‘God had plans for me’
Former atheist now committed to Bible work

Focus on Southern Ukraine

Photo: Irena, who works as a radio reporter [photo: UBS/Dag Smemo WR404/5 UKR06DJ-407]

UKRAINE — One of the journalists who sometimes attends the monthly meeting of Church leaders at the offices of the Southern Region branch of the Ukrainian Bible Society in Kherson (see story) is 35-year-old Irena, a radio reporter. She is now an active member of her local church, but until 12 years ago she was an equally convinced atheist.

Heard a rumour

“At that time I was working for a newspaper. One day I heard a rumour about a sect that had been accused of murdering people. I wanted to get an exclusive story, so I set off for the place where I thought the sect was based. But God had other plans for me! I ended up in a church, where I was greeted with great love by people who clearly had a very strong faith. I became a Christian that very evening and my whole life changed.”

Now Irena is working hard to spread God’s Word to fellow Ukrainians.

“People here are very open to the Gospel,” she says. “Our congregation has set a new goal. We want to share the Word of God with 100,000 homes in the region. We have reached 1,000 homes so far, so we have only just begun. It is important that the Word of God is placed in every home, so that people can use it in their daily life. We need all kinds of Christian literature for this project: the children need Children’s Bibles and the adults need New Testaments or Bibles.

Greater need

“But our country is very large and the need is much greater than the Bible Society can cover. We have so many possibilities, but we lack the money.

“Our congregation tries various ways of reaching out to people. Next Sunday we plan to visit a small village where we will be sharing the Word of God with the people. We advertise our visits in advance with posters and leaflets. We bring Selections and Children’s Bibles and distribute them to people who show an interest. Then we return a week or two later to do some teaching and to answer people’s questions.

Give them hope

“We also hold Christmas parties for children from several orphanages. We tell them why we celebrate Christmas and we give them gifts and Children’s Bibles. It is touching to see their faces when they receive these things. We know that many of them will read the Bibles and that this will give them hope from day to day. The Bible means a lot to many of these children.

“It’s great that the Bible Society receives support from other countries. This is what makes it possible to share the Word of God with people here. It has given many people new hope for the future.”