Ministry isn’t something that is just added to your life. Ministry should become your life! Whether you are ministering to your family or to someone at the grocery store, showing the love of Christ should be at the forefront of every day.  

Many of us have specific ministry tasks that we are responsible for, but that is only the beginning. Having a heart for ministry comes from having a heart for Christ. It means that in everything we do, we desire to do it as Christ did. He was intentional and looking for ways to serve, always “seeing” people in their need. He didn’t only see them though. He responded. He showed compassion and love to those whom others might not have ever even stood next to. 

Orphans can sometimes be those people who are hard to stand next to. It takes special people to minister to these children. Thankfully, there are many men and women who make it their life ministry to love on these kids and show them what a family truly is. Please pray for Vasily and Ira in the story below, who have made ministry their whole life.  

From Storyteller Angela in Ukraine:

When Vasily and Ira first began ministering to orphans many years ago, they dreamed of one day reaching the children connected to Ukraine’s social services—those who, though not living in orphanages, were still orphans at heart. Many of them lived with guardians, often elderly grandparents trying to raise grandchildren in fragile health and deep poverty. But for years, the door to that ministry remained firmly shut. 

“The director was always closed to anything Christian,” Ira recalls. “We prayed and waited. And then . . . the war began — and God opened that door.”

Since September 2024, with support from SGA, Vasily and Ira have been serving weekly at the Solominska Social Services Center—a place where orphaned children live with their guardians. Most of those guardians are grandmothers over 70, caring for one or two children while battling their own health struggles and grief.

The couple quickly saw that both generations—children and guardians alike—were deeply wounded. Many had lost loved ones. Every meeting became not only a time of crafts, games, and pizza, but a sacred moment of building and bonding.

“We divide the group into two different meetings,” Ira explains. “The little ones do crafts with their guardians—something creative that brings them closer. We play games and have a Bible story and eat together. In the meeting with the older ones, [the teens] we have sports, discussions, and food. We talk about things they care about: tattoos, swearing, relationships, holidays. We just listen and talk. They open up after playing and eating.”

The transformation has been tangible. Guardians often tell social workers—and then Vasily and Ira—that these gatherings have drawn them closer to the children in their care. “They say that on their walk home, they keep talking about what we discussed,” Vasily and Ira say. “All week they remember something from the meeting and wait for the next one.”

Beyond these group meetings, the couple regularly visits families in dire need bringing food, meat, and the Word of God into homes that often look empty and broken. “These families open up,” the couple shares. “They talk a lot. They listen. And we are so thankful we can be with them.”

It still amazes them how the same director who once resisted any Christian presence now welcomes Bible lessons and prayer. Perhaps the war softened hearts and showed some people that we can’t rely on ourselves. We need God.

This past summer, they organized a camp for children and their guardians right in a neighborhood park. There were games, crafts, workshops, laughter, and even a barbecue—a rare and joyful celebration for families who seldom get such moments. “Because of their circumstances, most of them never go anywhere—not even to the park or a movie theater,” Ira explains. “That week gave them a piece of normal childhood.”

Vasily and Ira also visit a children’s home in another city for kids with special educational needs. These include orphans, half-orphans, and children with difficult physical conditions. In the summer, they also led a camp there, bringing games, competitions, songs, and the Word. The children’s joy was immense, and they felt seen.

The more that Vasily and Ira work with teens, the more they see a deep hunger—not just for attention or fun, but for meaning. “They’ve already seen too much sin and pain,”  the couple explains. “They carry guilt, they don’t trust easily. But their main need is God.” That conviction fuels everything they do. They feed them physically and then feed their souls. They pray that they would want to change, that they would see their need for God. Their greatest joy is when one of the teens or guardians walks through the doors of their church.

At home, they host a weekly small group for graduates of orphanages and older teens from social services. “I always cook dinner,” Ira says with a smile. “They come, we eat, my husband shares a topic from the Bible, and we pray. It used to be that they didn’t want to stay long at church meetings—but here at our home, they never want to leave. They stay for hours, talking and sharing.”

Years of ministry to orphans prepared Vasily and Ira for a different kind of calling—adoption. When they welcomed their own adopted son into their family, their understanding of orphans deepened in ways no ministry training could have taught.

“Now we understand the pain, the walls, the silence,” the couple shares. “When children don’t open up right away, we don’t push—we just give them time. Adoption helped us see everything from the inside.”

For Vasily and Ira, ministry isn’t something separate from their everyday life—it is their life. They plan, dream, and serve together. “We support each other in everything,” Ira says. “We can’t even remember when we last talked about something that wasn’t connected in some way to ministry.”

When asked what keeps them going, they don’t hesitate. “God,” they say. “Prayer. We share our needs with others and feel the fruit of those prayers. James 1:27 says that pure religion is to care for widows and orphans. We know this is His will—and He gives the strength.”

Through the heartbreak of war and the exhaustion of daily need, they continue to serve. Because for Vasily and Ira, the story is never about them. It’s about the God who still opens closed doors—even in the darkest times—so that the fatherless might find a Father, and the broken might find hope again.

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In a time of great uncertainty, God is bringing help, healing, and hope to the people of Ukraine through SGA-supported pastors, churches, a seminary, and SGA-supported Compassion Ministry. Be a part of God’s incredible work with your generosity and prayer support.

Your gift of compassion helps struggling people with emergency aid that generally includes Scripture materials, food, and hygiene supplies.