Gospel Heritage in Ukraine
By Tim Keesee
As we mark 30 years of God’s faithfulness to Frontline Missions, one of the ongoing chapters in our work is in the country of Ukraine, where we began to serve in 1996. It is bittersweet to write of this country and of our dear friends there now that the Russian war has descended on Ukraine.
I’ll write more on the impact of the war on one of our families later in this article, but first I want to remember. The Lord has given us many fruitful years of Gospel work in Ukraine, and the long-term investment in so many churches and individuals gives us a network needed now to come alongside of our friends in this hour of great need.
John Hutcheson teaching in Ukraine
In the 1990s Frontline Missions began work in Ukraine with churches that had gone through 70 years of Communism and persecution. There were so many needs and opportunities to bless the Church and to spread the Gospel there. Frontline helped build many church buildings (“prayer houses,” as they are called there), provided pastoral support, published a Ukrainian hymnal and numerous Christian books, and partnered with churches to hold children’s camps. In addition, Frontline provided pastoral training—first in Kyiv and then in regional Bible schools throughout the country.
Children’s Camp in Ukraine
As the churches in Ukraine have developed and grown and the economic situation has evolved over the past quarter century, Frontline no longer serves in all of these ways because the churches have taken a larger share, which has always been Frontline’s goal! So, to that end in more recent years, Frontline has shifted energy and resources to growing the missionary vision of the Ukrainian churches, especially in sending and supporting Gospel workers in Central Asia. The Lord has blessed these efforts, and it’s been a delight to see the joy and generosity of the Ukrainian churches as they take their part in the Great Commission.
Inna & Pavlo Parfeniuk
The man who has been at the center of all of these efforts—from pastoral training to camps to literature to missions in Central Asia—has been Pavlo Parfeniuk, and we have served together for more than 25 years. Pavlo is a man shaped by the Gospel, which is evident in his leadership, humility, faithfulness, and courage. He and his wife, Inna, are true partners in the work and have three grown children. The war that Russia started on February 24 has upended their lives, as it has for millions of other Ukrainians. Yet, their trust in God in the darkest of days has been a great example to me. You can catch a sense of Pavlo’s faithfulness as well as his personality in the following journal entry:
March 17, 2022
Pavlo finally got a message out to me today. It’s been three weeks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and within days he and his family found themselves behind enemy lines and cut off from their home and the church Pavlo pastors in Kyiv. Tanks rolled in, power was cut, cell phones eventually died, and communication stopped. But today I finally heard from Pavlo, and he filled me in on their surprising deliverance and all the ways in which the Lord brightened the dark days leading up to their escape.
Pavlo is a deep student of the Word and a faithful preacher for many years, but he told me he “rediscovered” the Psalms since the invasion. From the first day of the war, he and his family read aloud from the Psalms and found words of hope and fresh courage. The Spirit-inspired psalms read from a well-worn Bible gave such spontaneous joy that it was as if they were reading them for the first time.
After nearly two weeks without power and with Russian soldiers now looting stores in town, Pavlo and his family decided to set out for the 25-mile walk to Kyiv. Russian troops stopped them, and an officer asked them where they were going.
“Kyiv,” Pavlo replied.
“Too dangerous—you will never make it. Turn north and go to Belarus, and you will be taken care of there,” the officer said.
Pavlo said the officer was not a convincing liar; so they waited in the road, and eventually the Russians let them pass. Then, remarkably, a school bus came along, picking up refugees to take them as far as the Dnieper River, where the bridge had been blown up. That day the river was partially frozen, so they crossed on the ice and—in deeper parts—on a tenuous footbridge that had been rigged along the ruins of the bombed bridge. From Kyiv, they had access to highways they could take to the relative safety of western Ukraine or even western Europe. But Pavlo had a flock to shepherd in Kyiv, and there were Gospel opportunities during the darkest and most dangerous time that any of them had ever experienced. And so, framed in those terms, the decision was fairly easy—they would stay and serve. Even that day, he and Inna were headed out to visit church members in the hospital and deliver relief supplies to the needy. There was no fighting in and around the city that day, and Pavlo said the only danger in Kyiv was Russian missiles and bombs! I could tell he was glad to be back in action and serving. The daily dose of Psalms was still cheering his heart, and he left me with this passage: “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me” (Psalm 3:3-5).
It is fitting that Pavlo should read the Psalms with fresh eyes, for many of them were written from hiding places, on battlefields, or during tear-stained nights by people who knew they would never make it without a Deliverer. The walls of their world were falling apart—they needed a safe place—so the psalmist wrote:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. . . .
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46:1-3, 11)
The walls of this refuge are not of stone or steel. These fortress walls are of a more enduring substance, for God is the refuge.
Please pray for Pavlo and Inna as well as our other Strategic Partners in Ukraine. There are specific requests along with their pictures in this month’s prayer list. Also, if you would like to contribute to Frontline’s relief efforts in Ukraine and to Ukrainian refugees in neighboring countries, you can give to the Ukraine Crisis Fund. The war has presented significant challenges to sending funds to Ukraine, so pray for us as we find ways to get help to where it is needed. We are looking at this as a long-term commitment to help in a part of the world where we have had a long-term commitment in times of peace—and now in a time of war. In the coming months we will likely have more specific projects, and we will share those as we are able.