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Pastor, what are the problems you face in your ministry?
- I like that the congregation grow. Church members
have a lot of friends. They are invited to our worship
services and classes. I am pleased when relatives
of the members of the congregation come to hear the
Word of God. Then I fulfilled the core of my ministry
- the Word is proclaimed. I certainly want everyone
to stay in the congregation, but the Word of God "will
not return to Me empty". People came to us, they
heard the Word, they are not lost for the Lord. He
has an intention to send them preachers again and
again. The Bible way of the congregation's existence
presuposes that there are people who systematically
come to the worship services, there are some coming
now and then and there are those who come for the
first time. I am especially grateful to God for people
who used to come to worship services, then quit and
now are back to the church.
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Pastor, there's a thought that the Western Ukraine
is more religious than Eastern or Southern. You work
in central Ukraine. Do you think this viewpoint is
supported by facts? How is your ministry going?
- Yes, the attitude of people to religion, to the
church differs in regions of Ukraine. Certain things
can be easily explained to people residing the western
part of the country, especially those issues that
have to do with organization of the church activities,
rules of behavior during the worship service, etc.
However, it does not have any impact on efficacy of
the Word of God. When the Word is preached the way
Lord wants it, it works equally on people in Galicia,
Poltava, and it "never returns empty". During
the last decade people in Western Ukraine got used
to certain standards of faith. Quite often what is
considered there to be standards of faith, were not
commanded by God. We don't have such things in central
and eastern Ukraine, so in this respect it's easier
to work here. It's easier to work with people if they
don't know approaches to certain questions that are
not Biblical. On the other hand, the Word of God works
even if people hear it pronounced with unusual accent
or from people with political views that differ from
their own. The Word of God is accepted not because
it is preached by a political associate, but because
it IS the Word of God. The Holy Spirit Himself help
to preserve the Word, enables it to work, makes you
a believer and your works - actions of the believer.
So, the difference is reality, however, it does not
make impossible the preaching of the Word of God.
I am grateful to those people who accepted me. I only
preach them the Word of God and our views may differ
in political issues, questions concerning the history
of our people as well as every day aspects. The Word
of God does not depend on who preaches it.
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How do you view (assess) negative influence of the
modern world on youth in a small town like Oleksandria?
How can the Word of God be brought closer to children,
to young people that are our future? What types of
activities for young people do you practice in your
congregation?
- The population of Oleksandria is 79,500 people.
In 1961 the population used to be 105,000. For comparison,
at that time 30,000 people lived in Ternopil. The
young people of our town have the same problems as
teenagers in big cities, namely drugs, depravity in
mass media, games and other things. The avalanche
of problems grows so fast that sometimes it is ahead
of the church. Taking into account the importance
of modern mass media, radio and TV, the Lord wants
people to get to know about the Gospel from these
sources as well. Sometimes such a messenger of the
Gospel is a pastor preaching from the pulpit; sometimes
it's a layman talking to his/her neighbour. There
are no many children in our congregation. It is due
to the age structure of the local population. But
it's worthwhile noting that we have not only kids
who were brought to the church by their parents, but
also parents who were brought to the church by their
children. The Word of God comes to children mainly
through their parents. The other option of preading
the information is from one child to another. Children
spread the Good News among their peers telling them
about precious God's gifts. Our congregation is young.
It's been working for three years. For two years we
had only those children who came to the church when
the congregation got registered. But during the last
3-4 months the work with kids is getting more active.
Members of the congregation communicate with each
other on weekdays. Children get together, communicate,
sing. They presented their first concert on the Holy
Trinity. Children come for Saturday and Sunday Bible
classes. Much of their time they devote to the church
ethics; they learn how to make embroideries, paint
Easter eggs. This isn't a formal work but it is successfully
conducted.
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Pastor, a couple of words about your teaching job.
- It was my project on Evangelism. The structure
of our congregation is not identical to the one of
the society. We lack young people. I have to come
up with ways how to bring the Word of God to the young
people in Oleksandria. In addition to being a pastor
of the ULC I received an education of a biology and
chemistry (science) teacher. So, one of the Oleksandria
higher educational establishments accredited by the
state allowed me, the Lutheran pastor to teach science.
It's not much, just 16 hours per year. Now when the
work was completed we can say that at least one Ukrainian
higher educational institution taught the course of
science not according to a narrow Darwinism, but on
the contrary, it involved the Biblical truth about
creation, the society, and dependence of people on
the will of the Almighty God. I have been teaching
for two academic years. When you come to students,
you try to tell them the Biblical truths and the Gospel,
to let them know what Jesus Christ did for people
and their salvation and it should be done within the
course I was hired to teach. The youth heard me. The
majority of them revealed views that are far from
atheistic. They tried to think as Christians though
they do not constantly study the Holy Scripture. Not
all their views correspond to the God's truths. But
we communicate and children can hear the Gospel. It
didn't have any consequences for our congregation
so far but it was an attempt to attract people to
the church. I am going to continue this project in
other institutions. If people need help, we are eager
to help them but at the same time we'll render them
the greatest thing - the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Pastor, at the worship service in Oleksandria I was
impressed with a big number of embroideries. Those
were various needle works from gofalons (banners)
to a table-cloth on the altar. Tell us about this
aspect of life in the congregation.
- Members of the congregation actively work for the
church aesthetics. Many women embroider. Natalia Kuznetsova
was an organizer and initiator of this work. Needle
works of the members of the congregation are very
nice. In 2003 we were invited to participate in the
exhibition of needle works that was held at the local
museum of the natural history. Works by women from
our congregation were very popular. There were many
people willing to purchase these embroideries. Quite
a number of people from our town came to know about
our church thanks to this exhibition. The works depicting
the figure of Christ drew attention of visitors. Naturally
the embroidery is not as informative as a sermon or
a Bible class. But the person can see the embroidered
image of Christ. Then he/she can ask what He has done
for us. We want people to focus on Christ when they
hear about Him. We certainly expect people to come
and listen to the Word of God, we expect broken hearts.
We want people to come to church. But in order to
succeed, we have to draw people's attention to Christ
again and again. In 2004 the same musuem turned to
us with a proposal to organize a similar exhibition.
Since new needle works were not ready at that time,
we suggested to display our literature. This event
was held at Easter. People had a chance to see the
Bibles published in various languages by the Lutheran
Heritage Foundation. During the period of exhibition
we received some requests for the literature. So,
we presented people with the books they asked for.
Those who visited the museum on Easter days could
get acquainted with our literature. We plan to continue
such work. It will help the church to conduct the
work commanded by Jesus Christ.
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Thank you, pastor, for the interview. May the Lord
bless your ministry and the Oleksandria congregation
of the ULC.
Vasyl
Korshak
