God of wonders!
What an appropriate theme for the 25th anniversary of the Kiev Church of Christ, which was planted on June 7, 1992, from the one-year-old Moscow church. After arriving on a Tuesday, we had only five days to share our faith and wait for God to bring a harvest. God did just that, as over 500 people came to service that first Sunday! The next night, God brought over 270 open hearts with a desire to know the Bible. After daily Bible studies, 28 people where baptized into Christ the very next Sunday! By the end of the first month God added 77 people to the Kiev Church and he has now multiplied them to a Sunday attendance of 1800. God blessed us with planting eight more churches in Ukraine as well!
The years to come were filled with great blessings and great trials. We thank God for all of these, as they have refined our character to be more like Christ. The Kiev church has been blessed by so much exposure to our global fellowship, for which we are so thankful! From hosting the International Leadership Conference in 2008, to having so many come and teach and encourage the church over the years, we truly feel apart of our global brotherhood.
When the revolution and coup hit Ukraine a few years back, we felt so supported in prayer, and also sacrifice as many churches took up contributions to help support the churches in the Ukraine at a dark hour. After growing for six years in a row, we took a hit in our membership as hundreds of disciples moved to other cities. I am happy to share that last year the church in Kiev began to grow again, and is growing this year as well! Please pray for the church to be a bright light!
The topic of our 25th anniversary was "God of Wonders." We had an amazing leadership conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, with keynote speakers Douglas Arthur, AT Arneson, Chris Zillman and John McGuirk. On Thursday we kicked off a disciples' summit with Andy Fleming and Randy McKean speaking to the church on Thursday and Friday night. Saturday we had our celebration worship service, and Sunday we closed with an outdoor picnic for over 2000! You can check out the photos from the events and interviews on here or on the Kiev Church of Christ Facebook page. (Note the translation feature.)
God blessed! We are so thankful to be a part of his kingdom! Please pray for this mustard seed in Ukraine, to lay down its life so that we can expand and evangelize Eastern Europe.Thank you for all the prayers and support over the years!