Dear brothers and families,
Usually in December people
summarize the passing year and make plans for the year to come. All people in
Ukraine hope that in the next year the military actions in the east of the country
will finally cease. The military actions look like a swing for kids: it gets
silent, and then suddenly they become shooting from both sides. No one can
guarantee that the trip to DNR will be safe for sure.
With God’s help in the middle of
December, a preacher from Bila Tserkva and I visited the towns close to the
frontline to help those who are need with humanitarian aid. We finally got an
opportunity to transport wheelchairs into Donetsk area to people who are need
of help. It helps building contacts with local congregations and gives an
opportunity to minister those people who were left on their own. We had an
arrangement with local preachers who will help distributing the wheelchair and
will have Bible studies with those people. Also it helps the institute to have
closer relationships with the ministers of the local congregations. During this
trip we brought a wheelchair to Gorlovka for our sister in Christ Raisa
Fadeevna. We went to Artyomovsk and Kramatorsk. In Artyomovsk together with a
local preacher who is also a BVBIU graduate Alexander Seliverstov we visited a
family that had attended the church before. They have a problem; their child
has cerebral palsy and can’t move. We have already sent them the wheelchair.
The last Sunday their family came to church.
Ministry at the institute.
In December the students had the
following courses: the first-year class studied Pentateuch and Matthew, and the
second-year class had Denominational Teachings and 1-2 Corinthians. Each time
when I teach 1-2 Corinthians I see what problems the early church had. Together
with the students we try to find lots of lessons for us in order to avoid such
problems in our period. There are six students in the program and one person
auditing classes. There are two students in the first-year class and four in
the second-year class. In December another student joined our program, Sergey
Kurinskiy. He is 54 years old. He is from Zugress. He was baptized 8 years ago.
His life before coming to Christ was very unlucky. However, recently he has
been very active in God’s field. Teaching at the institute gets back to normal
gradually. Many of the teachers come to teach classes in person, thus, showing
their respect to the institute and the students. At the end of the school year,
we had a fellowship meal to end the semester, which has become a tradition.
Students and some teachers got together. We prayed for the peace in the country
and thanked God for all the blessings and the churches that support our
ministry.
We keep actively looking for the
new students. In this month Alexey Mitskutis has made two trips to Poltava and
Dniprodzerzhinsk. We want to show that we try to be stable, and the school is
looking for new students. We have made good contacts with preachers and the
church members in these towns.Unfortunately, it’s still early to say who will
be able to start a new school year with us. However, we try to be active to the
most of our abilities in this area even now.
Also in December I organized a
meeting of the preachers from Central Ukraine. There were representatives of 8
churches of Christ at that meeting. We have discusses a topic: Unity based on
God's word. We plan to have such meetings regularly. I think it's a good
opportunity to support churches in the spirit of soundness and truth.
Ministry in the church.
Every Wednesday the students and I
go out on the streets of the town to evangelize. As I have mentioned before,
the major objective for this ministry is to spread the true doctrine about
Jesus and to teach students practical activity. During the last time of our
joint effort we used a tent that was made especially for the evangelizing
activities. I was surprised to see how people were eager to come to the tent
and get the information they needed about the church, Bibles and Christian
literature. There were more than 100 people who visited our tent based on our
count. It might be because salespeople often use similar tents, and others got
interested why there were so many people there. The very same day a young man
came to an evening Bible class, but unfortunately, nobody came on Sunday. Yet
despite the result we’ll continue fulfilling God’s commandment.
In the Bible school for kids that
my wife teaches there is a distinct growth. Now we have about 6 to 10 kids
coming to Bible classes regularly. As we can see, the kids are more open to the
word of God. On the last Sunday, we have organized a celebration for kids after
the church service. And that was a wonderful time for the whole church.
We greet you with the coming new
year. God bless you and your families and the churches where you serve Him.
Thank you for your prayers and support of our ministry.
Your brother and coworker,
Dennis Sopelnik. 
