The Bakers - Serving in Kiev, Ukraine
We are really rejoicing in how great our God is and are excited to be a part of what He is doing here in Ukraine!
We have just returned from a retreat/conference that our team had put together for some of our key growing believers. We ended up having about 25 young people together with us for the weekend at a sanatorium outside of Kyiv.... (how to explain what a soviet sanatorium is like?... well, you'd have to see it to get the picture--- the main thing is that we were together, away from all the demands and distractions of life in Kyiv, the dormitories, the university, etc.)
Our theme was "God's Heart for the Lost -- Our heart for Ukraine" except that it was translated into Russian... we never saw it in English, because (and we are still praising God for this) we were able to conduct the whole weekend in Russian and Ukrainian. For our team this is a big milestone and a big validation of the time and effort spent in language study. The focus was on the "ministry of reconciliation" which God has given US (see 2 Cor. 5) and that this was a job for each and every believer. Our team worked very hard to present various aspects of the "Great Commission" (i.e., the biblical mandate for evangelism), the reality of people being lost apart from faith in Christ, and God's heart and actions to reconcile people to Himself.
Jim led a seminar on the exclusivity of faith in Christ "No Other Name?"- part philosophical discussion about the nature of truth and competing truth claims (e.g., countering the argument that to say that "There is only one way to God and I/we know what it is" is inherently arrogant), part biblical teaching on salvation and the condition of people apart from Christ and the need of people to hear the Good News. We were both thrilled that he was able both to write and present the hour-long lecture, as well as field some challenging questions, totally in Russian! That took a lot of work (and is part of the reason you might not have heard from us in a while!) Given that our goal here, as you know, is to work toward building a "reproducing ministry" here in Ukraine, led by locals and not outsiders, the development of a desire to be personally involved in spreading the Good News and a heart for the nation is certainly key. The students in attendance ranged from brand-new believers, believers from both Orthodox and evangelical churches, some who have been being discipled for 3 years or so through the Navigators-- at the end of the weekend, some of the comments we heard from the students were that the much (or all) of the material was very new, very encouraging, and very helpful; they felt it hoped them get closer to God and think at length about how their faith should involve both their heart and their actions; some of them have struggled with some of the issues raised, and found our conference helpful in figuring how to overcome obstacles to their ability or desire to bear witness to the Good News of God in Christ.
We still have an "investigative Bible study" that meets in our flat weekly. We have between 25 and 30 students here every week and about half of them are not believers, but most all of them know some students who ARE (and who, likely were at our conference). We are hoping that we will see some real concrete effort made by some of our conference attendees to share with them God's offer of salvation through faith in Christ. We shall see what happens.... but for now we are excited that God has brought about this conference (which was a LOT of work!) and truly multiplied our efforts miraculously.
One other item for your prayerful attention: Over the past several months we have noticed that a certain number of donors who had promised to support the work here have ceased to follow through on their pledges. We are working with a budget that will support the ministry here, and we had secured promises of support which would fully support that. However, we have found it necessary to scale back on a number of fronts (we've moved to a cheaper flat, we are unable to support material needs among Ukrainians here, and are having to make some hard choices as to which of the ministry undertakings for which we have budgeted we will have to forego). In plain terms, we have over 825 dollars a month that had been promised and which has not, in fact, been given. Since our salary comes from this amount, that means, over 6 - 8 months we've had to scale back that much. It is obvious to us that God has been confirming our participation in His work here (and providing for us all the way), and we are thankful to you churches who have been so faithfully supporting us. We just ask for prayer for wisdom in how to respond to this situation, and God's provision for the ongoing needs here. As you, as a body of believers, make corporate decisions about year-end gifts, and plans for the next year's budget, would you please consider whether God might be leading you to help shore up the work here with additional gifts or increasing your level of financial support? This is not OUR ministry here, but the Lord's and each of us have our part in it. We thank you for YOUR role in this, and hope you are encouraged to see that it is, in fact, bearing fruit. Join with us in prayer that it will truly be "fruit that shall remain."
In His Service,
Jim and Liz Baker
"May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word." Psalm 119:74 (NLT)
For more information about our mission, click here .
