Making Jesus Known on the Frontlines of War

Mark, you’re an elder-in-training at Kharkiv Presbyterian Church, a husband, a father of two young children, and now you’re leading your church’s mercy ministry. I know you grew up in this church, but it sounds like you first came to Christ through your brother when you were a child?

Yeah, my background was pretty usual for Ukrainian context. After the Soviet Union, almost all people in Ukraine are nominal Orthodox, so they believe that they’re orthodox, but they visit the church very rarely, I would say twice a year or once a year.

My brother was invited to a student camp [when he was a college student], and that camp was organized by Kharkiv Presbyterian. So yeah, he just enjoyed it, appreciated it, and then there was follow up, and he joined the church. Now, he’s leading as senior pastor in this church.

So you grew up in the church, and in this city, and you were there when the Russians invaded in February 2022. You’re about 11 miles from the front lines. What happened during that first year?

Russians tried to occupy the city twice. First in the beginning of a full-scale invasion in the beginning of 2022, and they almost circled the city, but praised the Lord in autumn of 2022, they were pushed back. Last year in May 2024, they tried [unsuccessfully] to occupy the city again. They moved the frontline closer to the city, but not as close as it was in the beginning of war.

But still, it’s constant battles there. And our defenders tried to push them back and to keep them away from our city.

Being so close to the front lines, do you have time to go to bomb shelters when you get warnings about possible attacks?

No, but right now the best place is two walls from the street; the best place is a room without windows. So usually, it’s a bathroom or a water closet or something like that. Or a corridor.

But I would say that we are used to living in such circumstances. You have to ask every time…Am I ready for the possibility to meet God?

Kharkiv emptied after the war, and many are still evacuated to other places. You organized ministry and relief efforts in the city that many church members went to for refuge. But then you and your wife decided to return to Kharkiv. Why go back?

It was only 100 days after the war started, but my wife and I decided that it’s better to stay in Kharkiv and to serve here because we have to be in the place. We needed to serve here.

So, we founded a charitable foundation [through the church], and we opened a social center, ministry center, a place where people can come and receive humanitarian aid, such as food bags for families. A lot of people lost everything. They were evacuated with one bag and their documents. Many of the people living in the city now are internally displaced refugees from other parts of Ukraine.

But we understand that it’s a great privilege that we could be instruments in God’s hands and to provide hope for these people. This is our main reason why we stay. Because it’s dangerous to live in Kharkiv. Nobody wants to be killed by missiles or be buried under the rubble.

But we understand that we have a mission, and this mission is much bigger than the value of our lives. We want to be faithful, we want to follow God, and we want to sacrifice our life if it’s necessary to be witnesses of God’s love. So, our main reason is not just to meet the needs of these people, but also to show them that they have other hope than material things, and this hope with Jesus Christ.

Have you seen an openness to the gospel? Have you had opportunities to share the gospel with people?

Absolutely. Right now, we mainly have people over 50 years old. They had their household, a lot of them were farmers, they had their own business, but in one moment, they just lost everything. And some of them, unfortunately, lost their families and loved ones

And they think, how was this possible? What is the reason to live, and what is the reason to keep living in this unjust place and a lot of suffering? I don’t want to suffer. What is the reason for my suffering? So they begin to ask such questions and it’s very interesting how many of them are open to the gospel and to hearing about God.

So we talk to them about the gospel and about grace, about mercy. And a lot of them see this mercy. I was surprised that many of them said, you don’t need to prove to me that God exists. I saw how God saved my life. A lot of people see miracles all around them.

So, they are pretty sure that God exists, but they do not know personally, who this God. Our idea is to show hope in Christ and to tell them that this God is Jesus Christ.

And many of them told me, I was a member of Orthodox church for a long period of time, but I did not see real love and mercy, and I met you and I saw that God is real, and what he’s doing, and that he’s very kind and merciful.

So yeah, I would say God is using this war and these circumstances to make his kingdom visible and to grow his kingdom here on this earth.

I know God has also provided for your church in remarkable ways. Can you tell us about that?

We are a small community, and [Protestant] churches do not usually have their own church buildings. So we were renting this place over 23 years. It’s like a small worship hall, and it was pretty tiny, but it’s in downtown and it’s really good location for our church.

And we had been collecting money over 20 years to buy this worship hall. But when the war started, we just prayed and decided to use all of these funds toward mercy ministry…because there’s a great need and we have to response to this need.

So, we spent all money. And there was a little bit of sadness for this collection we had saved for over 20 years. And we said, maybe we’ll never have our worship hall.

But some people heard about this and about our church, and they said: We want to cover your expenses for that. And we were shocked about this. In 2023, they donated almost all the amount of money, and we had the opportunity to add something and to buy this worship hall.

And it was a great, great testimony of God’s love and how he supports his church and community, when you are faithful and keep going after him. It  was amazing.

So you find God at work, even though it’s hard?

Yes, we are very glad that we have this privilege to serve the people who are suffering right now, and to be with them. Because it’s always easier to leave and to find the comfortable place. But it’s not our calling as Christians, as the church. And we believe that this place is where God wants us to be, where we have to be his hands and just show his love.

What do you think ministry will look like after the war ends?

 So I would say that after war we will have a lot of opportunities for the global church and for counselors to come and help….We need the help of biblical counselors who can support these people.

And of course, we pray for more ministers and missionaries. We really need hands. We do not have enough hands. So, the fields are white as Jesus said. So, pray for the laborers. We need laborers who will devote their lives to the ministry, who will help us in this.