Church Growth During War in Ukraine

Church Growth During War in Ukraine
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 by Amber Schafer

During the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, churches have grown. New ministers and congregations have been established. Developing a new church requires wisdom--how to do it effectively and organize it competently. These are exactly the topics addressed by the Generations Missions Association School training for pastors and church leaders.

Our ministry partner Rustam says, "This is a great time to do ministry in Ukraine—to train church leaders for the purpose of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. We work towards accomplishing the mission God has given of expanding His Kingdom."

The school recently held two training sessions in the Lviv and Zhytomyr regions of Ukraine. Students came from central, northern, eastern, and western parts of Ukraine to participate, with ten teams (43 participants) gathered for training in the Zhytomyr region, and eight teams (34 participants) in the Lviv region.

The primary goal was two-fold – to begin training teams that are planting new churches, and training teams from existing churches how to be missionary-minded. Pastor Sergiy, from Grace Church in Ukraine, said, “Thank you so much for inviting our team. This training was an opportunity for us to be reminded of the important issues of the missional church and how we can practically live it out in our church and in our own lives. I believe it will help in the growth of each of us in the ministry.”

Teams looked at what the Bible says about the church and its purpose. They discussed what the Lord had called each team to do, analyzed church activities together, and discussed what should be done and how to fulfill their goal. Through Bible study, the teams adjusted their understanding of their calling and responsibilities. “I liked that it was a real-life application of ministry,” says Jaroslav, a missionary from the Bread of Life Church in Ukraine. “I saw examples of how people actually minister, how it works, and how you can reach people in different ways. I liked that the training was practical, not just theoretical.”

Several teams recognized the importance of increasing their evangelism efforts to be more diligent in spreading the Gospel in their communities. Some teams rededicated themselves to church planting. This was true for Pastor Vasily and his church. He shared, “After the training session, we decided to develop our local church to work toward planting a new church. This meeting gave us a step-by-step guideline of what we should do to develop the new church.”

The Generations Missions Association will hold another training session with these teams and will also start a new training school for another ten teams from the central region of Ukraine by the end of this year. The Generations team will make visits to the groups that have gone through training and see the ministry they are doing in their communities and to give guidance and encouragement. This training and coaching is done so that solid leadership is developed within churches and groups of believers are discipled and mobilized to express the love of Christ to their surrounding communities.

Generations Mission Association was founded by Rustam Ibragimov to prepare mission teams and church leadership in the Russian-speaking countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia since its inception in 2015. The Generations team provides coaching to pastors and Christian leaders as they develop strategies and methods for creative approaches to practical and meaningful ministry. Since the war began in February 2022, nearly 50 churches, part of the Generations Church Network, has been responding by providing evacuation from war zones, shelter, food, emotional support, and spiritual hope through the message of Jesus. Summit Missions International is involved in the work of Generations Mission Association through funding, sponsorship of church planters, training of Christian leaders by providing speakers, support, and equipment for conferences and workshops.