Changing hearts, restoring hope, saving lives
Greetings! While the news coming out of Ukraine can be depressing, our hope is that we are encouraging you with stories about how our church partners are responding and meeting the needs of their neighbors” throughout Ukraine.
Because of your prayers and financial support, HART can resource our network of partner churches and assist them in delivering food, clothing, water, medicines, hygiene products, generators, and other ssistance.
Several pastors have shared with us that evangelical churches do 75%+ of the relief work on the frontlines.
Working together, we are helping tens of thousands of Ukrainians. When you give to “Refugee Aid – Ukraine Crisis,” your support is doing the following:
Keeping the Church heated (gas, electricity, fuel, generators).
Church repairs or renovations caused by refugee influx or shelling.
Charitable assistance (material, food, and medical): for large families, orphans, widows, the elderly, and the disabled.
Organization of ‘points of heating,’ hubs for warmth and feeding people.
Support for children’s, adolescent, family, women’s, and evangelistic ministries.
Aid to the military (food, clothing, medicine, first aid kits, etc.)
Assistance to families whose husbands and sons are currently at war or have died (food, medical, material, moral support).
Organization of daycare centers for children in poverty-stricken families.
Humanitarian aid to people who are in the liberated territories.
Assistance to displaced persons and refugees (food, clothing, housing, medicines…)
Evacuation of people from occupied, dangerous, or recently liberated territories.
Evangelization services among Russian prisoners of war.
Support for military chaplains serving soldiers.
Volunteer assistance in military hospitals.
Media Ministry (social media, newspapers, brochures, textbooks…)
Spiritual development of ministry leaders thru conferences, seminars, and training.
Thanks to HART’s community!
Pastor Dmytro (Dema), city of Kharkiv, has been a HART partner since the war began. His compassion, courage, and hard work are legendary. Over the past year, he has rescued countless civilians from the war zones and liberated regions while under enemy fire and shelling.
Thank you, HART supporters in Canada & USA!
Thank you very much on behalf of me personally as the team leader and on behalf of every person who has been provided for and rescued. So far, your support has helped tens of thousands of people whom we have been able to help with various types of humanitarian aid. When the country was in a stupor, and the future was unclear, your team did not hesitate to take action to help, and thus motivated us to do the same! Almighty God sees your deeds and will give you a hundred times more! Thank you for your HUGE HEART! MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU! Dema.
Follow-up thank-you from Dema:
We would not be able to do so much work if it were not for your support. On behalf of all the saved and supported residents of Kharkiv, on behalf of the entire team of volunteers and me personally, thank you very much, and a low bow to you for your assistance, trust, friendship, and care during the entire time of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine. Many thanks to the HART mission and its Canada and USA sponsors! May the Lord protect you and bless you abundantly!
Another powerful testimony of our ministry is that more and more people accept the Gospel and Jesus Christ as their Lord. The Gospel is preached to 1500-1800 people weekly, and the number is increasing. Keep praying for Ukraine! Dema.
The conflict cannot end until Ukraine is part of the West
The question is not whether Ukraine should become a part of the Euro-Atlantic institutions, but when and how.
Video episodes of the war
Why Summer Camps?
The effects of the war on Ukraine’s children has been devastating. We believe the road to healing can begin at Christian camps. The reason lies in the unique and powerful nature of these camps, offering children who have suffered trauma an opportunity to learn about God’s love and experience healing. The below testimonies are examples of how lives are radically changed through camps.
FROM A CAMPER: (Daryna)
At camp, I learned to love God, to read the Bible, and I learned to pray. Thank you to everyone who helped me go to camp.
FROM A CAMPER: (Artem)
I thank everyone who organized this camp, even during a war in our country, because these were the happiest days for me and many children this year. I believe that the Lord will give us victory, and the proud country that attacked us and violated all God’s laws will be efeated, and the enemy will be ashamed. The Lord is with us, and we will win.
IMPOVERISHED BOY AND HIS GRANDMOTHER
Yehor is an eight years old boy who lives with his grandmother, who can barely walk. They are extremely poor, but Yehor is her favorite grandson and her only hope. Thanks to the Child Sponsor program, they have support from a sponsor, and Yehor was able to go to a Christian camp for the first time in his life.
His grandmother was scared to let him go and was worried sick. But Yehor was very happy at the camp. He made new friends, ate tasty and healthy food, took part in games and competitions, and listened to bible stories. During the camp, his grandmother also received attention. The camp leaders and parents, whose kids were in Yehor’s group, called her frequently to see how she was doing. The camp had a great influence on both the boy and his grandmother. They are learning how to entrust their lives to God.
Your support is the testimony of God’s love for them.
DESPITE PARENTS’ DISAPPROVAL OF CHURCH.
It wasn’t the first time Olessia had the opportunity to visit a Christian camp with her brother. The previous camps had been a place where she could have a fun and interesting time, but during the last one, God
touched her heart, and she accepted Him.
After the camp was over, Olessia started attending Sunday school and church services with her brother. Their parents didn’t approve of them going to church, but Olessia was unwavering. It was a short time later that she repented and became actively involved in church ministries. Now Olessia shows her love for the Lord by using her talents: she sings in the church choir.
WHY ARE SUMMER CAMPS SO IMPORTANT?
By providing a safe and supportive environment, offering spiritual guidance, fostering community and connection with other kids, physical activities, opportunities for creativity and self-expression, teaching biblical principles, and encouraging prayer and meditation, camps can help children deepen their faith and find hope and healing in God.
Please consider helping HART send thousands of impoverished children, including children of refugees – to life-changing camps in Ukraine.
Church becomes a military building
One of our Church partners shared with us two photos of the SAME BUILDING, taken in the occupied town of Melitopol. They exclaimed, “Our enemies turned the “House of Prayer” (a Church) into a military building.
The Russians believe all Evangelicals have ties to the USA and are, therefore, the enemy. This is why they hate us, are torturing and killing some pastors, and are confiscating almost all our churches.”
Arina needs a sponsor
Arina is a spirited and compassionate nine-year-old girl recently taken into HART’s Child Sponsor Program. She has a remarkable memory and attentiveness and is keenly interested in learning about God. She is always ready to lend a helping hand to others, and she actively participates in a day center and Sunday school.
As a family, they have endured significant hardships. Unfortunately, Arina’s father deserted this family shortly before the war. Next, they had to suffer through living in a Russian-occupied city before having to leave their home and relocate to the West of Ukraine.
Arina and her two older sisters have a good relationship with their mother, but their living conditions and situation are alarming. As internally displaced persons (IDPs), they have been living in a student dormitory at a local veterinary academy for the past year. However, the living conditions in this building are deplorable. They have to share a communal washroom and kitchen, which are always filthy, and the temperature in their one-room apartment is uncomfortably cold.
Arina’s mother is unemployed due to a heart condition, and they receive some financial assistance from the state as IDPs. She requires regular hospital visits for fluid removal around the heart area. They occasionally receive humanitarian aid, and the local church occasionally provides groceries. Arina’s mother actively participates in church services. This family is in dire need of your support.
In Arina’s words: “Dear Sponsor, I don’t know you yet, and I have never seen you, but I am very grateful to you for helping such children as I am. It is very hard for us to live in
another city, far away from our home.”
Here are specific prayer points that can help guide our prayers for the situation in Ukraine. Please share these with your friends and family:
- Pray for the physical protection and provision for Ukrainian children in harm’s way. Supernaturally, and otherwise, minimize the suffering and loss of life, Jesus. Keep the bombs away, and food in their stomachs. Pray for children who are seeing things no child’s eye should ever see. Jesus, you are a great King and healer. By whatever means you chose— loving parents, a direct work of the Holy Spirit, fellow believers… protect the hearts, minds, and imagination of children.
- Pray for and ask to see God’s glory amid this great struggle. Pray that He would be glorified through the Christians in Ukraine who are being his hands and feet during this terrible tragedy.
- Pray for God’s peace to be a source of strength for the thousands of Ukrainian workers/volunteers who are serving refugees who need to hear of God’s love for them.
- Pray for God’s protection for soldiers and civilians caught up in this conflict.
- Pray for the residents of cities and towns who are under heavy shelling, and have lost their heat, lights, and water.
- Pray for the civilian and military prisoners of war who are subject to torture and death at the hands of their captors.
- Ask God to comfort the many families that have lost mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters during this Russian invasion. The pain and heartache are overwhelming for most families.
- Pray for the frustration of all evil plans of the enemy.
- Ask God to intervene. Pray for wisdom for world leaders. Pray that God would move in their hearts and guide their steps and plans to end this war.
- Pray for the President (Zelensky) and the leaders of Ukraine to know God’s truth and peace and be transformed by his Holy Spirit so that they would seek to lead their country in the way of peace.
- Ask that this conflict would open doors of opportunities for the gospel. Pray that He would make his name known across Ukraine, Russia, and all the European countries that refugees are fleeing to due to this conflict.
