Here is a report from SGA-supported Pastor Valentin. As you read below, be encouraged that this faithful church is spreading the Gospel in the midst of caring for many needs. 

“God opens the hearts of the people who help us with food, and it is a great sacrifice, because it is not easy for them either,” a church member named Oleksandr says to Valentin in a video interview below. He is grateful for the generosity of friends like you who support the work of SGA-sponsored churches in Ukraine. “They have to spend their money so that we could have these products. So we thank God for such people, for their kind hearts!”

As you will also see in Valentin’s report, 30 people were baptized this past spring. Most came to faith through “social ministry”—their hearts stirred by the love of Christ shown to them as their urgent physical needs were met. May God continue to advance His church in these difficult days.

Read more from Valentin’s report . . .

Greetings, dear friends!

Our church is involved in the following social ministries: helping IDPs [internally displaced persons], people with disabilities, large families and low-income families with food and hygiene kits. For this purpose, we have a permanent registration system, and any person can confirm that he or she belongs to one of the above categories and be included in our database. 

Currently, this database includes about 3,000 people. When we have food aid, our team contacts people and invites them to the church. As a result, we usually invite 300 to 400 people. After a conversation with the pastor and prayer, people receive food packages. We are very grateful to SGA for the products we can provide to people in need. The church also has a charity cafe, where every Sunday we treat people with our own homemade cookies and coffee. This is our separate ministry, which also works because of your help, as we receive flour, sugar and other products from you. 

Besides, there are other social ministries in the church: a teenage club, a women’s ministry, and a Sunday school. All ministries are accompanied by the preaching of the Gospel. People come to God, repent of their sins, and get baptized. On March 19, there were 30 people baptized, the vast majority of whom came to church through social ministries. Currently, two more groups of up to 30 people are preparing for baptism, which is scheduled for the first weekend in August. Our teams are distributing the food aid and [copies of] the New Testament in the rural churches.  

Here is an interview with a man named Oleksandr . . .

Translation:

Good afternoon, Oleksandr. Tell us a little bit about yourself, how old are you?

68 years old, praise the Lord!

You are retired, right? You don’t work anywhere anymore? What is your pension?

No, I don’t. I get a 3000 UAH pension.

3000 UAH is about $70 a month, that’s your pension. Tell us, how do you manage to live on such a small pension per month? It’s a difficult time, a time of war.

We don’t live luxuriously. We don’t buy expensive things. But, we thank the Lord that we are in the church, and the church helps us with the food packages we receive. We thank God, it is enough for us to live. We have something to eat.

So, thanks to this food aid, you can live with such a small pension?

Yes. God opens the hearts of the people who help us with food, and it is a great sacrifice, because it is not easy for them either! They have to spend their money so that we could have these products. So we thank God for such people, for their kind hearts!

It is very difficult to find a job in our town now. Especially because of the war, businesses are closed. Therefore, families like my brother Oleksandr, there are many of such families in our town, have to survive in this difficult time. 

Therefore, we thank God and all of you who participate, who donate, who remember us, so that we can survive this difficult time together.  We thank God for all of you! 

In a time of great uncertainty, God is bringing help, healing, and hope to the people of Ukraine through SGA-supported pastors, churches, a seminary, and SGA-sponsored Compassion Ministry. Be a part of God’s incredible work with your generosity and prayer support.  

Your gift of compassion helps struggling people with emergency aid that generally includes Scripture materials, food, medicine, warm clothing, and shoes.