Equipping Ukraine’s Youth
The future of Ukraine lies in the hands of young people, and we want to equip them to make wise, godly decisions as they grow. Working closely with partners we share the gospel and the truth of Jesus with the youth, and provide them with skills to set them up for successful employment and influence in their locality.
Children’s Ministry
Each of our partner churches hold children as central to their ministry. Over the years we have seen many parents give their lives to Jesus after seeing the impact that He has had on their children.
As well as Sunday school programmes, we also run a Day Centre for disadvantaged children who need extra support with their school work. At this weekly group the children have fun through games, songs and crafts as well as learning from the Bible and receiving a nourishing meal. Established at the start of the war, this group has grown and multiplied so that it is now run in several villages.
Camps & Holiday Bible Clubs
Research from Barna states that two out of three born again Christians (64%) made that commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday. Today young people are raised in a post-Christian world and bombarded with pressures and choices through social media and the internet. This is no different in Ukraine and so we want to ensure that Ukrainian children and teenagers have an opportunity to meet Jesus and learn how to live life walking with Him in this pressurised world.
Each summer we invite young people to come and camp with us in Blagodatne village where they enjoy sports, games, music and other activities, whilst receiving biblical teaching.
They spend time with young adults who are following Jesus and build relationships with them so that they can continue to be a part of a community throughout the year.
In Ukraine the villages fill up with children over the summer, many of whom have come from the cities to spend time with their grandparents. Holiday Bible Clubs allow them to mix with other children. All of our churches hold these each year, inviting all of the local children to come and enjoy games, crafts, sing songs and hear about Jesus.
Holiday Bible clubs are a huge highlight of the summer for the church and community; for many they are the first step to getting to know the church. We see many families in our churches who have come to faith through their children attending these summer activities.
Over the years our youth camps and Holiday Bible Clubs have been hugely fruitful and many of our young Pastors have come to faith through them. We continue to pray that God would raise up the next generation who follow Him.
Would you like to join us on short term mission?
Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine we are sadly currently unable to take volunteers to participate in our summer camps. However, if you are interested, please fill out this form and we will be in touch.
You can still support the camps and holiday bible clubs by making a donation.
Wise Carpenter
In 2015 God gave Vitaliy (pictured) a vision to build a brighter future for Ukraine. Vitaliy recognised that many boys in Ukraine were growing up without positive role models in their lives. This may be due to family breakdown, alcoholism, drug addiction, fathers away for work, or simply that the men themselves do not know how to be a good father. This need is felt even more in wartime.
Wise Carpenter was established as a group to give boys practical skills for life, and to teach them what it is to be a man created in God’s image. Each time they meet, the groups spend time working on their practical projects as well as learning about God and His love for them.
Beginning as one group, the ministry soon grew. Vitaliy and his team now take the ministry all over Ukraine to run mobile introductory workshops. From there churches who have volunteers can establish their own groups, linking in to the well- established support network that Wise Carpenter provide. They are issued with a start-up kit of tools, a guidebook containing both practical and bible lessons, and of course the aprons and safety gear.
10 years on and there are nearly 40 groups across Ukraine.
The vision of Wise Carpenter movement is to see a new generation of Ukrainian men who aspire to be people after God’s heart and become dedicated to their families, their church, their country.
Camp MAXIMUM
“Camp with a new format” Maximum is an outdoor activity centre operating to the highest standard, delivering extreme sports and adventure camps for 7-18 year olds. They do incredible work reaching into the schools in the local area, delivering in-school personal development classes, as well as hosting residential visits at the site in Zolotonosha.
At the heart of everything run by Maximum is the desire to share the gospel of Jesus. All the staff and volunteers are Christians, and every group receives Christian teachings, whether a school group or a summer camp.
In a nation that is renowned for isolating those born with physical and mental disabilities, Maximum is leading the way in hosting activities that include such young people in the general population. As well as encouraging those who are able to be a part of the mainstream summer camps, they also run residential weeks for families with their children. The team at Maximum are seeking to educate and influence mainstream culture to cater for the full range of needs demonstrated by all young people in society
The greatesr asset of the team at MAXIMUM is their ability to see the needs and adapt to meet them. Since the war they have housed refugees, set up camps for veterans delivering post-trauma counselling and even built a specialist lab to build prosthetic limbs for those injured in war. To see more of what they do, visit their website.