Ministering in a War Zone

Downoad the May issue of The Harvest Times.

Over the past year, the country of Ukraine has appeared frequently in the news due to fighting in the east between Ukrainian military and rebels backed by Russia.

From 1996-2011, missionaries Gordon and Nancy Snider worked in central Ukraine at Zaporozhye Bible College and Seminary. Although Zaporozhye is not within the fighting area, the city is seeing an influx of refugees from the east, and people the Sniders know are trying to help.

Vladyslav Makhovskyi is one such man. He was a student of Gordon’s in the past and supervises drug rehab centers in the city. Vlad now also supervises the city’s refugees—some 35,000—and he makes trips into the hardest-hit areas in eastern Ukraine.

In early April, Vlad reported on Facebook that a trip to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine had been a success. They had distributed 1000 loaves of bread, as well as medicine, clothes, and toys for children. But Vlad’s ministry is also concerned about the souls of these hurting people. He said that many were open to God. Together with local volunteers, Vlad and his team distributed Christian literature and invited people to attend a local Easter service.

Also in April, World Missions sent $1000 to help Vlad with this ministry.

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Pray for the safety of Vlad and his team; as he wrote on April 2 about a trip to the east, “The air is filled with the smell of war.”