Pastor Sasha Bauer, faithfully supported by his wife Shura, has served the church in Borguslavets for over 30 years and is now ready for his well-deserved retirement. During our recent visit to Ukraine we were pleased to meet Pastor Vitaly and his wife Alina, who are going take over the leadership of this small but dedicated church and the outreach to the nearby villages of Zorivka and Lukashivka. Vitaly told us a bit about himself, and shared some thoughts and ideas about his new role.

‍What is important to me is teaching the church the word of God, so that the church will spread the gospel to other people. I want to see all of us be transformed and to become more Christlike, through the word of God.

My hope is people in the community people can see the changed hearts of the people who go to church, can see them being loving towards others. I want people to be strong in the word, so they can go and share the gospel.

I don't really have as much experience with the younger ones as I do with adults, so I'm really excited to learn more about how to do youth ministry.  

I feel a strong calling to be a servant; I really want to be useful to the Lord, to live and serve and be a blessing. I don’t have a job right now, but I can work as a construction worker if needed. I'm a hard worker, I have all the tools and the expertise, but if I do a secular job, any job other than serving God, it feels like I'm betraying God. I know once I start doing that kind of work, I won’t be able to fully devote myself with my heart to serving others, and I find I lose my sense of peace when I started doing any kind of paid work that’s for my own benefit.

I'm learning the art of following Christ step by step, taking small steps not to seek my own benefit, but to see what God wants from me. When I repented and became a Christian, I made a covenant with God, where I said ‘I am yours, God,’ and now that I am a pastor, I feel like I am doubly his. I want to be a pastor full time, serving every day and not just on a Sunday, not just on the weekends.

I understand that wherever God has called me to work, to bring the gospel to, then I will of course just follow what he says.