Bus4Life’s November outreach in Ukraine took place in the northern part of the Odessa province where OM has been supporting a church planting initiative. The area is located just a few hours north of the OM base, and may well be one of the least reached areas in all of Ukraine.
One of the outreach days got started in less than desirable conditions as the weather was – according to the team – “horrible, overcast, and windy”. It started to drizzle. The children’s program took place outside, and the team had expected that not very many children would come because of the cold weather.
“More than 70 children came!” OM’s Hensie van der Merwe exclaims. “It tells me about them being curious and somewhat deprived from normal childhood activities – but it also means they are hungry for God.“
The children were greeted by a pirate, welcoming them aboard a ship. The children were asked to help the piratefind an answer to the question ‘what is the right way to live’. There were crafts, sports activities, popcorn, trampolines. As the children were participating in the activities, it became clear that very few of them had any basic knowledge about Christianity.
“I have been working with children for twenty years, and I’m always surprised when they have no knowledge of the Gospel,” Hensie says. “Ukraine professes to be an Orthodox Christian nation, and yet the children didn’t know what the Bible was.”
“You can’t read if you can’t see”
After several days of children’s outreach, Bus4Life drove to the biggest town in the area, and partnered with a local Christian organisation called “Clear Vision”, setting up an eye clinic in three different locations. Volunteer opticians saw about 80 people per day, and gave out over 300 glasses to those needing them. The organisation partners with churches on one condition: They only give out glasses if on-going active evangelism takes place while they work.
“Their ministry really works well with Bus4Life and the literature ministry,” Hensie says. “After all, you can’t read if you can’t see.”
New Testaments and Christian literature, including Children’s Bibles, magazines for teenagers, and George Verwer’s books (in Ukrainian) were handed out. A local pastor talked with people.
An unreached area
Nine days of ministry with Bus4Life had an impact on the local OM team, opening their eyes to the needs of the northern parts of the Odessa province. With Bus4Life gone, the team returned to the area for a day of prayer. Connecting again with the local believers, the team made a decision to start focusing their church planting efforts to this area.