Two thousand years ago, Jesus proclaimed,

“I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

(Matt 16:18).

 

The church is the Body of Christ on the earth.

It is not a building.

The church is people—believers in Jesus Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and called out of the world to represent and proclaim the truth and grace of Jesus.

The church, as a living organism, is created to grow and multiply.

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied.”

(Acts 9:31) 

This is the work of God.  But it also involves the decision of Christians to preach the gospel and gather believers together for worship, prayer, hearing the Word and service to the world.

When speaking of starting new churches, the Apostle Paul wrote,

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”      

(I Corinthians 3:6)

A gathering of believers in eastern Ukraine.

Many people believe that Ukraine is about 3% evangelical Christian and would like to see that number grow.

(For example, countries like South Korea, Brazil and the United States have approximately 20-25% evangelical populations.).

The church is God’s main instrument for world evangelization.

Pastor and missiologist Dwight Paul Smith teaches, “Whatever God is going to do in the world, He is going to do primarily through all Christ’s people.” (the Church)

Missio Dei (dwightpaulsmith.com).

There is a group of believers in the tiny oblast of Chrernivtsi that would like to see

100 new churches established in 10 years (until 2034)

to bring the love, truth and salvation of Jesus Christ to the multitudes in this oblast.

Chernivtiska Oblast in southwest Ukraine is home to about 1,000,000 Ukrainians (including some 240,000 refugees received over the last several months.).

The dream:  is to see the number of churches grow from this…….

……..to this (symbolically).

The vision is to see at least 100 groups of baptized believers of 30 or more

  • gathering with an assigned pastor…
  • knowing and following Jesus…
  • preaching the gospel…
  • discipling new believers…and planting more churches.

The focus is not on buildings, but on reaching people for Christ, gathering for Bible study, prayer, worship and multiplying.

Please join us in praying for:

  • Active evangelism activity
  • More workers (evangelists, church planters, pastors, teachers, administrators, etc.)
  • Open door and hearts to the gospel
  • Fruitful discipleship among the apprx. 240,000 refugees in the oblast
  • Children’s ministry
  • Youth ministry
  • Senior ministry
  • Family ministry
  • Material assistance and humanitarian aid work
  • Financial support

“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”. (Luke 10:2) 

Thank you for praying for this “God-sized” vision!