The conference week is underway, and from the church hall there is a faint sound of drums indicating that the rehearsal for the morning service is underway.
A cheerful group of ten people are sitting in the Word of Life Café. They blend in with all the conference visitors, but they have traveled from a completely different reality than most people here. We step outside to get a picture with everyone next to the vehicle they traveled here in – a minibus that rolled almost four thousand kilometers across Europe to get up to the European Conference. The journey here started in Odessa, Ukraine, five days before the start of the conference. I cautiously ask if it doesn’t seem a bit too far to travel for a conference, but am quickly interrupted by the fact that this has been a dream for several years and they also got to see a lot of beautiful things along the way.
The team comes from Grace Church, led by Pastor Kirill Bondarenko and part of the Word of Life family in Ukraine. Since the outbreak of the war in February 2022, they have been working continuously on evacuation and relief efforts. So far, they have been able to help over 2000 people across the border to a reception center in Moldova and on to other European countries and every week they serve between 60-200 people through food distributions. Needs are constant and resources are limited, but in all of this they see how God faithfully provides for them time and time again.
There is no doubt that it comes at a cost, they form a small team that carries a lot and new projects can pop up unexpectedly. “Sometimes when we finish a project and everyone is tired, we say: ‘Now it’s two weeks of rest’ but then a couple of days later something new comes up that we have to deal with, so it’s intense,” says Tania Dovmatenko, coordinator of the evacuations.
Relief work is not without risks either. During their food distributions and relief efforts, they need to wear helmets and body armor at all times due to the risk of drone strikes, and they are constantly on the alert for movement or sounds from above. Living in this environment takes its toll. Even here in Sweden, they instinctively react with panic when a helicopter or drone flies overhead. One team member says that only now, after just over a week, has she stopped constantly checking her phone for bomb alerts.
This trip will therefore be an extra breathing space for the team, both physically, mentally and spiritually. “I think this conference is made just for me,” says Ludmila Bondarenko, smiling to herself. “God knows what’s going on inside, there have been so many times when little phrases have really hit home – both with care, hope and admonition.”
Pastor Kirill agrees, adding that in addition to rest and replenishment, they also leave the conference with a new vision. He had been seeking the Lord for a long time about how they could convert a warehouse into a church, but had not seen the solution. Now, during a prayer time, God finally showed him exactly what it would look like and as he shared it with the team, inspiration continued to flow.
The work back home in Ukraine is far from over and the team will soon return home. They are continuing the relief work while reaching out with the Gospel. They are already seeing people turn to God and believing Him for an even greater harvest.
