Winter 2023: UKRAINE UPDATE

UKRAINE WEEK IN DC

 Bob was invited to attend Ukraine Week in DC from February 1-4. It was the second year Bob has attended this event, which is coordinated around the US Congressional National Prayer Breakfast. The event gathers Ukrainian and American leaders in ministry, government, and business for a week of prayer,  discussion, and planning for the future. It was held at various venues around the US Capitol city, including the Ukraine House, The Bible Museum, The Washington Hilton Hotel, and The Capitol Hill Club. 

 
For Bob, it was a great time of reconnecting with ministry leaders from the Ukrainian church, and networking with other ministries who work and serve there. After a year of zoom calls and forced distance, it was wonderful to warmly embrace national leaders, such as former Ukrainian Parliament Member Pavel Unguryan, and Snr. Vice President of the Baptist Union of Ukraine, Igor Bandura, along with regional leaders Ivan Kunderenko and Viktor Puhach. 

 

A special honor for Bob was the chance to assist in the bringing of a dozen "Gold Star Children" from Ukraine to the United States. These children all lost their fathers in the war, and were brought both to represent the needs of children throughout their nation, but to receive some counseling and treatment for PTSD. Bob helped arrange housing and activities for the children through the nearby First Baptist Church of Glennarden, MD. The children presented him with hand-made thank you cards featuring the Ukrainian flag colors.

 

Another honor was to offer the opening prayer for a gathering at The Capitol Hill Club, including praying for two wounded Ukrainian veterans, their families, and their comrades.

UKRAINE RELIEF FUND UPDATE

“It was an Answer from God!”

Ivan Kunderenko serves the Ukraine Baptist Union in Ternopil and Rivne Oblasts. He recently shared a story that directly relates to the Ukraine Relief Fund, and its impact on ministry there. 

Sasha, a young pastor in Ternopil, was desperately seeking guidance from the Lord. His congregation had swelled with traumatized displaced people from the East. Many of his long-term parishioners were unemployed, had seen their incomes slashed by the war, or had fled the area. While the demands of ministry had grown, the resources of the church had diminished. Pastor Sasha faced a seemingly no-win scenario. He had to find a source of additional income to feed his family. Yet the people under his care needed his full attention now more than ever. 

He went to his knees in prayer.

Remembering Gideon, Sasha put a fleece out before the Lord. If no other option became available by the end of the month, he would begin to seek a part time job.

In the USA, leaders of Converge were facing a difficult reality, too. The pace of funds contributed to the Ukraine Relief Fund were diminishing dramatically. Domestic economic setbacks and inflation, and the news cycle shift to other stories of disasters around the world, were taking their toll. As the flow of funds diminished it was recognized that distributions needed to be increasingly strategic. It was prayerfully determined that the Fund would focus primarily on “keeping shepherds with their flocks.” The word was sent to the Ukrainian leaders.

Ivan, along with Viktor Pugach, the Senior Pastor of the Oblast, gathered 13 pastors from the Ternopil and Rivne area together for a time of prayer and to talk with them about their ministries and families. At the end of the meeting, they shared that they were going to be able to supply them with a small stipend each month to help them make ends meet and continue their essential ministry to their communities. 

Unknown to Igor and Viktor, that meeting took place on the night before the final date that Sasha had laid before the Lord in his prayers. He later shared with tears of joy and excitement how that unexpected news was “An answer from God!”  A few days later, Ivan heard from another pastor from the group who shared a similar story.

In the past four months $100,000 has been sent to the Baptist Union of Ukraine, and to specific ministries in the Odessa, Rivne, and Ternopil Oblasts, to enable pastors and lay leaders to remain with their local congregations. Your continued support of Converge’s Ukraine Relief Fund is making a kingdom impact in the war against Europe’s most evangelical nation.

Sasha is third from the left (next to Bob) in the photo below, taken in Ternopil six months before the war began.