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Merry Christmas + Fall 2019 Update
It's hard to believe we're already at the end of 2019! This year has been a very full one and we are thankful for all the Lord has done—including upholding us through various trials with health. It's currently in the mid 50s F here in Ukraine, so not looking very "Christmasy" outside, but we are glad to be celebrating this time together.
We'll share with you some of the latest happenings from this fall below. Please don't forget to pray for the prayer requests at the end of the newsletter. We are so blessed by all of you who partner with us in the work here through your prayers, encouragement and financial support. You are a vital part of our team! Thank you!
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Calvary Chapel Svitlovodsk
Ukraine is one of the few countries in the world that has two official Christmases: December 25th and January 7th. However, the December date is a recent addition and most Ukrainians in our part of the country still celebrate in January. That means we have only just begun our Advent series after finishing our study through Matthew over the last 1.5 years. It was a wonderful time of looking in depth at the life of Jesus. In addition, we are encouraged to see more people plugging into our home fellowships (currently a majority of our adult members), where we can grow in relationship, pray for one another and help one another apply the Gospel to our lives.
After our Christmas celebration on Jan. 5th (the Sunday nearest Christmas), we will go through our church's vision series again to refresh ourselves in the vision God has given CC Svitlovodsk: Enjoy Jesus, Stand fast in grace, Live in Love, Reach the world.
Another unique reason this season is special is that many of our church members who are currently working or studying in other cities or countries (yes, there's a lot of those) come back for the holidays. This past Sunday was something of a reunion with everyone coming home for the holidays.
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Building Update: Christmas Edition
Friends! We know that some of you are currently making your Christmas/year-end giving decisions. We would ask you to prayerfully consider helping us get into our building! To bring things to the point of moving in, we're still about $12,000 short. Unfortunately, we've not had any donations for a number of months now. We still need roughly:
Flooring - $5,000
Heating panels - $2,000
Lighting/outlets - $2,000
Bathroom tiling/fixtures - $2,000
Paint and other finishers - $1,000
The reality is that most of these things are not labor-intensive and could get done relatively quickly if we had the necessary funds.
So please PRAY! And also please consider making a donation to help us meet this goal! All donations are tax-deductible and 100% goes to the building project. You can do so using the button below.
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City to City Ukraine + City to City Europe
This fall City to City Ukraine continued training a combined total of 21 church planters through our Incubator program (pictured above). We've currently got two groups: one in year 1 and one in year 2. In this session, we focused on culture, contextualization and evangelism with the first year, and Gospel-centered preaching with the second year. We're really enjoying getting to know the newer group more deeply and are truly blessed to see how God is growing the churches represented in both groups.
It seems like we've only just begun with the 2019-2021 cohort, but we are already getting ready to take applications for the 2020-2022 group after New Year's! I also recently had the opportunity to share about the vision and ministry of City to City Ukraine in a couple of seminaries in Kyiv. It's a huge encouragement to see how open and interested the leadership of these seminaries are (pictured below meeting with the leadership of one seminary). We are hoping to continue developing these relationships and believe God will use them to plant many new churches in Ukraine!
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In November, Lena and I along with our other CTC Ukraine trainer, Nick, and his wife had the opportunity to travel to Athens to attend the City to City Europe Network Leaders Forum (see video below for an overview). It was a time to come together with other City to City network leaders from across Europe and strategically think through the next steps to see growth in our movements. It was a great time of collaboration and brainstorming, as well as reconnecting with friends. Lena and I also got the chance to stay an extra 1.5 days and enjoy Athens together.
Some big news connected with City to City Europe is that I have been offered the position of training coordinator within City to City Europe and have accepted. It is an honor and joy to be part of this team and to help see training grow in the cities of Europe. I am also grateful to have a great team of other trainers to do this together with. This is very much a part-time position and I will continue doing all the things I'm involved in here in Ukraine, but would certainly appreciate prayers for God's wisdom in balancing the various time demands.
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Church Planter Profile: Grisha in Lviv
As I've done in previous newsletters, I'd like to introduce you to one of our church planters in the Incubator. Grisha (pictured below right during an Incubator session) was a church planter and pastor in the east of Ukraine, but when the war broke out in his area, he and his family were forced to move. They ended up settling in western Ukraine's key city, Lviv, and soon began ministering to the other refugees there. They planted Message of Hope Church and soon after launching public services, they came across City to City. While Grisha had planted churches before, he shares the unique challenges of this plant and how City to City has helped him:
"When our team began ministering to the local population, we ran into the question of how to minister to people in a large urban center. The previous churches I had planted were all in smaller towns. This is where City to City was such a great help. Through studying in the Incubator, we've begun to understand and respond to the specific needs of our neighborhood. We're growing in learning to contextualize to the city. City to City has also helped me to grow in Christ-centered preaching and giving people the Gospel rather than moralism."
Here are a few prayer requests from Grisha and Message of Hope Church:
- Our youth coffee house and English club outreaches.
- Feeding ministry for the poor. (pictured below left)
- Remodeling the building that was given to us.
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Content
I had the opportunity to do a podcast episode for Expositor's Collective with a good friend of mine, Nick Cady, which came out in late November. We talked about a number of topics:
- Is expositional preaching contradictory to Christocentric preaching?
- How did the writers of the New Testament read Scripture?
- How soon should you let a young preacher get behind the pulpit?
- How can a younger pastor serve a congregation older than himself?
If you're interested, you can check out the whole episode here.
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Family
It was good to return home at the end of October after my knee surgery in the US. I was still on crutches for a while but have been off them now for around a month. While it's still sometimes sore and a bit swollen, I can walk around mostly normally. When I got home, it turned out that Lena's finger had a serious infection for which she needed an operation. Yes, more operations! This fall was a very trying time for our family, but we are all doing much better now.
As I mentioned above, Lena and I got the chance to spend some time with just the two of us in Athens after the Network Leaders Forum (pictured above). It was refreshing and a good time for us to connect—even if it was only 1.5 days!
The kids are doing well in homeschool but we are all looking forward to a few days off during the holidays. As you celebrate this Christmas, may your hearts be filled with joy and thankfulness for the greatest Gift ever given—God's only Son.
in our Papa,
Benjamin, Lena, Abby and Isaac
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Prayer Requests:
- For Ukraine: for God’s peace and order to come, an end to bloodshed and war, an end to systemic corruption, people to turn to Jesus and for His kingdom to come, new churches to be planted in the conflict zone!
- For our church building: Pray that God provides the rest of the funds necessary to finish construction and move in in 2019. We still need $12,000 to make that happen. If you feel led of God to donate to our building fund, you can do so at: http://bit.ly/ccbuilding
- For God to raise up more leaders in our church, especially teachers. Pray for a leader for our youth group. Kostya, who was leading it, was recently taken to do his mandatory army service.
- For City to City Ukraine, that God would empower us to see 100 new Gospel-centered churches planted in the key cities of Ukraine by 2030. Pray for Grisha and the church plant in Lviv (details above).
- For my new role as training coordinator with City to City Europe, that God would give wisdom in balancing my schedule and bless our endeavors to see training of church planters multiply across the cities of Europe.
- For God's provision for our family. We still need to raise another $600 in monthly support to reach our long-term goal. If you'd like to become a partner in giving, click the donation link: http://bit.ly/ccsvitlo-give
- For the name of Jesus to be glorified in our city and the lost to come to Jesus both here and across Ukraine!
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If you would prefer to donate via check, please make it out to:
“Horizon Ministries”
Leave the memo line on the check blank with a separate note enclosed: either “for the Morrisons”, or "Svitlovodsk Building Fund" depending on where you would like your donation to be directed.
Send to:
Horizon Ministries
7702 Indian Lake rd.
Indianapolis, IN 46236
All donations are tax-deductible and 100% of your donation goes to us!
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