This year we have introduced you to Willi, who serves in an international ministry, based in Germany, as the director of the ministry to Eastern Europe/Central Asia. It has been an inspiration for our team to hear of what Willi is doing in Ukraine and Central Asia, incorporating our materials in his ministry of training leaders. He was first introduced to ICM eight years ago at a mentoring conference Phil was doing in Ukraine. Over the last eight years he has been using ICM materials to train leaders, but in the last year we have invited him to more formally join our MCNet Network as a Ministry Coach. Willi will be joining the MCNet Intl team in DR in March.

Earlier this year he was in Central Asia (Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). In Uzbekistan he was with a group of 30 participants going through the course,  “Discipleship – Spiritual Development.” Some participants travelled quite a distance and were from several denominations. In his ministry in Central Asia, Willi has also been using ICM’s  Discipleship thru Intentional Relationships material (in Russian). He shares, “It was moving to hear the testimonies of the changes from various participants, how God spoke to them, healed them, or comforted them.”

Willi also reguarly travels to Ukraine from his home base in Germany (he is fluent in Russian and German). After his recent trip to Ukraine he shares,“In spite of the ongoing war and the stress that they are under, the leaders continue to grow and mentor others. While I was in Ukriane I also spent a week with a group of young students covering the Discipleship thru Intentional Relationships materials from ICM Canada. These young people have reached the end of their course and now have been given a tool to help other Christians follow Jesus. The material was applied to their own lives, and then we practiced in groups how to pass it on to others.”You may recall Pastor Jacob, who we were introduced to by Maxym, our MCNet partner in Ukraine. As a ministry we have served their churches for many years and Willi has also known Pastor Jacob for many years. Due to the war, many of Jacob’s young leaders, who he had developed, were either drafted or moved out of the region. So he is now having to start over in church and leadership development. This is a bit challenging at this stage of his life, as he was ready to slow down a bit and turn the ministry over to these younger leaders. Yet despite the ongoing war, the need for support and guidance among leaders in Ukraine remains high.

Willi regularly makes the risky journey to eastern Ukraine to meet them in person and provide training and encouragement. Though the war is ongoing, in many ways life continues and the churches are even growing. The need to come along side of current leadership like Jacob and help him develop new leaders is more needed than ever.

California Connection: Early this year Willi was asked to start a Zoom group with pastors in Sacramento, USA. These are pastors who emigrated to the States from Russia and Ukraine and want to be supported and encouraged in their ministry here. ICM Canada has been able to partner with them by providing access to our Mentoring materials, which they work through together as a group.