How valuable it is to be with the church," says local missionary Ilya Natalchenko, recalling the celebration of Easter. "This is the best Easter of my life. There are so many people coming that there is not enough room for them." 3. About 40% of inhabitants of Mykolaev left the city in connection with constant attacks of the Russian troops. The city is preparing for the siege of the Russians. On the eve of Easter, explosions were heard all day - fighting took place on the border with the Kherson region. But the service took place in all churches of the Mykolaev area which are in the territory controlled by Ukraine. Churches are serving God and people in this difficult time. They need our prayerful support because the threat here remains great - the Russians are trying to get closer to Mykolaev, continuing to shell the city. 4. In Luhansk region, Sunday meetings did not take place due to shelling The bishop of churches of the Luhansk region Gennady Shulzhenko tells that churches didn't gather together on Easter. Those churches that planned to gather in the evening could not come to their church buildings in the morning due to heavy shelling. Only one church was able to hold Easter worship - in Lysychansk. The period is difficult, many have limited resources, and the majority of the population has become displaced. Those who remain distribute humanitarian aid, visit basements and, if possible, help all those in need. 5. The Chernihiv region has new people joining the Church Despite the fact that public transport has not been restored in Chernihiv, the church is visited by many people. The second Chernihiv church has 75% of nonchurch people in the church. That part of the hall, which received a direct hit of the projectile in the window sill, has not yet been repaired. Here on Easter 8 people prayed the prayer of repentance. Also on this day, 45 people gathered for worship in the village of Dniprovske, Chernihiv region, 15 of them accepted Christ into their hearts. 6. Villagers are helping to rebuild cities Ukrainians do not yet know the plan for post-war reconstruction. And although our victory is still on the way, we all want to rebuild and develop Ukraine now - in the little ways we have. Baptists from the village of Buzivka in Cherkasy region have joined a volunteer local fire team to help rebuild the suburbs of Kyiv. This group came to Irpin at the invitation of the city government and has been working for several days. They eliminate the consequences of the destruction of administrative and private housing. 7. The people of Lviv brought Easter bread to Bucha and Gostomel Volunteers from Lviv distributed 600 pieces of Easter bread to the residents of Gostomel and Bucha. From morning till night they handed out the Gospel to the people, testified of Christ, and called to keep God. Gryhoriy Ryasnyi, pastor of the Message of Hope Church in Lviv, said many people still live in basements. There are empty streets. Residents hang a white handkerchief at the gate, indicate their phone number and wait for help in the basement. People say: we are afraid that there will be shelling now. They are very frightened by the horrors they have experienced. This is their second trip. Baptists brought people gas cylinders, medicines, generators, mobile phones and Ukrainian food. 8. In the church near Kharkiv, meetings are filled with non-church people On Sunday, the church of Merefa, located 20 km from Kharkiv, was able to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ together. Thank God, the church was able to gather at such a difficult time. The hall was filled with people, and many non-church people in the area began to come to church regularly to seek consolation in God's Word and fellowship with Christians. After the worship there was a tea party. All children received sweet gifts. 9. Churches were able to hold Easter worships in the temporarily occupied Kherson region On Sunday, the churches of the Kherson region, despite the temporary occupation, gathered to serve together to glorify the Risen Savior and encourage each other. Meetings took place even in those settlements located on the front line, under fire. Brothers and sisters gathered together in the homes of believers, the Word of God and songs of praise and hope were heard. Intimidation and provocation of criminals could not deprive believers of the joy of resurrection.
1. Evacuation from the East is getting more complicated The aggravation of the situation in Eastern Ukraine has made it difficult to evacuate local people. Volunteers, risking their lives, try to take humanitarian aid there and take people out of dangerous places. The other day brothers from Cherkasy took another 90 people out of Lysychansk. Vitaliy Andriyets, who has organized the column of vehicles, says that this may be the last trip for the coming weeks. Our brothers volunteers need our prayer support. 2. Our prayers were not stopping Oksana and her son from Mariupol miraculously escaped from the city under fire. The Lord Himself has helped them. At first they were in the basement and constantly repeated Psalm 90. They asked God to stop the enemy's attacks and become a wall of fire around the basement where they stayed. Oksana says, ‘One day our houses were shelled with "grad" (multiple rocket launchers) four times, and we were ready for death, but the shelled miraculously flew over our basement and exploded nearby. My son said, "Mom, let's pray the prayer of repentance," and we prayed. Next morning we heard someone calling us. It was our friend who managed to break through the shelling to pick us up and take to the evacuation site. We could hardly believe it. In a minute we grabbed what was at hand and left. We were taken out by strangers. All the way we continue to pray asking God to accompany us on our way, and we again recited Psalm 90. We just prayed and prayed… When we arrived to the safe place at last, my son said, “Mom, it's a miracle. God has created so many miracles in our lives!”. It was so true. I wept. The next day we learned that after our leaving a bomb had hit the basement where we were hiding. The Lord brought us out and took care of us through the people that we never met. We still have relatives that stay in Mariupol till now, and we do not know anything about them for two weeks. But we believe that God can and will save them, because the only hope is in Him. 3. Churches of Sumy region after the occupation Sumy region slowly resumes its life after de-occupation. More than ten churches of the regional association could not hold usual services. And we cannot even mention about any social work in the circumstances in which the churches of Okhtyrka, Trostyanets and Konotop were for a long time. Thank God, after the liberation from the occupiers, dozens of volunteer teams from different regions of Ukraine started to bring humanitarian aid to local people. So far, almost all churches have resumed their services and are praying that all areas of Ukraine will freed from Russian troops. 4. The city administration promotes the social work of churches Chernihiv has already been unblocked, and a lot of work is being added to the churches. Volodymyr Vysotsky, head of the Chernihiv Baptist Association, says there is a huge shortage of people to work here. The pastor encourages young people who have such opportunity to return home. "People here is in great need, both physical and spiritual. With this in mind, have opened the fourth and fifth Baptist humanitarian sites, on April 8th – one in a local church building and another in the City Garden area, where the city administration has proposed a large space to help people.. Churches are gradually resuming church services in the cities and towns liberated from the occupiers. The consequences of Russian aggression in the form of destroyed houses and burned equipment add black color to all we can see here. There is still a threat of rocket fire, but the fact that such a large territory was liberated from the Russian aggressors is giving new strength for the further service. The first Chernihiv church began to hold services just in the churchyard. The church building, which was seriously damaged by the enemy shells, has not yet been repaired. 5. Ministry to the Gypsies Six months ago in the village Mykhailivka, Kirovohrad Region, began a ministry for Gypsies. With the help of churches and sacrificial people, they bought a house for the church building, rebuilt it and started working with children and adults. Pastor Vasyl Bezushko, regularly comes here 15 km away. He is always accompanied by his wife and three children. Today the worship service is attended by about 70 people. 6. The Bible Church of the New Districts in Irpen will rebuild a new church building A year ago, a young church in Irpin bought a building that it rebuilt into a church in eight months. This church building remained intact for almost the entire period of hostilities in the city. After the occupying forces left Irpin, they carried out a massive bombing of the city, which completely destroyed the roof and burned the second floor of the house with all property, equipment and musical instruments. The pastor of the church Andriy Meleshko says: “The situation itself very upset us, because we miraculously bought this house in March 2021. We did repairs during the whole warm period of the year and completely finished it on the second floor. But if we look at it from the other side, we are glad that members of the church, parishioners and their relatives were saved and taken away in the first days of the war. We believe that the Lord will give us the opportunity to rebuild the church building after victory and make it even better and more convenient to serve the Lord. But most importantly, we pray for our people in Irpin and try to serve them so that they will see in action that in the most difficult times, the Lord is near. 7. Irpin-Bucha: dangerous and extremely necessary process of restoration works The team of volunteers of the Irpin Bible Church did not leave Irpin during the whole first stage of the war. And now here, as well as in the next Bucha intensive work goes daily: to the people who have survived, brought food. They help to clean and in every possible way help sappers to demine city territories. Pray that God will give them moral and physical strength and save their lives.