Each year, we gather for an intensive called School of Sons and Daughters. Here, participants experience the Father's love, learn to abide in his presence, and are renewed in the spirit of our minds as we discover who we are in Christ. Many of those who come for the first time have never heard the message of identity before. For some who come from strict and authoritarian religious experiences, the love of God is a sweet encounter that changes how they relate to God; they are no longer servants alone, but God's children, who live with him, from him, and for him.
A Story of Transformed Lives
Olya and Bogdan grew up in one orphanage and knew each other as kids. After graduating from the institution, they remained in touch and eventually began dating. Olya continued to build on her passion, studying barbering and ranking in competitions while working full-time to support herself and her biological father, who lives back in the village. Bogdan shared a similar story.
One day I heard of Olya and decided to visit her shop for a haircut. During our conversation, we hit it off really well, so I invited her to come around to our coffee house. From that one sit-down, others followed, and the conversation would often turn toward Jesus. Then one day, I invited her to one of our conferences, and she made time in her schedule to attend. It was the final day of the evangelism school we were hosting, and we were preparing to distribute the Lord's Supper that evening.
As we stood in the front row together, Olya looked on at the preparations. I found the opportunity there to explain the meaning of this holy meal to her. We talked about Jesus, his perfect, sinless life, his offer of forgiveness, and the need to repent to belong to Christ. She mentioned that she was baptized as a baby in the Eastern Orthodox church but recognized that her life had strayed from God. I asked her if she wanted to repent. She confessed that she needed forgiveness and repented of her sins right there! We brought her the Lord's Supper, and she accepted his body and blood, receiving his incredible gift as a child of God.
This year, our friends Bogdan and Olya declared their faith in Christ before witnesses and entered into covenant with Jesus in water baptism!
It was not too long before Bogdan began coming to our worship nights as well. He was hesitant at first, since this was his first time attending a non-Orthodox or Greek Catholic gathering. He soon began to encounter the love of God and began to frequent our Bible study groups. Then, on one occasion, as we sat around a table drinking tea and conversing, he made a resolved confession of his belief in Jesus.
Bogdan proposed to Olya not long after this! As they prepared for their wedding, Olya was convinced by her study of the Bible that they should not live together before they married, and so we were able to offer her a place at our mission base before their wedding date. They firmly decided to build their new life on Christ and asked me to officiate a Christian-centered wedding for them!
The momentum continued! After their wedding, Bogdan and Olya told us they wanted to be baptized! This time, they wanted to do it because, for the first time following their repentance, they understood what it means to belong to God. So we went down to the river. They entered the water and stood facing the many eager, tearful eyes watching them, loudly declaring their belief in Jesus and affirming the Apostles' Creed. They came out beaming with a radiance none of us have seen on them before.
The transformative process we witnessed in Bogdan and Olya's lives has left a profound mark on our community; we have seen God change two lives so radically before our eyes. They represent many others to us whom we have ministered to throughout the years. Some plant, some water, and God brings about the result (1 Cor 3:6). He is faithful to bring about the result of the labor done in love.
We are compelled to walk with this generation into Jesus's glorious upward call. This invitation beckons us into the uncreated light of the Father, entering through the blood of his only Son, to be joined by the Holy Spirit into an everlasting relationship with God. There is no greater joy in our mission work in Ukraine.
We are eager to come alongside young adults like this who are facing another great hour of trial in their country, to water the growth that God's Spirit has begun in them.
Thank you for your hand in this work. Together with you, we can make a difference that will echo through the concourses of eternity.
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