There are a lot of immigrants, migrant workers and students in Poland and particularly in Warsaw from the former CIS countries, who understand Russian language well. In the recent years, the number of migrant workers from Ukraine is particularly increased. Most of these people are under their 40s, and they are willing to do any work. The unstable economic situation and low salaries are forcing them to go to Poland in attempt to find something steady or more reliable. Of course, many of them have heard about God at home, but they have never thought about it seriously. Coming to a new country, they often face a loneliness, injustice and problems that come just out of the blue. This is a good opportunity to turn their gaze to Christ and tell them about the importance of their lives to Him and His love to them. That is what actually Alexander Ilyin does on the regular basis, sharing the Gospel to those who are willing to hear it and accept it.
Alexander was born and grew up in the Ukraine. In 1998, he went to Poland for the first time, just dreaming to earn some money and change his life for the better. He was offered there a legal employment, and he decided to stay longer. Once in a while, the rigors of life compelled him to think about the eternity and look for the sense of everything. One fine day, just walking down the street, Alexander heard as someone in broken Polish has spoken loudly about God. He halted in his walk to listen to these words, which in due time made a dramatic impact on his life. Two Americans with the Bibles in their hands were preaching the Gospel in the midst of the street. At the end of this encounter he has been given a booklet, where was written the address of the particular church. He went there on the next Sunday, and ended up attending this church on the regular basis.
In 2002, he repented at home, and on January 12th, 2003, he made it public in the church. In March of the same year he was baptized, and initially became an active member in one Polish church, which was organized by American missionaries. But soon, he found the Russian-speaking Christian Baptist Church of Warsaw. Now, he is engaged in the ministry of biblical counseling and preaching, likewise, he is a teacher of the Bible classes and a leader of small groups.
Alexander has continued to work for some time at the construction, and almost every day he rubbed shoulders with the people similar to him, which were also trying to find the answers for many life’s questions. The people who came to Poland to work faced the challenges of loneliness because they left their families, friends and relatives behind. Alexander has tried hard not to miss any opportunity to share the Gospel with them, as well as to become friends with them. Over the time, he and his wife began to visit one small church, which was at that time the only Russian-speaking congregation, not just in Warsaw, but also all around the Poland. It has mostly consisted of the believing migrant workers, but through the time there also emerged a new converts. In 2013, Alexander has enrolled in the School of Biblical Preaching in Rivne. The study has strongly influenced on his spiritual outlook, and he began to understand more clearly of what God wants from him. Subsequently, Alexander found himself thinking about the beginning of a new church in Warsaw, and later on the same proposition came from the elders of his church.
In 2016, Alexander had been entrusted with the pastoral ministry. On March 20th, there has been held the first meeting of the newborn church “God’s grace,” the name of which sounds in Polish literally like “God’s mercy.” People are open to come to church, and their number slowly grows. They do not have their own building, but they rent a room in Warsaw and conduct the services every Sunday. Currently, there are 15-20 people attending regularly. On July 3rd, 2016, there has been carried out the first baptism in the church of brother Ruslan, who is now actively helping to Alexander in the ministry. On March 20th, 2016, there has been held the first meeting of the new church and it was a great start for the beginning. At the moment, Alexander is engaged in a pastoral ministry at this small congregation.
Alexander is married. He has a wife Ira. They have three beautiful children: Karolinka 1 year old, Olha 11 years old and Sonya 13 years old. They all live together with Alexander in Poland, in Warsaw.
Due to the fact that Alexander lives in Poland for 18 years, he has mastered Polish language and speaks fluently. It helps him to communicate with the Polish, and to share with them Christ. He also speaks Russian language and it gives him the opportunity to communicate with the Russian-speaking population of this country. Alexander is a very outgoing person and knows how to build relationships with any people, it helps him to bear witness about the Lord daily. Thankfully to the ministry of Alexander, many people have heard about Christ and began to come to church, while others realized for themselves what God wants from them, and along with Alexander became the founders of the new team of the church “God’s Grace” in Warsaw.
Now, there are people attending the worship services both unbelievers and believers.
The last summer appeared to be very busy and at the same time beneficial. There were many teams coming from different cities such as Rivne, Zdolbunov (Ukraine), Sacramento (USA), Vancouver (USA), Los Angeles (USA.) These teams helped them to carry out the street evangelism and concerts, where they handed out brochures, invitations to a church and for seminars. Yet, there were hosted church cookouts, where gathered a lot of people, both from the Church and non-believers, who were invited during this evangelism. Some of them have the desire to continue to come together and study the Scriptures. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and edification.
Throughout this summer there were a lot of guests who conducted seminars on the topics: “Triumph in Christ,” “Framework of spiritual growth,” “Family – a place of piety,” “Parenting.” God has brought to these meetings a lot of people, some of them have read the advertisements on the internet, someone has been given the invitation to church at the street evangelism, someone received a text message or a phone call from friends: The good news travels quickly. Thankfully to all these workers, the God’s Word is being sown abundantly in Warsaw. The worship meetings are held regularly on every Sunday. There are about 20 people getting together. Due to the fact that the church is that small – it gives the opportunity to devote more time to each member of the church. Likewise, during the week there are being held small groups of the Bible study, personal meetings, private counseling and collective prayers. There is a weekly meeting of brothers for the in-depth study of the Bible, fellowship and devotions. Alexander and his wife have already a lot of friends among the Polish unbelievers and now they are praying about the organization of another small group, but in Polish language. Recently, on one of the Sundays, they’ve held the service in Polish language. There were invited an acquaintances, both believers and unbelievers. They had a wonderful time of singing, preaching and communicating while having the tea in Polish. There is an urgent request to pray for this new ministry, that God will work in the hearts of these very religious but unsaved people. And, please ask God to give Alexander a clear vision of what He wants in the service of Alexander, please ask God to enable Alexander to plan his time effectively in his ministry.
Since recently, the church owns its website. It is still on the stage of development, but in the near future there will be posted a various videos, audios, printed materials, seminars, sermons, articles, and reports from various events, etc. Anyone will be able to get acquainted with any current happenings in the church through their website. In our modern time, the Internet – is a very good tool to keep the track of any events and life in the churches.
We are extremely thankful to God that He has abundantly blessed this small congregation already. Through the ministry of Alexander and his family many people are able to hear the Gospel and apply God’s love and care to their own life situation.
Please keep on praying for this family and their ministry.
Tetiana Arterchuk
