Lanette Harris
Recently, the Committee on Diaconal Ministries (CDM) of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) committed $30,000 of the funds donated to the Ukraine Crisis Fund toward relief efforts in Ukraine. These funds were sent to Kharkiv Presbyterian Church of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine (EPCU). (The EPCU is the same denomination with whom OPC missionary Heero Hacquebord labors in L’viv.)
Located just 18 miles from the Russian border —and the front lines of this war—Kharkiv is home to an estimated and sobering half a million displaced people. This small EPCU congregation has been faithfully laboring to bring comfort and aid, alongside the gospel message to those suffering from the devastation of war, since the war began in early 2022.
With this donation from the OPC, Kharkiv Presbyterian Church has been able to purchase and distribute more than 800 bags of food, providing relief to over 2,400 people—including families who have lost their homes, single mothers with children, and elderly residents unable to flee the city.
Mark Agarkov, an elder at Kharkiv Presbyterian Church and a key director of this work, expressed deep gratitude for the OPC’s ongoing prayers and support: “Your generous partnership continues to be a great encouragement to us and a vital help in sustaining our ministry in this difficult season.”
But, sadly, the church in Kharkiv isn’t alone in its suffering. Pastor Ivan Besplov, also of the EPCU in Kyiv—whose church is located about 300 miles west of the church in Kharkiv—and his wife, Lucia, visited Grace OPC in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this summer. During their time there, they shared several sobering prayer requests with the congregation, including:
Would you join us in remembering these dear saints—both in Kyiv and Kharkiv, as well as across Ukraine—asking the Lord to strengthen, protect, and comfort His church there?
Please also pray for the OPC Committee on Diaconal Ministries as they seek wisdom in determining how best to use the funds generously given in Christ’s love to the Ukraine Crisis Fund.
If you would like to support the ongoing work of mercy and gospel ministry there, you may do so by donating to the OPC Ukraine Crisis Fund.
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