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Most towns and villages of Ukraine still lack anyplace where
people can gather to hear the Word of God. A growing number
of church planters are trying to change that, especially in
Crimea. Cory and Janice Lemke began working with Ukrainian church
leaders from throughout Crimea in a program specifically to
train church planters. So far, they have held 3 two-year courses
and trained 50+ men, who have started over 100 churches. They
are currently renovating a building as the Efas Training Center/Hotel
-- a hotel during the summer tourist season which will provide
a local source of income for church-planting projects. The other
months of the year, it will be a training facility. David & Annette Dryden recently joined the Lemkes in this church-planting ministry. June Johnson,
a nurse, serves in medical ministry out of Feodosia, connecting
with the church planters’ ministry for double impact in
the villages.
In the midst of reaching out to villages around Berdyansk untouched by the Gospel, Jonathan and Heather Powell discovered an even larger group of unreached: the deaf and hearing impaired. So, they are training the deaf and interpreters, and even helping churches in other cities to start ministries among the deaf and hearing impaired. The Powells are doing this even as they work with the Berdyansk church in campus ministry to the students in the colleges and institutes in the city.
And in L’viv, Tim and Heather Miller are “up to their ears” in small group ministry and discipleship opportunities. Directly leading a Bible study, overseeing other groups (with 85 people), guiding the leadership of these groups, teaching baptism preparation classes, and discipling two men for ministry keeps Tim pretty busy on a weekly basis. But they are seeing results as Ukrainian Christians have made a leap in their understanding of leadership and discipleship. The Millers also take great joy in counseling married couples and those about to get married. They ask prayer for the new church that was planted at the end of 2007, for growth and faithfulness. Also in 2007, Dustin & Karilyn Mullenix joined the Millers in L’viv to learn language and to research a specific place for ministry.
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