Ukrainian Church Prepares for War
Yaroslav Pyzh, pastor of Journey Church in Lviv and president of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary, tells us how the Ukrainian church is preparing to support and minister to their communities as the country prepares for possible war.
We are experiencing a great deal of uncertainty on many levels in Ukraine today. The almost two-year long Covid story and its related issues helped us to develop flexibility and adaptability, and to rethink a great number of practices and strategies in order to meet the needs of the people around us. We are now facing a new challenge: the possibility of Russian invasion in Ukraine.
We don’t know for sure if and when the war will happen, what the war will be like and to what extent it will impact our country and our churches. However, the Ukrainian church is getting ready to help and support people who will be impacted the most by the war. We are willing to house people coming from the war-affected areas and help them with food, clothes and different supplies, which we pray will be gospel-centred ministry to people in need. We are praying for God’s wisdom and effective strategies for the church to be the place of hope, common sense and everyday spiritual and physical support for Ukrainian people.
We are now facing a new challenge: the possibility of Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Journey Church is a church plant that began its ministry to the community in Lviv in early April of 2021. The church’s strategy is to be proactive in following the ministry approach of the Ukrainian church community, as listed above. In addition, we are willing to continue to develop what we are already doing in spreading the Kingdom of God in our city.
We will continue in our ministry to orphans and children from poor, often dysfunctional families. We have a ministry named 3D that has faithfully served orphans for the last two and a half years (even before the church was planted). 3D has a team of 25 passionate people who are committed to serving kids and developing 3D's ministry. The team helps kids/teenagers in different ways: providing them with food, clothes, gifts, medicine; building relationships (socialisation and mentoring).
We are also heavily involved in the medical outreach ministry. We have people from our church who lead medical ministries in different locations for 80+ people on a monthly basis.
3D’s mission is to share Christian values, provide mentoring, and support the socialisation and development of children and teenagers from orphanages and poor families. 3D’s vision is to see children and teenagers who are able to build healthy relationships with others, learn employability skills, effectively socialise and adjust in society, and join the 3D mission efforts.
Within the last two and a half years of ministry there have been weekly gatherings for 30 children from poor families (we ran more than 40 Saturday teen club meetings in 2021), weekly visits to support 50 children from 2 orphanages (more than 180 meetings), and running 3 camps for 80 children and teenagers from 2 orphanages and poor families.
Current projects and prayer requests:
Dental services for orphans;
Surgery and rehabilitation for kids with disabilities;
Tutoring for kids from orphanages;
Internships and help to find a job for orphanage graduates
We are also heavily involved in the medical outreach ministry. We have people from our church who lead medical ministries in different locations for 80+ people on a monthly basis.
We also believe that it’s crucial to invest in other people and help them grow in faith, serving others according to their potential as well as to be effective and biblical-value driven in the marketplace. Therefore we do our best to develop leadership/coaching practices and train Journey church members in one-on-one ministry to others.
We are also heavily involved in the medical outreach ministry. We have people from our church who lead medical ministries in different locations for 80+ people on a monthly basis.
Weekly small group ministry is also one of the key ways in which we reach new people and create an environment of safety, fellowship, discipleship opportunities and gospel-focused ministry for those who attend.
Journey Church in Lviv, Ukraine has received support from generous donors through Union Mission. Find out more about how we support church planting work in Europe: