Here is a report of how emergency aid—recently shipped to Ukraine from Poland—has blessed a community through the outreach of SGA-supported churches. By providing food, clothing, and other emergency supplies, these brothers and sisters of the Lord are building relationships with hurting people and helping them draw closer to the Lord.

Be encouraged as you consider the stories of families and individuals who have suffered so much during the war in Ukraine . . . but now are being served and discipled by our fellow believers in Jesus’ name.

Assisting internally displaced persons started in the first weeks of March 2022. Our efforts were directed not only on charitable aid, but on psychological and spiritual support. We prayed together for each person and family.

Our vision for this ministry

• Together with local churches, to convey the Gospel in all its fullness through the provision of any relevant assistance to IDPs [internally displaced persons], and now we are looking for needs and opportunities to reach local audiences (families of those who died on the frontlines, whose relatives there are protecting)
  
• Our ultimate result is people seeking for God and through studying the Gospels, finding faith, repenting, and joining local churches (and, God willing, planting new churches).

We value teamwork. We thank God for faithful 14 volunteers, who hold personal meetings, preaching the Gospel and providing multifaceted support. As a team, we learn overcoming challenges, supporting each other, solving difficulties, and praying together. Although we are from four different local churches, we are united around this important ministry.

What exactly we are doing

Once a month, through personal meetings, we provide charitable support, including food, clothing, bedding items, for about 80 to 90 families, totaling 160 to 220 adults and 70 to 120 children.

We hold a weekly Bible study group. In fact, it turned out that we covered the area beyond [our region]. Although those IDPs who live 43 miles away from us are not the first priority for us, we could not abandon them and took opportunities to preach the Gospel and pray for them.

About 20 to 30 people agreed to come to weekly meetings to read the Gospel of John without giving out products to them, and now they have covered most of the New Testament books, attend the churches, and take Christian courses.

For the last 1 ½ months, we have also been providing support to the families who lost breadwinners serving the line of duty or whose relatives are now serve in the Army. We are increasingly involved into this part of ministry and cannot ignore its needs. Unfortunately, we already have 31 families whose loved ones have fallen on this war.

Here are some stories of people to whom we serve.

Kryvosheev Family of (mother and daughter, in the picture on the left)

Their house was not far from the frontline and the mother wanted to stay by all means, while all her children have left to a safer place for long time ago. One day, when the mother was praying in the basement for God to let her see her children again, a shell hit the house. She evacuated the next day and volunteers brought her directly to the place where her children lived. The woman believes that God has freed her from her depending on things like her house and showed her the main things in life.

They continue studying the Gospel of John, and we hope for them to developing further on and joining the local community, but now they are not ready. We are glad they continue attending our meetings and are interested in spiritual matters.

Sergei and Olya Kondratovets arrived from Kharkiv soon after the war broke out. When we started reading the Gospel of John, they read chapter by chapter and shared about what they learnt. Some chapters they read at home and we discussed later together. It is delightful to see them reading with joy and ease. They were also reading Christian books (Josh McDowell’s works).

Olga seems to be more interested and advanced in the spiritual things and knowledge. For now, they are not ready to come to the church. Meanwhile, they continue coming to our meetings. We pray for them to become a part of our church community and their spiritual development.

Anastasia from Mykolaiv

Anastasia is married, she has one child, now they live in [a different Ukrainian village] . From spring last year till now, she comes to weekly meetings for reading and studying the Gospel. She is very interested and asks questions about God. She reads the Gospel independently at home and Christian books.

Anastasia began attending the church and her daughter attends Sunday school. Anastasia shared that her greatest desire is to live and serve God, and we help her in this.

Natalia and Oksana from Lysychansk

The women evacuated in the beginning of May to [our community] with their children. Since September, they come to our weekly meetings to read the Gospel of John. For them, it is a new experience, as previously they heard biblical stories and truths from hearsay, even though they believed in God and considered themselves as Christians. They consciously and with interest approach the understanding of the biblical text.

Natalia and Oksana opened their own tailoring business. We pray for their repentance and attendance of the local church, and for our ministering to their souls at the time of difficulty.

Volodymyr with his two daughters

Volodymyr was born and lived near Rokytne , but after the Chernobyl disaster, he had to move to Mykolaiv, as due health issued of one of his daughters required them to move to move to a place with a different climate.

For 35 years, he became attached to that place so much that he did not want to leave it. He gave his daughters a good education, and who are now teachers of English and Biology. He also gave them thirst for knowledge of God.

Lyudmila (one of her daughters) had lost her son to illness, and her daughter suffers from an incurable disease. Regardless of sorrows and hardships, the war and separation from her husband who stayed in Mykolayiv restoring the area from consequences of hostilities, Lyudmila believes in the Lord and wants to acknowledge Him. According to her, they were looking for God all their lives and saw in Him a powerful master over all humanity, whose requirements must be fulfilled. Yet only when they started attending our Bible studies, the Lord began to reveal Himself to her as merciful and loving God, the One incarnated and Who would accept and comfort her.

For more than four months now, the sisters and their father have been coming for studying the Gospel, also inviting their relatives and friends. These people learn to walk side by side with God, so pray for them and for the work that the Lord is doing with them, also as He works in them through our ministry. 

Natalia Leonova is a refugee from Kharkiv.

Since fall last year, Natalia was attending our charitable meetings; and when we offered her to come to personal meetings, she eagerly agreed.

She started with the study of the Gospel of John, and now she is taking the Emmaus biblical course.

Natalia is a very interesting person; she asks many questions and reads the Bible at home, which we gave her. She attended the church services several times.

Yulia is local and her story is special because her son is at the front line in Bakhmut now

On the fifth week of communication with her son, she lost contact with him for a week.

We considered very important to support Yulia at this difficult time. Sometimes, it is hard to find words in situations like this, but pray. After eight days, the son got in touch!  For such families, we want to lend a shoulder in their most difficult day. In March, we are starting a group for those 31 families who lost their loved ones on the war. 

We sincerely thank all donors for supporting our ministry and attending to people’s needs. It is through food assistance that we have the opportunity to meet people, establish relationships with them and provide practical aid.

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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-sponsored 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, medicine, warm clothing, and shoes.