Voice of Ukraine

From: Jamie Peipon tour in Ukraine, Missions Pastor – First Presbyterian Church Jackson, MS (Day 1,156)

Last week, David Elkin and I had a great visit with our partners in Ukraine. On our way in, we visited with our partners in Poland. We are so proud of the work that First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS supported missionaries Aleksander Saško Nezamutdinov, Joel Spence and their families are doing in Krakow.

We had time with Doug Shepherd and other members of the MTW team in L’viv before making our way to Kyiv.

We visited there with pastor Ivan Bespalov and other dear members of the church. Ivan can tell you about the challenges of one week of ministry that for the average pastor would be a life-altering week after which ministry would never be the same… and he’s now done over 150 such weeks in a row. And yet, the Lord sustains him by his grace.

The work happening throughout Ukraine is such a testimony to the goodness of God to us in the church. There is so much to be encouraged about, even as they look down the barrel of daily terrorism by rockets and drones exploding around them.

Sudakov Sergiy, the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Kharkiv made the trip to visit with us in Kyiv. Quite honestly, it is embarrassing even to stand next to him knowing how much he gets done in a week. Since the beginning of the war, he and his brother Mark Agarkov have helped over 200,000 (yes, two-hundred thousand… that is not a typo) people through the mercy ministry in and through their church; from taking food to families in bomb shelters, to receiving people at the church for pastoral care and counseling. In addition, Sergiy lectures at local and international seminaries. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, he also started the John Knox School of Theology at their church where he lectures to every single Saturday from 9-5 on systematic theology, church history, and the bible. He also preaches around six times per week and administers the sacraments at a church about an hour away from him that does not have a pastor. And did I mention he started his PhD studies this past fall? His church was cut down to 30 people as many people fled west at the initial onslaught. Through the faithful work of this pastor, the Lord doubled the church again to 60. Kharkiv faced another push from the Russian invaders and the church was again cut in half to 30. And, again, through Sergiy’s ministry the church has once again doubled in size.

Please keep praying for Ukraine. They so urgently want this war to end… but they also want to be Ukrainians living on their own religiously-free Ukrainian land. Even for these ones who are suffering so much, that is freedom worth fighting for. These men are not unaware of the cost… they are literally the ones performing the funerals and comforting the families. Praise God that these men, and so many others in their denomination, continue faithfully serving the church and are faithfully meeting the biggest need of the people of Ukraine, during the most profound moments of suffering, with the only solution that could possibly sustain and satisfy.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”