A Gospel Light In Darkness

It was on the 24th of February 2022, that Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, sparking dark and worrying times for the country. With outbreak of war, fear and uncertainty filled the whole nation, every day bringing increasingly alarming news, with continued shelling and growing numbers of casualties. Yet in the midst of this evil and carnage, there are pastors and their churches in Ukraine that have been labouring hard to care for people, and to offer hope that can only be found in Jesus.

To that end, we’ve been working closely with our historic partner church in Germany – Arche Church, in Hamburg, through this time. They planted a church in Dnipro, Ukraine around 5 years ago with a graduate from the Arche Pastors College, Michael Ostanin, a dear friend of Jeff Purswell and our family of churches, a friend and church that we’ve been eager to support.

Just recently, Jeff reached out to Michael, having read about the recent bombardment of Ukraine, to enquire of him and to let him know of our love and prayers. Here’s some of what Michael wrote back...

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for your prayers. God is truly protecting us!

We have just finished our summer camp for refugee children. On the very first day of the camp, there was a rocket attack on our city. There was a lot of destruction. 20 people were killed. About 300 people were injured.

One rocket exploded 200 meters from our church building during the camp. We did not have time to hide the children in the bomb shelter, because these were ballistic missiles, they are very fast. The children were very scared. But thank God, none of the children or adults were hurt.

Thank God, the church building was not damaged, the windows were not broken, because we reinforced all the glass in the church building with armoured film.

Immediately after the first explosion, we lowered all the children into the bomb shelter. The rocket attack continued for another 40 minutes, we heard loud explosions. The children were crying. Thank God we had ice cream and it somehow comforted the kids. That was the first day of camp. :)

But the next day of camp we had 50 more new kids!

We welcomed 8 new church members this Sunday.

And we still continue to minister to hundreds of refugees every Sunday.

Thank you, Jeff.

Your ministry and prayers are very important to me!

What an privilege we have to partner with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Michael and his team continue to preach the gospel, and shepherd their people, even in the midst of challenging circumstances and heartache. Their church of 140 members, continues to have over 700 people in attendance every week... And each week they seek to preach Christ and Him crucified, as they seek to win people to Christ.

So I want to ask you to please keep praying for Michael and Arche Church, Dnipro. Please pray that the war would soon come to an end, and that whilst they wait for that moment, that the light and hope of the gospel would shine brightly in the midst of darkness and suffering, and that the manifold wisdom of God be revealed through His church. Come Lord Jesus.