About Mission-Ukraine

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, Christians were given a unique opportunity to enter a land in which religion and belief in God had been discouraged and even forbiddened. No one knew how long American missionaries would be allowed to work in Russia and the former Soviet republics before the door would be closed. In May , 1992 a Church of Christ was established in Kremenchug,Ukraine. In 1993, it had approximately 20 members. In late 1992 and early 1993, David Harbison and Larry Glass of Hickory College Church of Christ at Summer Shade, Kentucky began discussing the idea of setting up a Bilbe College in Kremenchug to train preachers from Ukraine to teach their own people, to establish churches in the area and elsewhere and to spread the gospel to "every creature". In the summer ,1993, David Harbison, J.C. Enlow and Gene Deese traveled to Kremenchug to start the process. Classroom and office spaces were rented in the hotel on Lenin Square in the center of the city. Equipment and desks were also obtained and the recruitment of students began. A Bible College was established in Kremenchug, Ukraine with the following objectives :

* To educate and motivate members of the Churches of Christ for effective evangelistic ministries.

*To provide a doctrinal/historical perspective of Christianity and its worldwide missions

*To demonstrate Christian refinement, social skills and attitudes by applying the knowledge of the Bible to one's personal life

Under the elders at the Hickory College Church of Christ , Foy Smith, Levearn. Tennessee, became the appointed director of the school.The elders at Refuge Church of Christ, Eighty Eight, Kentucky are presently overseeing the work. Men are recuited from Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Texas to go to Ukraine to teach various Bible classes from a set program of study. Students , both men and women, attend classes for three weeks and are then off a week. Study then resumes for another three week session. In order to aid those students that work, classes begin at 2:30 P.M. and continue until 8:30 P.M.. A stipend is given to students to help with their finanical burden while in school. A family coming to go to school from out of town is given $60 a month. A family living in Kremenchug is given $50 a month. A single student is allotted $25 per month. Approximately 20-22 students attend each 3 week term.

After 4 years of study, students graduate and put their knowledge to use. Of those attending the Bible College,seventeen have become preachers and have established churches in other areas of the city and country. After the first graduating class in 1996,three new churches were established. At present there are six known congregations in Kremenchug and surrounding areas and two in Russia as a result of the graduates from the school. Other teachers have gone into Moldova and Byelorussia.

Women who graduate from the Bible College have done their part in spreading the gospel. When the church began in 1992, no children's classes were being taught. Now there are Bible classes for various ages of children, as well as ladies Bible classes and Saturday night classes. Ladies teach others privately in their homes and on the job. According to the Bible school secretary, one of the ladies who graduated from the school, Dr. Alla Omelian, "does great personal work teaching people at the hospital and at their homes. She brought more than 20 people to the central church. People call her 'Alla-the Evangelist'."

Those graduating from the Bible College have found many ways to help the needy and to spread God's Word . Gregory Levitsky obtained permission to go into the reformatory in Kremenchug to teach and preach. As a result, he has baptized a number of young men who are now serving the Lord rather than the world and themselves. Others began work with the numerous orphanges in the city and surrounding villages to try to relieve the suffering of the hundreds of needy children in the area.