Christian Unity Ministries

Ukrainian Churches Eager

Unity News

November, 2004

Ukrainian Churches Eager

To Understand Biblical Unity

Christian Unity Ministries has never been so privileged as it was to join Open Door Missions October 17-30, teaching in a multitude of congregations in the Eastern Ukraine. Trainers and peacemakers from Unity Ministries, representatives from Open Door Missions, and deacons from First Baptist Church, Anahuac, Texas joined to form a 13-member mission team. That team divided into four smaller teams which each spent 2-3 days teaching Five Principles of Unity in 3-4 congregations. Immanuel Baptist Church in Luhans'k served as the host church for the entire team.

Pastors Gary Hillyard and Danny Pitts, two of the principals of Open Door Missions, make several trips each year to the Ukraine, where Hillyard was a pastor for several years. After having taught the unity material there last year, Open Door Missions invited Unity Ministries to make the trip with them in October. The opportunity to go and to teach the unity principles to Ukrainian Christians, who have enjoyed the freedom to worship openly for only 15 years now, was simply too wonderful to forego, and the memories from this adventure will last forever.

The history is fascinating, and the countryside is beautiful, but it was the people of the Ukraine who made the most lasting impressions on the team. “Never have I seen a group of people with a stronger faith and a bigger sense of hope,” recalled Dr. Ann Farris, a Killeen educator and trainer/facilitator with Christian Unity Ministries. “They have a huge capacity for loving...I am not used to being loved so quickly. That was not a response to me; that is a response of the Ukrainian people.”

The consensus among the team members was that God used this adventure to teach them as much as He did to teach the Ukrainian churches. Despite some obvious and radical cultural differences, the scriptural principles of unity were as applicable in the Ukraine as they are here in the United States. "We saw that the principles and Scriptures are universal, and that people are people," reported Pete Barker , an architect from Phoenix and a trainer/facilitator with Unity Ministries. "Most importantly, we experienced first hand the Principle of the Spirit (that the Spirit of Christ himself lives in every believer). We saw it in the speed with which new relationships formed and blossomed. If the Spirit can bridge gaps of language and culture this quickly, He can certainly unify churches in a powerful way."

Warren Clark, an attorney from Anahuac, Texas and also a UM trainer/facilitator, was especially touched by the power of God's Word on the lives of the Ukrainian Christians. "I am so impressed with the power of the message of unity and, at the same time, I am humbled that God would call me to deliver this message."

Five Principles of Unity has been translated, but not yet published, into Russian which is the primary language of this Eastern region of the Ukraine. Therefore, though a rough draft transcript of the material was left with each Ukrainian pastor, the only means of teaching the material was verbal, through interpreters. Nonetheless, it was received in every instance by Christians who were eager to understand Biblical unity and who were anxious to be transformed by it. In most cases, they couldn't take notes fast enough and they often couldn't stay late enough into the night to ask questions about these Biblical principles. Connie Whilden, a UM trainer/facilitator observed, “I was struck by the differences between our cultures, and their unabashed passion for the Word of God.”

Warren Clark's team had a particularly remarkable experience. On the third night of teaching, Warren noticed his interpreter had stopped interpreting. He looked over at her and she was "soaked with her own tears" and struggling to talk. "She told me she finally understood what we were saying," said Warren. At that moment, in a church culture known for its lack of expression and for its fear of anything "charismatic", a few church members began crying and praying out loud. Then others joined them. Church members were heard confessing to one another and praying spontaneously. Warren Clark observed, "That body of believers was brought to Biblical unity in one moment. What an incredible moment!"

The evidence of God's hand on this venture was overwhelming. Clearly, He is working among Ukrainian Christians, and He is using Five Principles of Unity in that work. In response to this, Christian Unity Ministries is now making arrangements to have this material published in Russian by a Ukrainian publisher. Please pray for this effort, as Christian Unity Ministries has made this commitment without knowing where the funds will come from for it, but knowing that God will provide them. To Him be the glory!

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