By Sasha Grebenyuk, ChangeMaker in Ukraine

In the midst of darkness, pain, and tears, God continues to work, using His church to accomplish His work. We are happy to share the news that Water of Life Church in Lutsk, Ukraine, has chosen Oleg Hotsyk to serve as a youth pastor. This event is a clear testimony of God’s love and power. Oleg and his wife Dasha are the fruit of many years of work by the church focused on discipleship and spiritual influence.

God has given our church the opportunity to serve orphans and those who have been abandoned by their parents. We have witnessed how He heals broken hearts and gives hope to those who have lost it. Fedor and Vika, abandoned by their parents, were unwanted and had no home and no future. But God used the church to give them hope. A year ago, Fedor committed his life to Jesus, and now Vika has done the same. Their story is a powerful testimony to the love of God that He has shown through the church. We are called to serve people with love and to grow them as disciples of Jesus.

When people ask us about our church, we answer simply: two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and almost three years of war. We are grateful to God for these five years of life and ministry, during which we have seen His love and care, tears of joy from people who turned to Him in prayer, and most importantly, we clearly understood His plan to which He called us.

Discipleship groups are the heart of our church, where disciples are raised and leaders are formed. It doesn’t matter how old you are: children, youth, adults, men or women – everyone finds their place. In these groups, we learn to understand what God wants from each of us and how to serve our neighbors by preaching the Gospel.

Jesus teaches us to love people and not to close our hearts to the pain and suffering of others. We continue to respond to the needs we see, especially among abandoned children and families in suffering. Through this work, we preach the Gospel and make disciples.

Please pray for us in these areas: 

• We promote the formation of new churches by training teams and finding resources. We have a small missionary movement with five young churches that have been formed in the last three years. 
• We work with families in crisis and have a big focus on children. We help with food, education, and clothing. We also organize hot lunches for children in the church. 
• We have many small groups where we teach children the gospel. 
• We have children whom we helped raise, and today they are young people who have dedicated their lives to God. We try to support these young people financially so that they can go to university or college to get an education and a profession. Many of the children are orphans and live with their grandmother or other family members. Today we have about 200 such children.
• We also work with refugees, thousands of people who pass through our church during the war.