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.

In 2023, VOM Korea supported pastors and Christians who were faithfully serving the Lord in the dangerous and difficult areas of Ukraine. Many of these pastors have faced arrest, kidnapping and imprisonment. All of them have faced a severe lack of income due to their decision to stay and minister in these areas.

Below is a letter from one of these pastors.

It is impossible to think and talk about it calmly, my soul overflows with gratitude to the Lord for His wonderful ways and amazing ways to send help in right time!!! Such coincidences cannot be explained, because we have never met you personally… Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for You have become another miracle of God in our lives! Through your sacrifice, we saw God’s love for our family and felt encouraged, as well as support and a surge of new strength to continue our ministry! 

Recently, just a year ago, I had become a pastor in our small local church. Our congregation has up to 30 members of the church, about 20 children and teenagers, as well as 10-20 attendants who are not official members yet and new converts. And then the war broke out, I had to many things that I have never seen before and had to face many unnatural circumstances: to get food for the Church, to look for safe places for my family, to bury a child of a close friend who died from a shell explosion, to encourage frightened people and find words when they are no words… 

Then the surviving brothers from xxxxx (this city is located 50 km from us) turned to me with a request to serve in one of the local churches there. Dispossessed, depressed, emaciated people who endured the horrors of war every day used to go to the surviving building of the church for hot food and a kind word or clothes. Seeing this situation, together with visiting Christian volunteers, we began to organize evangelistic meetings there. People began to turn to the Lord, today a group of new converts has already been formed to prepare for baptism. Now I visit this church three times a week to lead Bible Study class, teach those who are going to be baptized, gather youth group, as well as many personal counseling conversations. 

Every Saturday, services are held in the church that the remaining Christians attend. Praise God, He is resurrecting His Church from ruins and ashes! And in our local church, services are held on Sunday with communion and fellowship in groups. More recently, we have started a children’s ministry for children from non-Christian families. For them twice a week we prepare a Christian program, as well as a delicious hot lunch. We believe that the Lord uses our weaknesses and abilities to expand His Kingdom and rejoice that He finds us useful in the God’s work. 

Thank you, brothers and sisters, for your help and support! May the Lord reward you in full, may the fund you provided for us be replenished and multiplied, and may God’s blessing and presence always be in your homes! 

With sincere gratitude and prayer for you – Pastor B and Sister E. and our children

• Please pray for the Russian language 2024 faithful witness trainings. We already have several invitations, so we are prayerfully considering where the Lord would have us go. Some of these invitations are a result of trainings we did in 2022 and 2023.
• Please pray for the Ukrainian pastors that VOMK support in the DPR and LPR. Many of these pastors have been detained and beaten for their faithful witness. All of them have a sudden loss of income due to their decision to stay and minister in the dangerous areas of Ukraine.
• Please pray for Pastor B. in Ukraine. Pray for the two churches that he oversees in Dokuchaevsk and Mariupol. Pray that he would be faithful to proclaim the Word of God in these cities. Pray also for his wife and children, especially for his youngest child who had some serious health issues.