“We want to be with you”

But they continued to see little progress in connecting with anyone and had almost reached the point of giving up, when one day Sergiy saw a man walk by and had a strong sense that he was in need, even though the man did not stop for food. “I shouted after him to come back, I ran after him and explained that we were from the church and we wanted to give him food. So he came back, and then some others came and sat and ate with us, and that was the very beginning – everything has grown from there.”

The ministry did not start with the intention of forming a church, and initially they tried to encourage the folk they encountered to join existing congregations. “People asked if we were from social services and we were saying, no, we're from the church. So then they were asking, ‘What is this church? We want to go to it.’ Some people came to Denghi a few times, and we were telling them about other churches in Cherkasy they could attend, even pointing them to one very near where we were in the market. But they refused, saying they wanted a connection with the ministry. They told us, ‘We don’t want to go there, we want to be with you.’”

At the same time, Sergiy and Vika had also become aware that although there had been conversations and opportunities to pray with people, they knew that wasn't really enough, and they needed to be able to fully share the gospel. They began praying this through with Sasha and came to the decision to find a building to rent, to continue the ministry in a proper meeting space.

“I really felt that God was clearly directing us,” Sergiy says. “I understood that we could continue with the practical ministries of giving people food and clothes and so on - but you just give those things and then people go away.  I realised that others can give them clothes, but we need to give them the word of God and a place to be in, to hear. That’s what we are called to do.  So we found a building and when we told people we're not just doing food, we're going to read the Bible and pray, the numbers increased. We found that even more people wanted to come and hear the word of God.”

Sergiy is passionate about developing relationships with individuals and showing God’s love through giving them time and listening to them. “I don’t want to just give out pieces of paper that say, this is the gospel, go home and read it. I want to give somebody a cup of tea and a biscuit and have a conversation, get to know them, genuinely ask them how they are doing. That is how I want to show love.”

Amongst the regulars at the church are Sergiy’s parents, who are willing to come along but have not yet committed their lives to following Jesus. “My mum is very happy to come with us to church, to serve and to help people, she wants to be involved in that,” he says. “She's seen these incredible examples of people giving their life to Jesus. She's seen healing. She's seen God's grace. She's seen all these things but her heart is still hardened. That’s the reality: some people will encounter the gospel and straight away know that it’s true and they need to change and repent. But for her, for some reason, she's just saying, well, that's nice, but it's not in her heart yet. So all we can do is share, and wait for God to reveal himself, and continue to pray for her.”

Meanwhile others who have been drawn into the Hope Church community have responded to the gospel and become Christians. After the war began, a number of refugees came from Kharkiv and some came to faith before returning home after the city was liberated. There have been several baptisms, and successful outreach events including a summer camp for children and some street evangelism.

We are so grateful for Sergiy and Vika’s faithful response of obedience to God’s prompting to begin this ministry, and look forward to seeing how it will further grow and develop in the future.