Lutsk, Ukraine

Timothy & Rhoda Sloan

As Rhoda and I look back, we have much to be thankful for in Lutsk. The Lord has blessed in salvation, the assembly is growing and remains united. Rhoda and I deeply appreciate the prayers of the Lord's people and above all the presence and blessing of the Lord. A refugee couple (Sasha & Olga) and their two children fled the war in the East and came to Lutsk. We were put in touch with them through the work we do in Ukraine Child Care. Rhoda and I provided a rented apartment for them, and true are the words the Lord Jesus spoke in Luke 16:9 "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness". They started to attend the assembly meetings in September 2014. At this point, they had never attended any "church" meetings of any sort. They never miss any assembly meetings, and we were delighted when Olga professed to be saved in June. Pray for Sasha - he is seeking and would long to be saved. Ira, a 23-year-old girl, came to her first conference in July 2014. With an Orthodox background she found it all very strange. She heard the Gospel for the first time and after the conference she started to attend the assembly meetings. Over the past year, she has had many questions to ask and has been diligent in reading her Bible. We were delighted when we got news in August that Ira had trusted Christ as Saviour. She would like to get baptized but is facing opposition from home. Pray for Ira. Lutsk Christian Publication Centre, in the last 11 months, has translated, proofread, corrected, designed and printed here in Lutsk 20,000 "Who we are and what we believe," 17,000 Safety Certainty and Enjoyment," 7,000 verse cards and 40,000 Gospel Tracts. We have also printed 2,000 books: 1,000 The Persecutor (The life story of Sergei Kourdakov) and 1,000 "Choices" by brother John Dennison (Arizona). This is a mammoth work, and we appreciate the prayerful and the practical support of assembly believers.

The Lutsk Assembly

For some years, Rhoda and I have longed to buy a large billboard (6m x 3m) on one of the busiest streets beside the Lutsk Gospel hall. The Lord graciously provided for us, and now we have bought it, renovated it and our first advert goes up in November 2015. This will be an offer of a free Bible + free 2106 calendar. What a privilege in a once Communist controlled country and city. We have bought 5,000 Bibles, 2,000 New Testaments, 2,000 John's Gospels and we have 23,000 calendars. God has promised Isaiah 55:11 'My Word - shall not return unto Me void'. Rhoda and I have just ordered from China 10,000 cloth carrier bags that will arrive with us in February 2016 with John 3:16 printed on both sides in Ukrainian. We are excited about this as these will be handed out freely in Lutsk and it will be interesting to see people carrying their shopping bags displaying the Word of God. This has been costly, but we are convinced it is a wise investment in the spread of the Gospel.

Carrier Bags

On the 1st December, we will be opening a Christian book shop called "Good News" at the Gospel Hall. This shop will open from 9 am - 9 pm, six days a week. Pray that this will enable us to reach more people with the Gospel and will enable us to spread assembly literature further afield. As an assembly, we are active and at all times try to involve as many assembly believers as possible so that they feel that they have a part to play in the growth of the assembly. Every day approx. 82 children are fed at the Gospel Hall. This work (Ukraine Child Care) has been continuing for 13 years, and many of our first children have now grown up and have families of their own. This is a huge benefit when we go around the doors distributing Gospel tracts. So many in our locality know who we are, what we do and what we believe. Every day the children have 10 minutes singing, 10 minutes learning a verse, 20 minutes Bible story before they get their hot meal. The Lord has never failed us and never will. For 13 years, your practical support has enabled us to employ staff, provide food as well as clothing and medicines for these children who come from the worst of the worst homes. Why do we do it? We believe that the Gospel is the only answer to preserving these boys and girls from a life of sin and misery and an eternity without Christ. Our Sunday school has increased to approximately 75 children and this is so encouraging. In our Sunday afternoon, Gospel meeting there would hardly be a Sunday when we don't have between five and ten unsaved in from the streets. We would ask you to pray for two men who nearly always attend - Yuri and Arnold. In July, we had our 12th summer conference, and it was the biggest ever. 136 believers and unbelievers were gathered from 4th. until the 12th. of July. Over the eight days, Rhoda and I rented and provided free accommodation, transportation and three meals per day for all. Seven nationalities were present. Brother Michael Wilkie (Scotland) ministered from Ephesians 6, and it was most helpful while brother James Colledge (England) took the children's meetings (photo). Our 2016 conference starts July 9th and finishes July 17th. God willing, brother Dan Rudge (England) and James Colledge will be with us. Why not join us - you would be most welcome! Please contact us! We could not do what we do without you. We greatly appreciate your prayers and the sacrifices you make. As we face 2016 we have two large projects underway: 1. Our own assembly owned orphanage and 2. Conference facilities. Proverbs 29:18 'Where there is no vision, the people perish'. Winter 2015 Written by Timothy & Rhoda Sloan - Ukraine sloanukraine@hotmail.co.uk