A glimpse into what our work is about
A couple months ago I wrote about our team's plans on beginning a new church in the city. Our plan to begin this new church was to start forth with a basic gospel Bible Study- we call it a Seekers study. In this study we invite people who are seeking to learn about and know God. Right now we are studying the gospel of Mark, following Jesus' life and ministry and learning from this book who Jesus was and what he did/said. It is not complicated, but it is very fulfilling. So far almost every week we have had someone new to this study, and every person expresses how much they enjoy reading the Bible, especially in groups were we can talk about it. Some come who already believe in God and are trying to follow Him, and others come who have no religious background at all. It is a great group, and we are thankful for every one who comes along.
This study started about two months ago, and at that time we were not sure how it would go. For the first two weeks no one came. We invited people we thought would be interested, but no one came. Now someone new comes almost every week!
It first started with Oksana. Oksana has been coming to our English-through-the-Bible group every Saturday night for more than a year now. We had told her about our church gatherings, and the purpose our family was here in Kharkov, but until recently she never accepted an invitation to our meetings. I think that over the past few months our relationship with Oksana has changed. I can't say that one event changed our relationship, but now we are definitely closer to Oksana than ever before. She is open, friendly, she laughs a lot. She and Olivia often go on walks together (as is it is the most popular Ukrainian pastime), she has introduced us to her sister, and we are just generally sharing more of our lives together. She comes every week to the seekers study, and we are so thankful for this!
Recently we hosted our first LST team in Kharkov. And from this we were introduced to more people who are interested in studying the Bible. The Sunday after LST left we had one of the readers come to our Bible Study. Olya was someone I personally remember handing a flier to inviting her to LST. As I stood in front of the metro entrance with a flier in my hand saying, "Free English practice", she walked right past me. She went about ten steps when I saw her turn her head, stop for a second, then come back to me and ask more about what I was doing. Now she attends our study. She is a great person to be in this study with. She does not have a lot of religious background, and this means she asks amazing questions in our study. Since I have grown up going to church, studied in a Bible College, I often glance over some of the simpler points in scripture. But in this study, as we read through something, Olya stops us and asks, "What is this?", or "What does that mean?" or even better, "How does that help?" It has been so great to have this! It makes me stop and think, and sometimes I'm surprised that these "simpler points" I usually pass by are actually very rich and deep. She is a blessing to this study!
Another girl, Lena comes almost every week and she is a great part of our group. Lena is very eager to learn and understand what the Bible says. A few weeks ago when she was told that in our studies we are spending a lot of time looking at who Jesus is, she said, "Good! I really want to know more about Him " Lena also has a gift with music. She came to an English Bible study where we sang a few songs, and she sang with us. Even though she had never heard the song before, she sang loud and she sang well. Lena told me after she really appreciated the singing, because they make you feel good and happy. Each week we see her process and take to heart what she is reading.
A few weeks ago our family was blessed with an opportunity to meet Sergei and his family. We had a wonderful time! Sergei comes from a home that knows God, and seeks to serve him. It was great to hear that he wants to become a preacher one day and share the Bible with people. His understanding of the Bible, his humble spirit, and his cheerful attitude make him a huge asset to our study. On multiple occasions Sergei has talked to us about bringing his friends to this group as well, specifically some of his friends that don't believe in God yet.
Julie is the first person to be baptized and saved in this church plant. Though she has only come to a couple of our Seekers studies, she has been involved in a study with Olivia and Katie for the last few months. This new addition to the kingdom brings our church plant to its next phase. We have started off this work with the plan of studying the gospel with people, and as they are saved we invite them to fellowship in the church. With Julie being baptized, she'll now hopefully join us in the time together as a church before the Seekers study.
Our plan from here is to keep doing what we are doing. This study seems to be a great way to share with people the life and teachings of Jesus. Soon we will be getting to the point in Jesus' life that he begins to head towards the cross. We pray that as we see Jesus make His journey, all of us in the study connect with and relate to what He is doing. Those, like Julie, who understand and become a Christian we will invite to meet earlier in the day as a church. Our hopes are that this study will continue to reach people and help them understand God's plan in their life. Then as they come into His church we can together, as one body of believers, share the gospel with others.
This last Sunday marked the beginning of a new step in the work we are involved with in Kharkov, Ukraine. Our team came to Kharkov to share the good news of life to those that do not yet know it. We have hopes and goals that as we share this news and lives are transformed, new communities of Christians will form and grow. Our hopes are that when our team leaves this work we will leave behind us multiple communities of believers throughout the city of Kharkov. We want to start churches throughout the city that will be lights to their neighbors, used by God, and places of growth and strength for the weak and needy.
Late last year our team foresaw the immediate need for a portion of our existing church to be sent off to begin another congregation and unanimously decided we were at a healthy point to do this. The process started mid-way through last year as we took a general focus on growth and evangelism in our congregational lessons and meetings. We took the time to discuss and converse with the local church about our team's goals of growth and church planting. We walked through various pros and cons concerning the concept of house churches in Kharkov. We asked for their input, advice, and participation as we moved in this direction. Over the course of several months, the whole congregation was on board with the idea that sometime in the near future a portion of the church will go out and begin a new work.
The plan was at the beginning of the new year two families from our team would go and start a new church. However, the circumstances at that time led us to believe that a little more time together would be better. After some time we decided that a little more time together would be better. Then a little while later we decided a little more time together would be beneficial. Eventually we realized that "a little more time together" would always feel better initially, but we needed to stop putting it off and go and do it.
So now we are here. Our team chose which two families would be best suited to begin a new church plant in the city, we gained the blessing and encouragement of the whole church, and this past Sunday it finally happened. One congregation met in the home of Ivan and Sveta, and the other congregation met in David and Olivia's home. It was a big step in the right direction for our work in Kharkov, but it felt really weird. We had been meeting with our church family for the last year, sharing our Sunday evenings together, singing, encouraging each other, and this last Sunday we missed it. This is how it should be, but it is something that we will have to get used to.
Of course to get a clear idea of what is going on with the congregations in Kharkov you will have to come and experience it first hand, but for those that won't be able to make it I will try to describe as best as I can. The first church we were a part of starting here in Kharkov spent the first few months meeting in the homes of the missionaries, then transitioned into meeting in the homes of the local Christians as well, then it moved to a point that seemed to meet more regularly in the homes of the Ukrainians and less in the homes of the missionaries. Because of the locations of our apartments, as well as the location of the Ukrainians apartments we ended up meeting all over the city. This was difficult for many of us, but especially for one Ukrainian family who had a baby born in October. Now with the current changes, there will be an encouragement on our team's part to work towards the church meeting mainly in one region of the city, and hopefully meeting in only one or two apartments in that region.
The plan for our second church plant will go a little something like this.... On Sundays at 5pm we will begin a "seekers" Bible study going through the Gospel of Mark. We will invite our friends and acquaintances to this study, including people who have recently shown signs that they are receptive as well as people we've asked before, but declined - we're hopeful their hearts are open now. This Bible study won't be the Church, but it will be a place where we directly teach and study with people about Christ in hopes they will believe and obey the Gospel. For those who obey the gospel, we will extend an invitation to come and meet with us an hour before the Bible study to take the Lord's supper together, spend time in prayer, and encourage one another. I'm really excited and hopeful about the future: after our friends are added to the church, we will be able to spend time together as a Body, then immediately afterward we can engage others who are seeking to know God together as a church. Of course, we're still at the beginning. Right now we are extending invitations to the Bible study, praying for open hearts.
As this new step in our work begins we are also beginning to put more focus on inter-congregational relationships. Just because two families left one congregation to begin another does not mean that we no longer wish to fellowship with the other congregation. Every month we will be putting together a combined assembly for the churches in Kharkov. On May 1st our church hosted a city-wide assembly, inviting members from all the churches of Christ in Kharkov to participate in leading the assembly, and it was a huge success. The churches were excited about it, and it was something that really helped connect people from various congregations. We will now do that every month, leaving an invitation open to all of the congregations of Kharkov, but especially to the churches we are directly working with. We're also taking the opportunity to advertise this event among the public as an evangelistic tool.
We are all very excited about this new step toward some of our goals. Though we don't know exactly what is going to happen or how it will happen, we are confident that our God is "able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus...." Ephesians 3:20-21
One of the ministry opportunities that our team has currently and can see a lot of potential in is to offer English practice through reading the Bible. All the time we come into contact with people who are very interested in practicing and/or learning English with native English speakers. Of course our primary purpose in Ukraine is not to help people with their English, but these situations are an amazing opportunity where we can share the good news of Christ with people.
We have undertaken these opportunities by starting our own English groups in our home. In these groups we read scriptures together, and discuss what the scripture is teaching us or revealing to us. They come to learn English, but leave having a better understanding of God. Besides these English groups in our home we have also met with individuals on a one-on-one basis to help practice language and deepen a friendship, and we have also participated in other English groups - One at the Kharkov Medical University with graduates and staff, and one with a woman we met in the park. We have also been invited to participate in English conferences where students from various universities gather to debate and discuss various topics in English to practice. There are many more opportunities to share the gospel through English than we can take advantage of. And this is why I wanted to post on this topic.
Because these studies are almost entirely in English, these are opportunities for all of our friends and family back home to take advantage of. A person with little, or absolutely no ability to speak Russian can come and do this. And we want others, especially those that have financially partnered with us to come and take advantage of this. That's right Legacy church of Christ, Sunset Church of Christ, we want you! We want you to come over in person and work with us side by side in sharing the gospel with people.
You may want to know how you can do this. Well, let me tell you about a program called Let's Start Talking (LST). LST is a ministry that has been around for several years. It's main purpose is to share the gospel with people all over the world, via English language practice. They do this by training and facilitating teams to go around the world to work with missionaries for 2-6 weeks. The local missionaries that live there advertise and organize times for these Bible studies, as well as accommodation for the LST missionaries. So that when the LST missionaries come they have everything ready for them to sit down with interested people to share the gospel with them.
We would really appreciate your help. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to all physically work side by side in Kharkov, sharing the gospel. All you have to do is get here. We will find your accommodations, we will set up Bible studies, we will show and help you get around. We want and need you to be here.
If you want more information then check out the LST website here. Or contact us for more information.
Our team prepared a video to try and entice you to come here as part of the LST program, so please watch and be enticed.
Our mission here in Ukraine is to bring people to an awareness of their Creator and encouraging their coming into a saving relationship with Him. There is no better way to come to know God except by reading what he has made known to us about him in his word.
It is not always easy though to do this. Most people's view towards scripture here is probably the same as most places. If you ask someone from Kharkov about the Bible, they will tell you they have one at home, but that they do not read it because they cannot understand it. This is not to say they are opposed to understanding it, or that they have a hard time grasping religious concepts. It is all due to the fact that the Bibles they posses are writen in a language they do not understand. It is Russian yes, but it is an old Russian with words that are no longer used, and words that are used only in this Bible. The Russian Orthodox religion being old, and unchanging created a state that the scriptures they read, the prayers they say, and the rituals they preform are no longer understood by the people of today. They were understood centeries ago, but now are so far removed from the times that people fid it difficult to understand. Not saying that it is no longer relevant to people, but that they can no longer find a way to relate to it.
This is were our English group has been useful. We started these groups earlier in the year, after realizing the interest people have in studying and practising conversational English. It is a chance for us to help people with there English, but that is nothing compared to the opportunity we have through these groups to share scripture with people. And sharing is exactly what we do. Every week we print of a text from the Bible, and we read it, we disect it, we discuss lessons from it, or look at how it relates to our life. Every week we all leave having a better understanding of the God who saves us, and how he desires his people to live. In our group we are coming to an understanding of the Bible and what God is revealing thorugh it.
Most people that come to our group are not Christians, some believe in God and some are not quite as sure. All are respectful of others opinions and all participate in the discussions. I know that eventually the word of God as it is being planted in these hearts will eventually cause changes. We are not foolish enough to expect every heart to be changed, but we are faithful enough to know that God's Word will cause some changes. And as we meet together in these groups, and as we seek to deepen these relationships, we are prepared to be there to help them make changes.
There have been some that come only for a short while, and a couple that have come every week since the beginning. But all of them have been introduced to God, and have had a chance to learn more. In our group we have been through the whole stiry of Christ, from birth to resurection, looking at the message and promise of hope he offers, and the proofs of his power to make good on those promises. We have now started over looking at the very begining when God first made man and when man first rejected God. We have been looking at how despite man's rejection of God, God is still faithfuly seeking to redeem adn bless his creation. We looked at God's promise to Abraham and are following this promise through some of the significant aspects of the Old Testament. We will follow this promise and next year once again come back to Christ and see how he fulfills the promise of God.
We are excited about these groups. People come, people participate, we make friends, and we share our faith. It is exciting to think about what God has done, is doing, and will do in these groups.
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