Despite bombings, kidnappings, Ukrainian Christians ‘keep the faith and spread the Word’

Workers with Sunset International Bible Institute ask for prayers for the people of eastern Ukraine.

The Lubbock, Texas-based institute has provided thousands of preachers for Churches of Christ around the globe. It operates satellite campuses in locations including Donetsk, Ukraine, a focal point of the ongoing conflict between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government. 

A 2011 class at the Ukrainian Bible Institute in Donetsk. (PHOTO BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD) 

Two ministers, both graduates of the Ukrainian Bible Institute, have been abducted by separatists, workers with Sunset said in a recent report and appeal. The report also gives news of recent attacks and church members who are working to shelter and evacuate people from the region.

The institute in Donetsk closed due to the attacks. Administrators plan to reopen the school — either after the violence subsides in Donetsk or in a new location.

“Our hope is that the fighting will end soon with peace as the victor,” the report reads. “Satan certainly reared his ugly head in trying to stop the spread of the Gospel in an area of Ukraine where so much good has been done. Of course, our brothers and sisters there continue to keep the faith and spread the Word in spite of what is happening.”

Read the report.  

•   Explosion kills church member in eastern Ukraine

•   Militants seize church building during Sunday worship

•  Another church building seized in eastern Ukraine

•  Help needed for church-supported ministry housing 50-plus refugees of conflict in Ukraine 

•  ‘The ministry of Jesus is the most stable thing in our country,’ says minister in Donetsk, Ukraine 

•  In Moscow, Christian unity trumps politics

•  ‘United in God” — Church members from Ukraine, Russia, worship side-by-side in eastern Ukraine

•  Editorial: No turning back for followers of Christ in eastern Ukraine

•  In troubled Ukraine, ‘Christianity is the greatest treasure we have’