International Newsletter January 2023
God moving powerfully in the middle of war!
Since the beginning of the war, our Steiger Ukraine leaders and missionaries have courageously worked non-stop. Our relief teams…
- Delivered between 5 and 10 tons of food to people in bomb shelters and on the front lines each month.
- Shared the Gospel with 1,000 to 2,000 people each month.
- Evacuated over 7,000 civilians (total) from war zone cities.
- Delivered 1,396 audio Bibles to soldiers on the frontlines.
- Prayed with over 20,000 people who made decisions to follow Christ.
Our relief team prepares to build a community space in Khmelnitsky.
In November, Russian missiles targeted power plants across the country, resulting in a country-wide energy crisis. Temperatures are dropping and people don’t have heat. Our team responded by…
- Ordering 20 generators to provide heat and light for people.
- Opening community spaces in key cities where young people can come for warmth, light, food, tea, and a sense of normalcy, community, and hope.
- Already open and running: Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipro, Khmelnitsky, and Poltava
- Opening soon: Chernivtsi and Sumy
Even in the midst of the war and relief work, our Ukrainian missionaries have continued to devote time to the work they were doing before the war broke out: sharing the Gospel and building discipleship relationships with young people who wouldn’t walk into a church. Here is just one incredible story of how God is working through their faithfulness and boldness.
Courageous Steiger missionaries hold a training seminar by flashlight in Chernivtsi.
Sofia and Karina went to music school together. When Karina started putting together open mic nights with the Steiger City Team in Sumy, it felt totally natural to invite Sofia. She loved the music and community! But she wasn’t at all interested in talking about God.
In Karina’s words, “Every time we spoke with Sofia and the conversation turned toward the Bible and God, she left or ignored these questions as much as possible. She made it clear that she was not interested.”
Karina and the rest of the team continued to show her the love of Jesus. When the war began, they kept in touch and did their best to support Sofia as many (including Karina) fled their border city of Sumy for safer parts of the country.
After a few months, Sofia reached out. “She wrote that she was depressed,” Karina recalled. “She felt empty and didn’t know what to do.” Karina had started a Steiger initiative in her new city, and they were having their own open mic night soon. Sofia jumped at the opportunity to participate, and went to visit Karina for a few days.
Sofia performing at the open mic night.
“After her performance, Sofia ran around the hall rejoicing, hugging everyone in sight,” Karina shared. “Later she came up to me in tears, begging to talk. ‘I was on stage for 15 minutes,’ she said, ‘And for the next 30 minutes I felt full and happy. But now I feel empty again, Karina! I look at all of you tonight and you’re like the colors of the rainbow in this gray world. How does it work? How can I fill this emptiness inside myself? At every event you held in Sumy I heard about God but I don’t understand how knowing him would fill you and give you this joy.’
“I explained how and why having a relationship with Jesus changes everything, and that evening we prayed together. Sofia accepted Jesus into her heart!”
Now, Sofia has started going to church and she and Karina study the Bible together. Stories like Sofia’s are why we will continue to build discipleship relationships with young people who wouldn’t walk into a church!
You can still give toward our relief efforts in Ukraine. It costs $1,000 per month to run each generator and stock each community space with food and tea. If you want to partner with us by sponsoring one of these community spaces with a one-time or monthly gift, please visit the link below and choose “Ukraine Community Houses” as the project designation.