Monthly trips were made to the Donetsk region during the summer to support our brothers in Christ who serve in the Armed Forces and to help, encourage, and evangelize our defenders. Vyacheslav and Maksym Arterchuk, Arkadiy Slyoza, Ruslan Andrusenko, Pavlo Ozarchuk, and Mykhailo Katela participated in them.
Our mission is very grateful to everyone who joined the ministry to the Ukrainian military. We thank the Christian Charitable Foundation Heart and Hands from the city of Khmelnytskyi, the church communities of Rivne, Zvyagel, and Boryspil, and our brothers and sisters in Christ from Italy and the USA. We especially want to mention two brave sisters Dorothy and Katun from the ABEJ church in Tours (France), who personally visited Ukraine to support these ministries and encourage Ukrainian Christians.
Sisters from the Community of the Good Shepherd church in Rivne proposed and implemented a new method of raising funds for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – a church charity fair that was held in the city center. Anyone could find something they needed there after paying a small amount of money, and thus contribute to the victory. And for the August trip, the sisters baked 9 boxes of delicious buns, which you definitely won’t buy in a store.
In the process of preparing for the trip, the brothers are always worried that there will not be enough purchased and donated items and products for the military, and they fervently pray for this. As a result, on the eve of departure, the car is full of goods and supplies, and sometimes it is so overloaded that you have to worry again, but only about getting there without breaking the shock absorbers. The Lord is very good to us in times of serious trials…
During the trip to the hellish Donetsk region in August, the first meeting with the guys who are fighting in the Pokrov direction took place in a cafe. The brothers did not expect that everything would work, but still, some were ready to treat the soldiers to pizza and provide an opportunity to chat for several hours.
New friends must hear the Good News! This time they met Kostya, he had several injuries and suffered a concussion, after which he began to stutter. He has a wife and an eight-year-old son at home. Petro and Taras, our brothers in Christ, also came to the meeting. During such meetings with the brothers, men who do not know God as a personal Savior can hear what believers are talking about, and what they are worried about, and discover something new for themselves about the One in whom we believe.
This time, several units fighting in the directions of Chasovoy Yar, Kreminnaya, Kupyansk, Toretsk, and Bakhmut received useful things and goodies. Camouflage nets are the first thing some units ask for. At this stage, the war can be described as a “war of technology,” the most effective weapon of which so far is drones, and the nets do a really good job protecting our soldiers. Therefore, we invite everyone who can to join this cause. Sizes: 2.5–3 by 6–7 m, autumn color, but if you have other sizes, they will be used in any case.
They visited our brother Serhiy in Kostyantynivka. The city is gradually dying out. On some streets, where life was once vibrant, not a single person, dog, or cat was found, only boarded-up windows of houses.
Another brother, Serhiy, a deacon of the Baptist Church from the city of Kramatorsk, went to the front from the first days of the full-scale war, until now faithfully defends his region and our country. Meeting him for the first time took place in the south of New York where our brothers are.
Vyacheslav and Arkady also visited the soldiers of the 109th brigade on the first and second frontlines. Among these men are many of those who have already heard the gospel. This time they read a psalm and verses from the New Testament about the transfiguration of Christ and then had a heated discussion about God, the Bible, sin, and life by faith… It is very sad that some soldiers who have already heard the gospel many times, who daily look into the eyes of death, survive, and get healed from the wounds, yet continue to insist that there is no God… We can conclude that war does not make people believers, faith is a gift of God through knowledge of the truth of the Word. Specifically, as the communication was taking place, they reported on the radio about the killing of two of them and the wounded of two of their comrades… While our brothers were there, 6-7 enemy shells flew over them, and one exploded not very far from them.
During this four-day trip, they had the opportunity to talk with brother Oleksandr in Druzhkivka. A former student of the Rivne Bible College, who now serves as a chaplain in one of the brigades. He received an evangelistic cube, which our friends bought for those who directly serve in the army and are ready to preach the Good News by using it. Immediately, they found guys nearby with whom they shared the gospel through a cube, prayed, got to know each other, hugged, and each then continued doing their own things…
“A long time ago, at the beginning of my Christian life, I came across George Muller’s book “The Man Who Trusts God.” Looking at how God acted in Muller’s life, I mentally turned to the Lord, thinking I wish it happened in my life too… And this moment came when the Lord led me in the ministry during the war, first evacuation from the places of hostilities, and then ministry to the military on the front lines. I never asked anyone for funds, I just prayed, as Muller once prayed, and each time God sent funds, means, and resources through different people so that I could carry out what God called me to do. I don’t want to change anything in this position of trusting God, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to wait for the necessary amount to be raised, which will be used to buy the necessary things that the military is asking for. Thank God for brothers and sisters living abroad, each of your donations is valuable not only in financial terms but also because you do not care what is happening in your former homeland. And to all those who are from Ukraine, I bow before you, because I know well what it means to live in conditions of war, the collapse of the economy, etc., and at the same time support those who are in the army. May God richly bless everyone and reward you a hundredfold for your generosity. Blessings!” (Vyacheslav Arterchuk)
We continue to pray for victory and peace. The war and the grief it brings remain an urgent topic and pain for Ukrainian society and a challenge for churches.
