Kevin on behalf of Edik and Liana – Ukraine.

As Christians, we live today with so many future hopes. When our Lord returns he will fill every belly, dry every eye and right every wrong and along with these great comforts will come an absolute authority that is impressed powerfully upon the rulers of the nations of the world. Jesus’ glorious return will silence all wars.

He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Is 2:4-5)

Isaiah – prophesying about the future establishment of the rule of the Messiah – anticipates a future where disputes between peoples and nations have been settled, weapons of war are repurposed as items of blessing and nations live peacefully with their neighbours. Having prophesied about the future, Isaiah then exhorts God’s people – in light of this vision – to Walk in the light of the Lord (v5) today!

Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, we have partnered with Edik, Liana and the church in Uzhgorod – standing with them in prayer and supporting their ministry financially. We have had the privilege of visiting them twice and we know them to be a community who really does walk in the light of the Lord. They pray for peace; they serve the poor; they pray for their enemies (regularly) and they refuse to be overcome by feelings of vengeance and hatred. The church in Uzhgorod – under Edik and Liana’s leadership – is a church living with the certainty that peace will return to Ukraine. Despite the enormous challenges they face (you can read about some of these below)they pray for it, fast for it and they minister in the light of this great, future certainty, walking in the light of the Lord.

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Edik Writes

09/03 – In the last month, three brothers from our church have been drafted into the army to the front. We pray a lot for them. There names are Vanya, Edik, and Andrey. Vanya wanted to go through our Encounter course (a three day Holy Spirit encounter course that Edik and the church ran in February with 35 attendees). He came to help me move the musical equipment in preparation for our meetings, and then the military took him right on the street when he was heading towards me. Since early morning today there have been big rocket strikes throughout Ukraine. It seems that they will not rest until they get a good retaliatory strike.

24/03 – Hi, dear Kevin. How are you all? I hope you are fine. We have everything as before with us – not much has changed – but there are some improvements! There is no longer a power outage in Uzhgorod now and this gives great hope for a victory that will come sooner or later. It is already warmer now and our country has survived this winter and the plans of the enemy has failed so far. Ukraine did not kneel! We say hello to everyone and hug you all. God bless!

31/03 – Hi dear Emma, today, the funds have been deposited into our bank account. We are very grateful to you for this very important help for all of us. Below I give a description of the expenditure of funds for March. We hug you all and very much!

• 21 refugee families were paid $150 for their hotel stays during March.
• 32 people received weekly cash assistance, averaging $100 per person for the month.
• We also sent funds to three churches weekly and this averaged $500 per month for each.
• We bought and distributed food worth $1,400. And we will still be giving away these products during these two weeks at the Sunday service and directly from the warehouse to all who need it.
• We continue to rent a conference room for the church at $500, an apartment at $400, and a warehouse for the food and provisions that we distribute at $100.

28/04 – Now the entire people of Ukraine is in anticipation of the upcoming offensive of the Ukrainian army. All people understand that the whole future of Ukraine and the future of each of us depends on the success of this offensive.    All the people are tired of the war and the disasters that this war has brought. A lot of people died both military and civilian.

One brother from our church, who has been at the front since the beginning of the war, was wounded and died after being wounded two weeks ago. It was a big shock for all of us. We continue to pray for our brothers from the church who are drafted into the army, and thank God they are still in the reserve.

Eternal memory to the fallen hero, our brother in Christ, Andrei Salko

All church services are going on as usual and we continue to help refugees and all those in need. We are grateful to you for the help and support that you provide for all of us at this most critical time in the life of our country and our people.