Sparks Ministry

I’m writing this month full of thankfulness!  Our church (Salomensky Reformed Presbyterian Church) celebrated its third “birthday” on the first Sunday of November.  It has been such a treat to have participated in this church plant from the beginning!  

When I arrived in January 2004, our pastor and his wife (Max and Nina) along with another MTW family were in Kiev.  Another MTW family, another Ukrainian couple, and a single MTW woman would join the team in the next couple of months.  That summer we held our first Summer Institute projects with a team from Crosspointe Church in Austin and a team from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.  That September we had a family conference with a team from Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas.  These events (and other smaller things in between) along with personal follow up with people by various team members resulted in a group that was able to begin meeting on Sunday mornings for worship on the first Sunday of November 2004. 

At first we met in our office apartment, but that was tight from the beginning.  After a few months we were able to find a larger place to meet and we are still worshipping there now.  Over the past three years I have seen a lot of growth in the church.  Of course, some of that has come through hard challenges.  As I sat in the service on Sunday and listened to Max give glory to God for how our church has grown, I was overwhelmed by thankfulness to God as well.  We now have about 30 members and a “proto-session” with five or six men who humbly work to lead our church in the direction God would have us go.  I looked around and saw a few families with young children as well as some students and some young people who recently graduated from university and are now working.  It looks like funds are coming in that will enable us to begin a building project next year.  What an amazing thing God has done here! 

Sometimes I can sit in church and look around and see mostly struggles.  I see the areas where our Body is weak and areas where they don’t do things according to my preferences.  I think there is a time to view things from that perspective and think about what I can do to help strengthen and support those weak areas.  However, sometimes it is good to look around and see the victories and areas of growth and celebrate them.  It was my joy to do that on November 5! 

Thank you for your continued prayers for me and for our church here.  Here are some specific items for prayer this month:

• Praise for the situations I mentioned a few months ago about a couple of girls in our church who were dating non-believers.  It seems like they are making the right choices, even when it is hard, and it seems like the church leadership has also been involved in these situations in a positive way.  Please continue to pray for this area for SPRC and other churches in Ukraine.
• Praise for a good fundraising trip last month.  It looks like we may be able to begin building as early as next year.  Please continue to pray for wisdom and faithfulness for the leaders of our church throughout this process.
• Please continue to pray that the team will find a replacement for me.  I’ll be in Kiev until the end of February and can continue to do some things from the U.S., but they will need to find someone to take over many of the things I currently do.
• Pray that we would find a good location for a new team office.  Our landlord sold the place we’ve been in for over 8 years and the new landlord wants a much higher rent.  We can stay here until the end of January, so please pray that God would provide something for a reasonable price in a good location.
• Please continue to pray for me and my fiancé, Steve.  He’ll be here in Kiev for a week over Thanksgiving and I’ll be in the U.S. for a few weeks over Christmas.  Pray for us as we make wedding plans and as we build foundations for our marriage.