Due to another round of lockdown, our focus has been on online ministry development. We focused on posting the everyday messages to the most locally relevant social networks and channels (Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Vkontakte) and our regular YouTube content. Since the beginning of the year, users from 117 countries have visited our website (see the map attached)! The previous record was 76 countries through the entire year 2020. May the Lord be praised!
We continue to teach and preach online at the maximum-security prison through our partners in the prison ministry in Lviv. Everyone at the general block is able to attend the meetings.
The prisoners in the life sentence block even arranged a worship room there (I apologize for the quality of the pictures attached – it depends on the resolution provided online; the names of the places and persons are blurred for security reasons). Please pray for these people who have found Jesus while serving their sentences. May they become His light for others in that place of darkness! May those who are going to be released eventually become the Kingdom witnesses to their former inmates!
The youth conference at Kyiv on the Veracity of Scripture was online as well.
Only those who are in direct fellowship with us anyway were present at the venue. The rest of the participants followed the discussion via Zoom. Nevertheless, it was very engaging (see the pictures attached). Please join our prayers for these young leaders of the next generation. May they become new Calebs and Joshuas of the nation that experienced the exodus from the Egypt of communism to the desert of secularism!
Media is the key to reaching young people, and it is crucial to reach them in their native language. As Ukrainian schools switch their teaching to the national language, more and more young people in the country prefer to speak, read, listen, and watch in Ukrainian rather than in Russian. Spoken by 33 million people (mostly – domestic, but also the diaspora communities in Canada, Australia, and the USA), Ukrainian belongs to the world’s top 50 most used languages (#44). Regretfully, there is little or no Christian media content available in Ukrainian.
That is why we are so excited to announce that our volunteers in the partnership with the content development group at Rivne (Western Ukraine) decided to start a team for producing and teaching others to produce native-language media content. We highly encourage them to go on with this project, supplying them with some essential equipment and providing intensive training on media production (see the pictures attached). Please pray with us for the development of this important initiative.
Finally, please join us in celebration of a very special milestone for the post-communist world apologetics ministry. The Joint School of Christian Apologetics has graduated the first students with an MA degree in Christian Apologetics (see the picture attached). May the Lord be praised! May these warriors of Him be faithful to the apostolic precept: “Take the teachings that you heard me proclaim in the presence of many witnesses, and entrust them to reliable people, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2).