Last Friday God made changes to the structure of the Kiev Church! Saturday after praying and planning we took the church of 2000 into almost 200 separate churches.
On Thursday the brothers and sisters in the Kiev church that were taking on the noble task of leading a Small Group were ushered into a new world of responsibility.
On Friday after the first deaths of Swine Flu in the Ukraine with quotes of already 93,000 people sick with some sort of FLU, the country took radical steps to try to stop an outbreak of a disease that could have a major impact on this Eastern European Country. There were lines out of the pharmacies as many people began to panic at the fear of the unknown. Current reports are 36 dead from the Flu in the last 2 weeks, and almost 200,000 infected as reported by WHO.
The country wanting to take precautions, as there is no vaccine and limited medicines, made a decision to close down all schools and all public gatherings. The leadership realizing that we have now lost our opportunity to meet together in our normal halls, took quick action to prepare the church, as this quarantine is issued for the next 3 weeks.
We sent out a memorandum immediately Friday night from the leadership group, encouraging the church to stay true to 4 principles in the next few days…
1. Pray! ( James 5:13-16)
2. Obey the Authorities! ( Romans 13:1)
3. Don’t give up meeting together! (Hebrews 10:25)
4. Encourage one another daily! (Hebrews 3:12-13)
Saturday after praying and planning we took the church of 2000 into almost 200 separate churches. These house church leaders now will take on the responsibility of midweek, d-groups, Sunday Service, Communion, collecting contribution., as well as leading the effort of reaching those who are in need of Salvation!
This is not the first time in the Kiev churches history this has happened! In 1994 the church lost its registration, with a membership of 512. We went underground for almost 6 months. The singing was different… J The dating looked different… J But it became a church where the One Another Scriptures were lived out daily and every member was serving the church. Leadership became about training and equipping every Christian to serve. God really matured the church! At the end of the year the church had grown to 1024! A 100% increase in membership!!!!
The world panics as Satan would have it… but we hold on to the HOPE given to us, from Jesus Christ! Please pray for the Kiev Church, that we would be HOLY – separate from the World. That we would have peace that goes beyond understanding and that God can use the outbreak to bring people to him!