Throughout our time at the camp, our days consisted of talking about how the Bible helps to build character traits, which can then help to fruitfully cope with the temptations of the modern world. Honesty, courage, sacrifice, trust, forgiveness - these are the traits, which are not popular in the modern world, but appreciated so much by God.
The atmosphere on camp was very friendly and active. This year we ran the camp in the afternoon as the children were studying at school all morning. Also, the children didn't have any winter holidays this year, only a few days off for Christmas and New Year. Therefore, we wanted to make this time as wonderful as possible! So straight after school they came to us, had lunch with us and the camp began: crafts, sport, games, Bible lessons and great fellowship!
One of the blessings throughout our time at camp was having the professional sportsman Olexander help us with our sports programme. He is non-believer but for a long time he has been renting our gym. He was not very interested in knowing God. Recently, however, he has started to join our services and kindly agreed to help us with our camp sport activities. Please do join us in prayer as we believe for him to personally know God and become a Christian.
There are many stories through which we can clearly see God at work. Here are just a few:
God has been doing a big work in two of our friends, Alina and Vika, who have been opening up and asking lots of questions! Alina was particularly intrigued in understanding more about the story of God's judgement and justice, which touched her heart very much! Instead of going back to their old way of life, they are being transformed and regularly attending our Teen Club.
Dasha is also another person who has been enjoying our camp! Attending this camp enabled her to experience a Christian atmosphere for the first time in her life! She said she loves to be here and instantly joined our Teen Club shortly after! Dasha has also made lots of new friends and enjoys attending every meeting we hold in the mission centre.
Nikita is also another person who has profoundly benefited from attending our camps. Originally attending camp with his older brother, he has enjoyed attending our different meetings. In fact, during a Bible lesson, he prayed to God and asked for forgiveness! Along with so many others, he has also been attending our Teen Club meetings and Sunday school.
Lastly, Sasha, someone who has attended our camp several times before, has been also impacted through our work. While he often needed lots of attention from adults, he has started to behave much differently – he’s no longer upset upon arriving to the camp from school and can now engage in more mature conversations with those around him, including his mother. He also opened up to our staff members about some difficulties he had been experiencing at school and home. It provided a wonderful opportunity to discuss with him what the Bible says about forgiveness and help him put this into practice within his life.
During difficult and testing circumstances we face in our lives, within our country and across the world, God gives us a beautiful opportunity to share and display Christ’s grace to others!
Thank you to everyone who has agreed to be support this vital ministry.
Love from Bohdan and the team
The beginning of December is significant as it marks the beginning of a new advent season. For us at Hope Lebedyn a dream is both coming to fulfilment and also starting. Many years ago we hoped and dreamed for a new ministry Activity Centre that would enable the work in Lebedyn to grow. 2020 has been a strange year for everyone around the globe and the small town of Lebedyn is no exception. However, we have seen some amazing answers to prayer that have seen lives impacted in so many ways.
We set out on this journey just 2 years ago drawing up plans, and thanks to several visionary businessmen who have together donated $175,000 the building work can now go ahead. The builders are now digging out the foundations and starting work. Completion, God willing, will be in June 2021 ready for a brand new exciting summer programme.
The new Activity Centre will seek to provide an extra meeting space for the children and youth, an opportunity to feed more people and provide sports based programmes to the local community...all provided with a Christian message. Our camp programme will also be enhanced in so many ways allowing far more to be offered in winter months when temperatures often plummet to -20.
We still have just $43,000 to find to complete the building work so we can add the external cladding to the building.
We cannot thank those who have stood with us enough through this time to see this new dream fulfilled. Perhaps you could help with the rest that need to be funded? If so please do talk to us. Please check out some of the stories of life changing testimonies within this website that will demonstrate the goodness of God and the what can be achieved further.
To make a One-Off gift to the Hope Lebedyn building project or the winter camp programme please click HERE
The local church has been running their annual summer camps for both children and youth over the past month. Here’s a small report and images of these much loved youth camp gatherings at the mission centre in Lebedyn.
From 26th of July until 1st of August, we had our youth camp which took place in Hrunivka village. We were afraid that we will not be able to do it at all as the situation with Covid-19 seemed to be worse and measures were getting stricter. But our God is good and through Mike and Peter's wise support we held the youth camp in a different place and as a result of that we solved 2 situations. Firstly, we had a nice, safe and suitable place to have a camp at and secondly, we partly helped to purchase that place for children from the Sumy rehabilitation centre.
This year’s camp became a great challenge for us. We had 37 new non-believing youth attend. Almost everyone was from troubled families and only their mothers or grandmothers taking care of them in their homes. That's why we decided to have an important topic for this camp – what is our identity in Christ? looking at who is a man and a woman in God's eyes.
The young people we had were between 15 up to 19 years old but their lives are so full of amorality. A lot of boys started to smoke from age 9, 10, 11. That's why it was very difficult for them to stop smoking in our camp and to use bad language in their vocabulary, sometimes they were really aggressive towards others, even if they were friends. For us it was day and night work.
We also had some accidents that had an influence on our camp. On the second day one girl's mother died (the girl's name is Natalia). The news were very hard and I (Bohdan) had to tell her about this. Her mother died during surgery. Her mother's sister is a member of our church and that's why we decided to organise the funeral. It became a very good support for the family and great testimony for non-believers. Natalia says that she is atheist; she doesn't believe in God but perhaps she is angry because her father is a "strong orthodox christian" in real life and is a very bad and cruel person. Because of her mother's death she became even angrier with God. Please, pray for Natalia. Inna and our girls from the church are trying to build a relationship with her.
On the 4th day in the evening we played a game and 3 people crashed into one another and as a result 1 boy seriously broke his leg. His name is Vlad Marchenko. On the way to the hospital in the ambulance I was telling to the hospital workers about God and they were really interested. It was amazing. I spent 24 hours with the boy in hospital until his mother came. He had 2 operations on the leg and we decided to help the family financially straight away. I had a great opportunity to share about God with his mother. Praise God, Vlad's leg is getting better. And Vlad and his mother were and are so open and thankful to us. We keep in touch with them. Even through difficult situations we still have possibilities to spread God's Love and God's Word.
After the camp some of the youth really wanted to know more about God and as a result some became Christians and were baptised. We have immediately organised a home group for these young people. At the first group meeting we had 6 young people: Liza Zibrova, Marina Hetman, Tania Vasylyna, Zlata Nazarova, Kiril Miroshnichenko, Eduard Vasilkov. Please, pray for these young people, that they would become strong Christians.
Thank you all very much for your love and care, that because of God and you we were able to have this camp and to find new young people who need God's love and Salvation.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1: 15-16 .....By God's Mercy, God chose me to be saved by the faith into Jesus Christ.
Growing Up....
I grew up in a family of 5 girls and 4 boys, our parents were Christians, but out of 9 children only I became a Christian and a gospel preacher. I try to forget my life before I became Christian as my life was very bad - but from great sinners God makes us holy. In 1975 I was baptised a short while after God had made my dead soul alive. There have been many spiritual battles, but praise God He has always been with me. Even before my baptism I was preaching about the salvation by faith. At that time we were within the Soviet Union, and many times I was brought before the authorities because of my faith and preaching. I got in trouble at work because of sharing the gospel in a company with about 600 staff. I now have 7 sons and 2 daughters, and as I write 16 grandchildren! All my children are believers.
...We started to do the wonderful work of spreading God's Word within Sumy region and wider region...
In March of 1997 I was invited to study at "Revival Bible College" in Kharkow. I was the first one in Sumy region to do mission work. There were many obstacles from the authorities and government, but God was there with me, it was His Work. In the early years we registered 12 churches in Sumy region and many people became Christians.
In 1999 something really important happened in my life and in the further mission work. During a missionaries seminar in Moscow I had an unforgettable meeting with Peter Martin and David Ashby, dear brothers from the UK. A short while later we met our dear brother and friend Mike Wadey who for many years has stood with us and remained faithful to our work in Sumy region. We started to do the wonderful work of spreading God's Word within Sumy region and wider region. We were travelling around Ukraine with our Christian puppet show sharing Good News with people.
God was clearly answering our prayers. We were the first ones in Sumy region to have see great blessing visiting orphanages, schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons etc. Thank to prayers and financial support of our dear brothers from the UK we had such opportunity.
During the past 20 years our mission centre was able to do so many Christian summer and winter camps where each time we had about 200 children (each day). These ministries were so successful, a lot of children and their parents could hear God's Word. So many who went to the camps have now become members of our church. It is very difficult to say now how many during the years as a lot of families moved from Lebedyn to different Ukrainian towns and to Russia. A lot stayed in the Lebedyn mission centre and the church and a large number who became Christians through the camps are now leaders themselves. Every year our church had a lot of baptisms from 12 to 20 people at once...
My lifelong desire was, and is, to diligently testify of Jesus Christ. God was helping us in a miracle way. For example, God put on my heart to visit all villages of Lebedyn area. I knew that in people's minds there are so different points of view and a residue of the communist past. In Holubovka village the local authority/leader was Kensa, he was the hero of village work and he was a communist. So I decided to do a Christian service in their House of Culture and only this man could give the go ahead. I prayed to God and went to meet with him. It was a miracle, he received my requests in a very good way and told me: "we are not monsters, go forward, do it". God is Powerful enough to soften hard and cold hearts.
Thanks to your prayers and financial support in 2000 we were able to buy a former kindergarten, it is one of the best places in Lebedyn, where we were able to do different Christian camps, meetings and events. Inside the building everything was reconstructed, the doors, windows, floor, roof, sewerage was changed. We made Sunday school rooms, guest rooms, rooms for sewing and computer classes, puppet show room for recording and rehearsing, outside walls, fencing, garden, flower beds, tiles laid outside. Praise God for His wise guidance through Peter and Mike, who came to visit us in Lebedyn more than 40 times during these years. Together we have visited so many different orphanages, educational establishments, met different Ukrainian authorities of our region and of the whole Ukraine. Everything played a very important and supportive role in our mission work.
Overseas financial support opened so many doors for our ministry. The financial situation was very bad and poor. In our mission I had three meetings with the Ukrainian Vice-president, meetings with Generals and other senior military leaders, Judges, Prosecutors, authorities and local government from Sumy. All these gave opportunities helped spread God's Word. I would like to mention that the humanitarian aid from England brought to our mission centre was one of the best not only in Sumy region, but around Ukraine. May God bless 100 times more those who have been supporting us during all these years. Great work for God has been done and still goes on.
Thanks to the mission centre we have organised the Lebedyn church in the same building. 98% of all who became Christians and members of our church were from non-believing families. There was a lot of work done to help them understand God's Love.
In Bishkin village Lebedyn area there were no Christians at all but right now there is a registered church that has been set up. Two teachers, who were the first to become Christians, have had a huge influence which was noticed by local authorities in the village. It was the great beginning of Christian family growth in this village. There is Sunday school there too.
I would like to share one more story. Local Christian brothers were holding a meeting at the local Sanatorium (hotel) in Tokary village (6 km from Lebedyn) came together with one man to meet with me. His name was Victor. Victor heard singing, God's Word and everything touched his heart. He came up to those 2 brothers and told them: I don't have patience in my soul, the song words "Jesus Christ knocks gently, calls gently" stuck in my mind." The next day Victor was drunk, but alcohol could not stop God's Word rising up. Praise God!!!! I spoke with Victor about his sin and faith and grace in Christ, and praise God he became Christian that day. (James 1:18). So Victor went back to his native village Banichy. Next year he came back to Tokary sanatorium again. When I met him I asked him: What did you say to your wife when you came back? And Victor replied: “Halia, please, forgive me, all these years I was very bad to you. Now I believe in Jesus Christ”. A lot of people respected Victor in his native village and at his work. He told me that when he got back home he took to work the machine he used to make homemade vodka and destroyed it telling everyone at work that he would never take part in any bad affairs. It was the great testimony for everybody to see…not just by his words but in his deeds.
After this God put on my heart to do Evangelism in Victor's native village Banichy (It is a big village!) and in December we made it all happen. It was very cold, but people were eagerly listening to God's Word. When I called people for repentance Victor's wife came out and said: When my husband Victor became Christian he made my life with him like paradise. Everyone was crying. She prayed and she became Christian too. After a while some of their children became Christians, not all of them, but everything is in God's Hands. For now, they have a church there and I visit regularly.
Dear Peter, Mike and all who prayed for and supported our common ministry, your work and time spent on the ministry are not in vain. (1Cor.15:58). Victor is a deacon in their church. Praise God! God has no accidents. For example, one day late in the evening I was driving home. I saw one man walking, I offered to give him a ride. We started to talk, I invited him to visit our evangelistic meeting. He was very interested and asked many questions. He prayed in the car and he became Christian. He invited me into his house where his wife was also very interested and she prayed to God too and became a Christian. Now Nikolai is a deacon in the church in Lebedyn and his wife Nadia sings in the church choir.
A lot of families joined our church: Shulovs, Vorobiovs Shevchuns, Dubnickyiеs, Shulgas etc. In some situations the wife or husband started attending first and then the whole family became Christians, in some situations children came first and then the parents.
We keep doing evangelistic meetings with those who are convicted and serving a prison sentence. The government and authorities are so thankful for these meetings as the behaviour of the prisoner’s changes in a positive way and they value the Christian education which we provide. We keep doing the evangelistic meetings and camps with the disabled, adults, children and with refugee families who had to escape from Ukrainian parts occupied by Russia through the war. Thanks to your support we were able to buy a house for a poor refugee family Tatiana, her daughter Anna and 3 grandchildren. This year Anna has been baptised after her mother Tatiana became Christian 4 years ago. So the seeds in this family are growing into spiritual fruit.
We also keep doing the puppet ministry around Lebedyn, the Sumy region and further outside. Because of your support we were able to go to Odessa few times to do a lot of evangelistic meetings with children and adults on the main square there.
Our puppet show participants were able to do a lot of such meetings at Azov Sea recreation centre’s for children and adults on vacation. A lot of them listened to God's Word and watched such puppet shows for the first time.
The Lord said ".. the gospel will be preached as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come". Matt 24 v 14
I will never forget, dear Peter and Mike your kindness and hospitality. May God gives you all long happy life, peace, strong health, joy, sanctify and cleanse yourselves to be always prepared to meet with our Lord any time.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians. 3:1).
With prayers and love from your younger brother in Christ and your old friend Sergey.
A very warm welcome to the brand new Hope Lebedyn website. Hope Lebedyn is the new charity name for the work formerly known as EC Missions. The EC stands for Essential Christian, more widely known for running Spring Harvest a Christian conference attended by thousands every Easter.
My name's Peter Martin and it has been my honour to work with Pastor Sergey Ovcharenko who birthed this work from his small church and more recently alongside Pastor Bohdan Tymchyshyn who now heads up the Mission Centre in Lebedyn. Not forgetting the wider team in Lebedyn, Ukraine who for years have given their time and energy to serve, train and love the forgotten people of this region.
Peter Martin
The local church has been running their annual summer camps for both children and youth over the past month. Here's a small report and images of these much loved children's camp gatherings at the mission centre in Lebedyn.
During 20 years at the Spiritual Revival church campus we have held daytime summer meetings with local children. The goal of our work is not only to amuse and feed children, but also to become part of their lives, lives of their families and to be a good living example for them of the Gospel and its beauty and power.
We had unforgettable days. Everyday started at 09:00 through to 15:00. The majority of children were from single parent families and where mainly children live with their mothers. However, many of them also live with grandmothers as mothers need to go to work abroad. As a result we have noticed that these children needed much attention, love and hugs from us the most.
The main theme was "The World Picture” (or “The Beautiful World"). We spoke about God as the creator and then how the world has fallen away from God and how man is destroying this beautiful world. We then explained how God recreated the world and our lives by His Son Jesus Christ, who is our real friend, who gives us real love and Salvation.
Children who attended for the first time requested, and were given, Bibles. They wanted to know and find out more.
We were so encouraged that a lot of children prayed to Jesus for the first time as they understood that their hearts are sinful and became Christians.
