To follow in the footsteps of Jesus, churches like SGA-supported Pastor Pavlo’s have stepped out of their comfort zones while living in Ukraine’s war zone. And the result? Testimonies from displaced Ukrainians that point to the difference a powerful and loving witness for Jesus makes in the lives of those who don’t yet know Him.

Believers in Ukraine are Jesus’ hands and feet to people in great need, and suffering people are encountering His light and life. “How can we not thank Him, and how can we not believe in such a loving God?” a woman named Nadiia asked when church members gave her something to eat.

May we all be reminded of God’s power and plan when He uses a bag of food or other relief supplies to open the door to Gospel conversations. Read more from Pavlo’s recent report and hear directly from Nadiia and two more grateful recipients . . .

Dear friends in the Lord!

Our Baptist church sincerely expresses our gratitude for your sacrifice and continued support. Your food aid is distributed among the war-affected displaced people and among those who are in difficult circumstances also because of the war.

Our church shares the Gospel with those in our neighborhood, along with caring for others. In times of active hostilities around our city, we, as a church, saw a great need to serve people in this time of need. We started evacuating people to more safe places. We united with four other churches of our association and in a short period of time at the beginning of the war we were able to evacuate more than 5,000 people from our city. Also, we were able to convert all the church rooms into food warehouses. All the necessary food, clothing, hygiene items, etc. were delivered there. People were coming to our church every day for food and other necessities. More than 300 to 400 people came to the church every day. During the difficult time in the country and in our city, we distributed about 17,000 food packages. We also helped people with shelter for a while, and let them stay in the church to rest, warm up in the winter, have hot tea, and hide from the shelling.

Today, we continue to serve unbelievers, those who have no spiritual comfort because they do not bow their knees before God. We have a list of IDPs [internally displaced persons] who live close to our House of Prayer, and we visit them or invite them to Sunday services and provide them with all kinds of help. We have IDPs, large families, orphans taken care of by grandparents, and the disabled are also living nearby.

Therefore, we are especially grateful to our friends from the SGA mission, our sponsors, who serve our people so lovingly and sacrificially. Our church faithfully serves where it should be in the days of suffering and mourning, where it should be in this sinful world.

Thank you, friends, and for your sincere prayers for our nation. May God bless you and your families!

Pavlo
pastor of the Gospel House church

Here are three testimonies . . .

Testimony #1

My name is Nadiia. My son and I came to church for the first time to get food aid and stayed there. It is an incredible grace from God when you have Him in your heart. We fled from the [invaders] and God blessed us with a beautiful church, sincere Christians, and gave us food. How can we not thank Him, and how can we not believe in such a loving God? Over time, I told God about my sins, asked for forgiveness, and the church accepted me into its family. It was such a joy.

Recently, my son has gone missing, and I can only share my grief and my tears with God and my friends, brothers and sisters in the church of Christ, and they pray for my son, that God would bring him home.

I am grateful to the Lord for the church, for friends, for food aid, for friends in Christ who live very far away, but their hearts are with our people.

Testimony #2

My name is Hanna. I came to the evangelical church not by accident. I realize this now, when time has passed, and I loved the Lord and His church. God brought me to a wonderful church through terrible circumstances, where I saw the love and compassion of the congregation for me. I am single, so I never refused the help that was given to me with such love. I am happy to come to the groups where we study the Word of God. In this time, God and His Living Word are just so necessary for people not to fall into despair, but to hold on to God.

I am grateful to God that through terrible circumstances He found me and touched my heart. I repented of my sins before Him, was baptized in the church, and now I am His child. What a blessing it is that God loves me! I am grateful that God brings people to Himself through the food aid from the mission and all the kind people!

Now I pray for the caring hearts who live so far away but have so much love for Ukraine and our people!

Testimony #3

My name is Larysa. I am a two-time IDP from the city of Luhansk. In early 2015, I was forced to leave my city, so I came to [here], where I lived for a while. Later we returned to our region, to the village, and there we could work a little and have something to live on.

But when the full-scale invasion began, we moved back [here], where we had lived before. It was hard to comprehend everything that was happening because I had brain frostbite and my physical condition had completely collapsed. It is very difficult to start your life in a new place, among strangers, in a new area. But somehow we managed to survive the fear and uncertainty.

We desperately needed food aid, because we had no job or any other help. Our neighbors recommended that we should go to the church, because there they provided help. I went right away, without wasting any time. I remember that there was a very long line for food packages. Everyone who was there was helped. I was amazed to see the organization and the nice treatment of people by the believers. It really impressed me a lot. We got to know many people because we started coming to church periodically for help. Later we got to know the believers personally and also the pastor of the church. Their warmth and care for us greatly influenced our further relationships and attitudes toward the church, toward believers, and toward God Himself! After all, God was making changes in my heart through the Christian relationships of these people. We saw these relationships with us all the time when we came to church. God granted us a Christian big family! We repented and were baptized. And now we are full-fledged members of God’s family. We are grateful to the mission and sponsors for their manifestation and testimony of sacrifice, love and care. We pray for peace and victory over the enemy.