Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised (Psalm 96:1-4).

In the midst of suffering in wartime Ukraine, there is hope. An SGA-supported pastor and his congregation want you to see how your generosity and prayer support has equipped them to serve IDPs (internally displaced persons) and help them learn about the hope of Jesus Christ. 

Many of them would have never walked through the door of a church before, but now have heard the Gospel and proclaim the greatness of God. As a man named Arthur says in the video below: “If I have arrived here now, it means that God is helping me.” See a video of the church in worship and in action . . .

Watch testimonies (with translations below) from many people helped by this congregation and a special message from the pastor . . .

Translations:

Svetlana: Good afternoon. My name is Svetlana. My husband is a military man. He went through a terrible hell. He was wounded. But thanks to God, He took him out of there and saved his life!

Immigrant: I am an immigrant from Kherson. God helped me to escape [crying] He saved my life, supported me. Thank God!

Man: We came to Kalynivka. Here is a wonderful church—I thank God for the help. The blessings are great. The people are very kind here. Of course, we want to go home, but we are happy here. It was very difficult to escape from Bakhmut. It took us two days to get here. The traffic was a mess. By God’s grace, He saved us!

A 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy: I really like to collect crafts, Lego.

Man: We had a large bee farm in Bakhmut, and we had been keeping bees for over 40 years. Everything is left there. Of course, I would like to do something like that here, too, to keep bees, to have my own shelter, but I don’t have enough money. The Lord is merciful, He will take care of everything.

Vitaly: My name is Vitaliy. I am 50 years old. Thank God [points to the Gospel], our family was saved from the shelling. I asked the Lord a lot to save our family so that we could stay alive. We got out of our cellar, got on a bus. The driver told us all: “God be with you!” And we drove away from there under fire from all sides. First, we were taken to the town of Bashtanka in the Kherson region. There, we were welcomed by the same church as here in Kalynivka. Then we arrived at Kalynivka, and believers gave us a place to stay in the church. The people here are very kind. Thank you all! What else can I say to that? Reading the Gospel, loving and believing God is the main thing for me now!

Yury: My name is Yury, I came from the Kherson region. There were constant hostilities there. But I thank God, He saved us.

Arthur: My name is Arthur. I came from Bakhmut. If I have arrived here now, it means that God is helping me.

Woman: I came with my husband from Severodonetsk. We have been living here for more than a year. We have gone through very terrible times. My husband is now a lying-in patient. We are very grateful to this organization, which helps us with wonderful food packages, and we are also receiving potatoes and apples. The church is also helping us with clothes. It’s a great help from the church! We thank God for all of you, for those who help us! May God give you all good health!

Pastor: Glory to Jesus Christ! Today we had another meeting with the IDPs. We have been hosting them in our church for a year. Today we had 145 people, which is actually 145 families to whom we could distribute aid (food, clothing, household chemicals). We share with them what you, our dear friends, help us with. We are so grateful to SGA and CHF for the opportunity to serve people, through your support, and your help. You are also an integral part of this support.

Many people came to the meeting, where we first shared the Gospel with them, saying that hope is only in Jesus Christ! It’s also nice to see that people accept the Truth and respond. We continue to communicate with them, and they always listen to the Word of God and the Lord touches their hearts. I hope that in due time they will make a decision for themselves, a spiritual decision to follow the Lord! Thank you very much and may the Lord bless you in your good works for His glory!

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.