Hope Lebedyn began life in 1999 as ICC Missions as a result of a meeting at a conference outside of Moscow between founder Peter Martin and Pastor Sergey Ovcharenko, at which the great needs of the people in the Sumy Oblast were revealed, and a passion to help address these was born. This work was later renamed Essential Christian Missions as a part of the Essential Christian charity, until in January 2023, Hope Lebedyn became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, enabling it to focus solely on the work in Ukraine following a year of war that created unprecedented demand for aid and support in Lebedyn and the oblast of Sumy.
