Rev Dmytro Levytskyi
The past year was not, by any measure, an easy one for Ukraine. Enemies within and enemies without were attacking this nation. Corruption in high places as well as war in the east of the country and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation caused a lot of damage to the country. Many lives were lost, many families were scattered around the country, and not a few left for other countries.
But in all these circumstances, however severe they are, people must follow the true religion and worship the only living and true God. Our task as a Mission is to direct the nation to Christ as He is offered to us in the Scriptures, as well as to warn people of the consequences of living in sin and the fact that the wrath of God is upon every soul that is breaking His law.
In pursuing this task of bringing the gospel of Christ to the people of Ukraine, our Mission not only works in Odessa but also reaches out to other parts of the country. One of the Mission’s activities is printing books with sound, biblical teaching. We have printed our Confessional Standards in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages. The book of Sermons by Rev Donald Macfarlane, and the children’s book, Line upon Line by F L Mortimer, are much appreciated, but these titles and others will be soon out of stock.
In Ukraine, in 2017, the Reformation of 500 years ago was celebrated. Throughout the country many conferences and seminars were organised, but while they were about the Reformation, the voice of the Reformed Church was very low on the whole. These events were organized by Pentecostals, Arminian Baptists and Seventh Day Adventists; even Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox people were involved in them. Nevertheless, interest arose among people as to what the Reformed faith is and who the Reformers were. And it is our task to give to people the true history – as opposed to the inaccurate history given by certain others – of the Reformation and its
consequences for the whole human race. Therefore the Mission decided to translate and publish the small book, The History of the Reformation by Thomas Witherow, in order to give Ukrainian people a succinct account of the events that took place in the nations of Europe during the Reformation.
Of course, the principal activity of the Mission is the preaching of the gospel. The congregation in Odessa, while it is small in comparison with other congregations here, does have the voice of gospel testimony, which is heard by various means beyond the boundaries of this district. Therefore various people visited the congregation during the year; while some came after seeing the congregation notice board on the church wall as they passed, others found out about us on the internet and some after viewing our website.
Not all of them agreed with the teaching of the Bible and some have expressed highly erroneous views. For example, one man, Alexander, came to our evening service and then stayed for a while to tell us what he believed. However, on examining his beliefs, we came to the conclusion that he was a Gnostic in Christian clothes. We pointed out to him that he was mistaken about the nature of God and the Person of Christ but his refusal to listen to us showed his unwillingness to submit to the teaching of the Word of God.
On the other hand, another man, whose name is Artem, and is a veteran of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), started distributing our literature among veterans of the ATO, after several visits to our congregation. For example, the books he gave to veterans in the waiting room in the Central Bus Station, where volunteers organized a small library, were gratefully received.
The Lord gives opportunities to spread the Word of God in different ways, and sometimes unexpected ones. One day we received a big parcel with our name and address on it, while we were waiting for a different parcel to arrive. On examining its contents we realized that it was meant for other people since in it there was a small old bicycle for a child, a bag of dried fish and many old shoes for infants. By all appearances the parcel was for a poor family with children, whose address we found on the parcel. (The post office by mistake replaced our parcel with this parcel). Before returning the parcel to the post office we put in it a Bible for the parents, a Shorter Catechism, literature for children and a small amount of money. In a few days we received notice that the parcel had been delivered to the right address. We hope it will be a blessing for that poor family, for the Word of God says, “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days” (Ecc 11:1).
In conclusion, we must say that, without the Lord’s blessing, none of our Mission activities would be accomplished; therefore we must be totally dependent upon Him. We ask the people of the Church to continue their prayerful support of the cause of Christ in Ukraine. Their kind assistance helps to
spread the Word of God and to fulfil the great commission that Christ gave to His disciples: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Mt 28:19).