Underground University Russia enables the church in Russia and the former Soviet Union to prepare for martyrdom and persecution amidst escalating legal restrictions. Such preparation must focus on helping the church here to remain one body with the faithful church around the world today and throughout history.

Nine Ukrainian pastors and church leaders gathered in Romania for our second training of 2022 in November. We had expected seven more participants, but due to a variety of factors (sickness, passport trouble, etc), they couldn’t attend this training.

For a full report of this training, please see our recent press release at
https://vomkorea.com/en/2022/12/13/vomk-report-233/

These pastors shared some of their thoughts with us after they had returned home to Ukraine. We are sharing them below with minimal editing.

We are very grateful to God that we had the opportunity to participate in the training. Your ministry is very important, especially your teaching on family as the center of Christian life on the basis of the Bible. It is important to remember not giving up meeting together and that is not only about a church but about a family as well. In our 21st century there is a big shortage or lack of it. Families are falling apart as the there is no communication between the members. Thank God for everything.

We are grateful to God that we could take part in the training. Pastor Foley and Dr. Foley extensively covered the subject of the suffering of martyrs for faith in God, using the example of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand and others who were tortured by the communist authorities. And also they told us about the persecution of Christians living in North Korea, about their steadfastness and perseverance in the faith at the present time, so that it will serve many to follow in faith and be faithful witnesses in preaching the gospel.

The seminar was important and did not go in vain. One begins to realize that something is changing, as if looking at yourself from the aside, and what I saw was not flattering . There was a certain unity with the group and it’s great. I was really impressed with visiting the prison, especially the cell of a priest filled with a prayer spirit and living communication with God. I am grateful to the Lord and the organizers of this seminar. I am grateful that there are Christians whose love for God grows in difficult circumstances.

My name is P., I live in Kiev, my husband and I are church ministers here. Together with a small group of people who stayed in Kiev we try to share the Gospel and serve people in different practical ways. In November, VOMK invited my husband to a meeting in Romania. For some reason he cannot leave the country now and he offered me to go there. I agreed. I didn’t know until the end what to expect and what the meeting would be, but I knew God was sending me there. In Bucharest I met the VOMK team and another sister from the Netherlands (their colleague) as well as a group of faithful pastors from the Ukraine. We were able to share with each other our testimonies, our faith, our joy and pain that all who have left Ukraine and those who choose to stay now live with, encouraging each other.

In the three days we spent together, the words “faithful witness” resounded in a new way for me, and I want my life and my decisions to bear witness of Christ and to what He has done. That my actions confirm my words. I was also affirmed in the importance of family ministry – when each family member does not live their own separate lives, but spend time together, value each other, pray together, serve each other, listen to each other – and such simple things even help to bring healing from serious psychological trauma.

I am so grateful to the VOMK team for their support and encouragement, for the opportunity to reboot, to renew my faith and strength for further ministry, and for the power of testimony I heard from many people who are also going through difficult times but continue to serve the Lord faithfully in the place He called them to.

I am very grateful to GOD for this seminar, all these three days of learning to communicate with you, glorifying God with songs and prayers, are very dear to me and I really appreciate your ministry. The first day was a very strong topic, “Faithful witness.” Talking about GOD to convey his Word to people is not an easy internal struggle, anxiety, but the Word must overcome.  I thank Pastor Foley for strong teaching on this subject. In the second day, we’ve been reminded about Hebrews 10:25. Thanks to Dr. Foley for her beautiful kind heart. Dr Foley was teaching on house worship, how to heal the body, soul and spirit, how to help family members create a new story that would help overcome trauma. I am grateful to Pastor Tim for the third day, especially for his personal testimony and teaching on the Book of Jeremiah, that it is the responsibility of the servant of GOD to convey to the people the true word of God, and to intercede for the people before GOD in prayer.

Such seminars are needed for all pastors who are responsible for family ministries and who preach the faithful Word of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for organizing a trip to prison (where Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned). For the first time, I had a strong impression left in my heart that to preserve faith in God cost so much, what a strong love imprisoned Christians had. Thank you for the book. May God bless the work of God and all your projects in the new year. May God’s blessings come. See you.

• Pray for our upcoming UU Russia training. Our training will be comprised Christian leaders from various Russian speaking ethnicities. Please pray for the planning of all the details. This training will be held during the first quarter of 2023.
• Please pray for Pastor H. and his network of five churches that we are supporting. Pray that each of these pastors and deacons would make a faithful witness in the difficult circumstances that they are in. Many of them have large families without the ability to support them financially.