Over the past twenty-one months as the war has waged on in Ukraine, the Three Worlds team has sought ways to encourage and support our Ukrainian Church of God contacts – those who are still in Ukraine, many of whom are internally displaced, as well as those who have fled Ukraine and have needed to reestablish themselves and their families in a country not their own.
One of those close contacts is Pastor Stepan. The Three Worlds team first connected with Stepan and his family when they attended the Three Worlds Leadership Network (3WLN) event in its earliest years, and immediately ministry connections were made. Stepan was scheduled to lead a session at the 3WLN event in 2020 until it was canceled due to the pandemic. At that time, plans were also just beginning to formalize for EuropeX, a church-planting network, and Stepan was set to be a part of this as well.
As a Church of God pastor in Ukraine, Stepan was leading a young and growing church. Building upon their momentum, the church had a number of young people with aspirations to serve and impact their local community in a variety of unique ways.
In addition to leading the local congregation, Stepan helped lead a network of pastors and leaders in ten other congregations throughout Ukraine. Together, these pastors had dreams to plant more churches, impact more families, and point more people to Jesus. Then, on February 24, 2022, Ukraine was attacked.
While there was a tremendous amount of uncertainty, the Ukrainian Church of God immediately jumped into action, housing displaced people, sharing whatever essential supplies they could provide, establishing and coordinating a relief supply chain that stretched across the country, ministering to others who had lost so much, and always pointing people to Jesus.
Pastor Stepan and his family faithfully served in this capacity in their home church for many months, until they finally had to make the difficult decision to leave Ukraine. Stepan’s wife was pregnant, they had two young boys, and their parents were dealing with physical ailments that required attention.
Knowing other young leaders were ready to step in and lead the church and local relief efforts well, Stepan and his family received their paperwork allowing them to leave Ukraine, and they made their way to southern Germany. Upon arriving, Pastor Stepan saw an opportunity to gather other Ukrainians having experienced the same atrocities as he and his family. In the following months, with the help of local German Church of God leaders, a new church was planted in Calw, Germany.
Stepan and his family were only a handful of the 2000+ Ukrainians who arrived in Calw. They were able to connect with several hundred Ukrainians, as word spread that there was a church being led by people who fully understood the horrors they had experienced.
Today, the church operates weekly programs with Sunday worship services, youth group meetings, bible study classes, and more. Eighteen people have been baptized in the last year, and many Ukrainian Orthodox believers have shared that they have experienced the love and compassion of Jesus for the first time through the church in Calw.
Our Three Worlds team is thankful for the opportunities we have been given to walk alongside Pastor Stepan through this experience. Most recently, in partnership with the German Church of God and the Global Strategy/Church of God Ministries – Anderson, the team was able to help coordinate the funding of a stipend that will allow Stepan to continue focusing on ministry. The German government requires those seeking refugee status to obtain a work contract within a certain timeframe. The stipend provided through this joint effort has allowed Stepan to meet this requirement and continue in full-time ministry.
We praise God for the continued ministry of Pastor Stepan and his family. Having experienced the devastating impact of the war firsthand, they have in turn been instrumental in welcoming and walking alongside many refugees experiencing the same.