Ukraine 2000 was a new opportunity for a short-term overseas mission training trip, organised & hosted by Andy & Tanya Ball of Pontefract Congregational Church, who founded "UK-Ukraine Ministries" 2 years ago.

It took place during July 2000, lasting 3 weeks, when a team of 10 Christian Young People & Young Adults from 5 different churches travelled to Ukraine with 3 big aims in view:

• To share the Gospel in every situation possible, that people might be saved;
• To develop the spiritual lives of the young team as they trusted God for everything in a foreign culture;
• To build long-term Gospel links between like-minded believers & churches in Ukraine & U.K.

Why Ukraine? Tanya Ball was born & grew up in this former Soviet Republic, where once persecution was the norm for all believers, including Tanya & her family. Now however, after years of prayer, the Gospel door is wide open. Since 1991 Ukraine has been an independent country and there is now a large appetite for the Gospel among ordinary, common people.

Such an opportunity & the great openness means many new churches are being planted and are growing rapidly. Many thousands of people have been saved, including many young people. Yet still there are pressures of great poverty in the villages, growing materialism in the cities, religious divisions & a great shortage of trained Pastors to disciple & lead Christ's church.

Our Ukraine 2000 team visited churches, villages, families, youth groups, a children's camp, an orphanage & wherever we went, we sang hymns & songs, preached, gave testimony & spoke of Christ, seeking to win souls & encourage the churches. All team members took part, and though many were very inexperienced in evangelism, the trip gave them a chance to serve God & develop their reliance on Him as they spoke & shared in new situations, all through translation into the Russian language.

We took many things with us to give away. Hundreds of Russian & Ukrainian New Testaments were given away at evangelistic meetings & after church services. We were able to spread hundreds of Russian tracts around to people on the streets, at markets and in villages, during & after our meetings.

We were also able to give lots of needed sports & craft equipment to camps, Sunday school groups & evangelistic village outreach teams to help them with their work. All of this was funded by voluntary donations from the UK.

God answered so many prayers for us during the trip. Our health was preserved, we were never stopped once by the Police (a miracle in such a corrupt nation), our bus broke down but was started again by prayer alone, all our bags were un-searched through customs, along with many other provisions & opportunities that the Lord gave us. We were privileged to see people moved by the Gospel & converted in a number of places during our trip.

So how did the young team cope? Here are some of their comments:

"I returned tired, mosquito bitten and a few Babushka dolls heavier from a trip which had re-embellished my desire to serve God, spurred me on in my personal walk with Him and shown me the importance and reality of prayer. We all came back having experienced God in a way that we never could have expected."

"We met many Christians who had much compassion for the people in their villages. They shone with a Christ-like love and through the grace of God these men and women of prayer are continually seeing fruit from their labour."

"Due to the fact that the members of the church still have times of persecution fresh in their minds, they have a real sense of urgency and importance in everything they do. Whether it's evangelism, holiness, prayer, or anything else they do, it is clear that the Ukrainian churches have a passion for that which is of eternal importance."

"It will always be precious to us that despite differences in language, culture, and church life, that which was common to us was so much more powerful."

UK-Ukraine Ministries seeks to promote partnership & Gospel opportunities in Ukraine, through the support of Christians & churches in the UK helping Christians & churches in Ukraine to preach Jesus Christ & witness to His saving grace. Our main areas of ministry include building links, giving financial aid, literature translation, training & supporting evangelism & church planting. Our help & support is entirely for those of an Evangelical Christian standpoint. Any gifts of support are worth TEN times their value in Ukrainian currency!

Andy & Tanya can be contacted through website, where you can also read Tanya's gripping testimony of growing up as a Christian in a persecuted land! Or phone (44) 23-8044-1996.