The recent holidays have been replaced by daily cares, but in all our everyday things the Lord is with us, and He does His job and He is faithful to His Word. The Holy Spirit leads them through trials and grants them victories. We hope that this newsletter will be an encouragement to you!
“God is faithful, and there is no harm in Him.”
Deuteronomy 32:4
A Trip to Yakutia
On January 10, evangelists, Andriy and Ivan, left their homes and families on the coast of the Black Sea to go on a winter expedition to Yakutia by an SUV. In winter swamps and rivers in the north are frozen over and covered with ice, so it makes it possible to travel over such surfaces by car. In Yakutia, the brothers are awaited by people who heard the Gospel from Andriy back in 2020, and stayed in touch with him remotely during the pandemic. In many settlements, there’s no opportunity for Yakuts to attend a Christian church. On their way to the final destination, ministers were making a lot of stops in cities and villages of Russia where they could have an opportunity to give their testimonies at worship services, preach in rehab centers, and distribute the Gospels. On January 26, Andriy and Ivan finally reached the Republic of Sakha. They immediately began serving there by encouraging the believers and sharing the gospel from home to home. They are very grateful for the prayer support and ask to continue praying for two expeditions to the Arctic Circle and for numerous visits, given that the situation with coronavirus in Yakutia is getting worse. Pray, please, that the Word of God may be proclaimed through the brothers in the power of the Holy Spirit at the ends of the earth.
New Possibilities in Warsaw
On Christmas holidays, members of God’s Grace church in Warsaw organized and held a celebration for 50 children and visited an orphanage, the students of which were in the church camp last summer. The meeting was very warm and joyful. Although these children are surrounded by the care of the state, they do not get to experience parental love. The team prays that they will come to know God as a great and loving Father. The church is eager to serve children with visual impairments, and plans to purchase MP3 players with audio Bible. A special joy for the church was the opportunity to rent a facility almost in downtown Warsaw. After the renovation, two Sunday services, meetings with children and youth, and language courses are planned to be held in the new building. In the basement you can equip a room for sports and gymnastics with children. And this coming summer they’ve planned to hold a day camp here for children who live near the church and those with whom they made friends in the camp in the summer of 2021, and at Christmas.
Driven Church
The Lord leads our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan through the serious trials and tests. This is a Muslim country where faith in Christ is against the law. In December, in one of the cities, Taliban officials exposed a place where God’s children were gathered. They arrested many, some managed to escape, but not all. The detainees were tortured and some were killed. They have remained faithful to God to the end and are now in God’s Heavenly Kingdom. Their families remain in the city, and our Muslim people continue to support them. These developments have been a major shock to the Christian community in Afghanistan. The persecuted church needs our prayers!
Dissemination of Literature in Persia
What you read in books often leaves a lasting impression on you. That is why the book ministry is so important. This winter our brothers completed the translation into Farsi, published and distributed new books: “Conversation at the Gates of Hell,” “Precious Christ” and “Call to Joy.” This literature, along with the Bibles, Gospels, and booklets, is secretly distributed by our ministers in many provinces of a non-Christian country. The brothers are planning to reach the whole country this year. In this ministry, they are helped by one faithful brother. He oversees that the books are printed and delivered safely. Unfortunately, his eyesight suddenly started going downhill. Please pray that the operation he needs will improve his eyes.
Uighur Ministry
The Lord guides and blesses brother B. and his family. Now they are settling in a new place in a new country. By the grace of God, they have already received a residence permit, are now diligently learning the language and getting acquainted with local churches. Although the language is similar to their native language, there are some differences. Older children continue to study remotely, so they have a lot of classes, get used to the new place and say that they enjoy being here.
The family tries to participate in various ministries of the local community. Brother B. is involved in the worship ministry and men’s meetings, his wife T. participates in women’s meetings, where non-believers come. Now they have fewer meetings, because after the holidays many people got sick. The entire family of our minister also was ill, but the Lord kept them and they managed without complications.
Our ministers are glad that there is much more communication and freedom here than in China. There are women’s online meetings every Wednesday, which is a great encouragement and joy for sister T. Brother B. meets people on the street and in stores, and there are already those to whom he was able to tell about Christ. There is still much work to be done, and we are confident that the Lord will take care of everything and enable His children to fulfill the task. Thank you for your prayers!
Ministry to the Peoples of the East
From now on, you can get familiar with some news and testimonies in our new sections Persian Ministry and Arab Ministry. There is already a story about the media ministry in Farsi by a pastor-evangelist from Iran, as well as the testimony of our brother and co-worker from Morocco. Hopefully, we’ll continue posting more news and prayer needs on this topic, as this complicated and special ministry cannot develop without the prayerful participation of the whole Church. Although you understand that we cannot disclose all the details in view of the safety of our persecuted brothers and sisters in non-Christian countries in the Middle East.
Christmas Evangelism
We truly thank everyone who participated in our Christmas outreach project at mission spots!
Thanks to your donations and prayers, our co-workers has had the opportunity to hand out holiday presents to low-income families with children and to people at evangelistic gatherings. For many people, especially in non-Christian cultures, this is a clear indication that preachers are not just talking, but are truly interested in their needs and lives.
We are convinced that our joint participation in this ministry is not in vain before the Lord, and thanks to the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters, the people who received the Christmas gift experienced God’s special love and care for them.
Christian Outreach Camp
On January 9-15, in the village of Polyana, Carpathian region, our Christian Ethics Department, along with American friends from the Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis and East Albany, held a camp for teens, most of whom live in difficult circumstances.
37 participants of the camp, aged 13-17, from Rivne region, including 5 orphans, studied the Bible course Mortal Sins: Victory Over Destructive Temptations. In addition to studying, the teenagers participated in corporate worships, socialized in groups, played sports games, strolled, skied and snowboarded, and went to natural thermal springs.
On the last day of the camp, a boy and a girl prayed a prayer of repentance and reconciled to God, asking Jesus Christ to enter their hearts. They took this step consciously and thoughtfully. Many still had tears in their eyes after the sermon and during the call to repentance.
We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will bring about His victory in the hearts of these adolescents by the power of the Holy Spirit, that they will accept the Word of God and surrender their lives to the Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ!
Christian floorball Team SKY
This year, the coaches set out to build relationships with their parents, so they held several meetings for parents to talk about the club, its priorities and goals. They also organized a joint trip to the church campsite where they could spend time outdoors. There, they had an opportunity to talk about the importance of wisdom in raising children, and then read the Bible to see where we can get it.
God gave the opportunity to start training in two new schools in Rivne. First, they held floorball training at physical education classes, and then started training twice a week. From the very first practice, children hear the Good News at Bible lessons.
Our floorball players had a number of competitions of the Edge Christian League, which took place in Lutsk, the Precept Cup competition, all participants of which were attending church services.
From January 17 to 22, a team camp was held in Carpathians for children aged 13 and over. This year there were Bible lessons on how to overcome the sins that are destroying our lives. There was also time for fun, skiing, snowboarding, sledding, floorball and more.
We ask you to continue to pray for the children of the club who hear the Gospel so that Christ may be revealed to them and that He would enter their hearts.
Holiday of the Bible
Teacher of Christian ethics in Klevan Special School # 1, Rivne Regional Council, Ruslana Kovalchuk, who is also an employee of the CM Hope to People, together with the teaching staff of the institution prepared and conducted a play for the International Day of the Bible Sweeter than Honey. Students of grade three told the audience that the Bible was wonderful, important, and necessary for all.
At the end of the holiday, the children received delicious, useful, sweet-smelling honey, as well as wonderful children’s Bibles, because only the Word of God is sweeter than honey.
With this performance, teachers and young artists visited the Sunday service of the Rivne Bible Mission Church Community of the Good Shepherd. Thank God for such a wonderful long-standing cooperation!
Exhibition Savior of the World in Schools
On December 15, 400 children and 30 teachers and other employees of the lyceum, in the village of Malynsk, Rivne district, had the opportunity to listen to a tour of the exhibition of paintings by world-famous artists Savior of the World, during which the Word of Christ was abundantly sown. In January, the trips with an exhibition were made to schools in the village of Yarun, Novohrad-Volynskyi district, Zhytomyr region and Koloverty, Koretskyi district, Rivne region. After the exhibition, everyone received Christian literature as a gift: children’s Bible and coloring book, Bible for teenagers, Bible for adults, Gospel, magazines Word to the Teacher.
Reset of the Heart – 2022
We thank you for your prayers for the annual New Year’s conference for young people, which is not just called Reset of the Heart, but focuses on God and His Word. Young people had the opportunity to listen to seven wonderful sermons on the problems of superficial understanding of the Gospel and the dangers of not being able to live out the Gospel, on the Gospel as a union with the Personality, on voluntary suffering, sanctification and self-denial for the sake of the Gospel. Of course, there were holiday treats, fun competitions and a lot of fellowship. We pray and look forward to the next year when we can meet again!
Session at RBC Word of Grace
The winter session at Rivne Bible College was another blessing. The subject Survey of the New Testament this time was taught by a pastor from Kyiv, Vitaly Fomin.
Students, in particular, considered the issues of inspiration by God and authority of the Holy Scriptures, the canon of the New Testament, its cultural and historical background. In the end, everyone had a complete picture of all 27 books of the New Testament.
This session was not without adventure due to weather conditions: the roads were covered with snow, and for several days it was difficult to drive to the campsite by car. The brothers had to take up shovels and clear the road from snow, and to help those cars that got stuck get free. However, this only get them excited and gave a sense of unity. One evening the electricity went off just as we were holding a “baby shower” for a family of students from Poland. And although the holiday went great, but 4 hours in the evening without electricity, when a blizzard howls behind the window and the building begins to noticeably cool down, caused us serious concerns, which we overcame with prayer.
Everyone left for home happy and satisfied!
Tanya Arterchuk, Ira Solyanik, Nadia Dolya, Anatolij Kitajkin
