Church Planting 101

The last few months have been very challenging for us. We are still struggling to finish renovations and repairs on our apartment before winter. The temperature is already in the 30s-40s! This definitely is not Florida,  but we are making progress even if it's slow and more expensive than expected. (More about that in a future update). However we have been busy not only at home but also at our church. Our church here in Lviv, "Trinity Church" is 8 years old, and as a young church still has a lot to learn. I'd like to share with you about some of the "growing pains" we have been having. These last few months we have been meeting 2-3 times a week trying to figure out some important questions and solve some problems that we noticed have surfaced in the last few years in our church. I have the great privilege along with the guys in this picture to serve on the leadership team at church.

 There are 7 of us in all. Although 8 years is long enough to not call the church "new" we still noticed there were a lot of things missing and we are trying to address those issues. For example at Calvary there is a clear mission and mission statement, a strategy, defined church bylaws and organizational structure. It helps the church stay focused and move towards where they believe God is calling them. We as a small church of 30-40 people were missing that clarity and we noticed that it was causing some problems. So as I said we have been researching a lot and praying and trying to decide where our church is headed and what structure is best for us. It has been frustrating at times but a great learning experience for me and I am happy to be apart of it. Please pray for our church and the leadership in our church that God would give us wisdom and that He would make our church a great instrument for raising up disciples and reaching the lost people of Lviv, Ukraine. You know, we noticed that you really need balance in the church. I will explain it like this. If the world is full of lost people, we say they are sick and in need of a doctor to take care of their illnesses. We as believers know that that illness is sin, and only Jesus can take care of that problem with his precious blood. However, what we noticed was that we, as a church, were focused too much on outreach and neglected the health of our own doctors. We realized that we can't neglect the spiritual and physical needs of our congregation because they can't reach out to others if they themselves are sick and struggling with personal things. We as a church had to repent of some of the mistakes we made in the past and we are now moving forward. It is wonderful to see God working in our church, healing broken relationships, and putting a desire to serve in the hearts of members who before seemed not to care about such things. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Pray specifically for wisdom and guidance for our church leaders at Trinity. Pray by name if God leads you to. (The leaders are Andriy, Oleg, Viktor, Nazar, Serhiy, Vova,and myself.) Pray also for Yuliya and I to finish our apartment enough to make it a little more livable. If God leads you to help in anyway, or if you have any suggestions or encouragement please write us a comment here, or pass it along though Calvary or through my parents. God bless you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support. We couldn't do it without you.

We also celebrated a day of Thanksgiving in our church to thank God for all the blessings He has shown us this year. Here is a picture of our children at church at this Thanksgiving service as we pray over them and bless them before sending them to Sunday School.