Back to the Future in Ukraine

It had been almost 25 years since Phil first traveled to Lviv in western Ukraine to explore training possibilities with various groups. Since then he has been to almost every corner of the country, but most of the training has occurred in the eastern sections of the country and the Crimea. Due to the war, some areas that it is no longer advisable for foreigners to go.

For years our materials have been used in Ukraine in the Russian language, however, partly as a results of the political situation with Russia, there has been a resurgence in the use of the Ukrainian language. Currently, the far east of the country primarily uses the Russian language while the central and  western parts of the country tend to use the Ukrainian language.

So after all these years, it was with anticipation that we responded to the invitation to meet with some leaders in Lviv. After “meeting” them by video link, the goal was to finally meet them in person. Karl (from Germany) met up with Phil in Kiev and together with two MCNet coaches from eastern Ukraine (Max and Vlad), they travelled to Lviv. Over a few days they had several meetings with various levels of leadership.

The result was that plans were made to translate the mentoring program into Ukrainian and in follow up trips begin to implement this training in their region. In the Spring of 2022 Phil will join them again in Lviv to launch the mentoring model with this group of several hundred pastors and church leaders.

Reconnecting to serve in Lviv represents a full circle for ICM in Ukraine. While we have established training in many other parts of the country we are looking forward to also serving in this region which has perhaps the highest density of churches and believers in the whole country. Thank you for your prayers as we begin this process in a new area of the country.

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