Just Over the Bridge

On a bright sunny morning we crossed the bridge between Moldova and Ukraine to the town of Mogilev-Podolsky. One of the former students from the Balti Mission School had been involved in church planting in this town for a few years and we were joining him for the morning service. It was a joy to see the people, young and old, gather and fill the House of Prayer. Sergei filled us in on the background, showing how God had wonderfully worked on their behalf.

In the days of Communism there had been a church in the town but eventually the building had been confiscated and the believers scattered to various other parts of the country. After the fall of Communism a Pastor in the north of Moldova, having planted several churches already in that area, had a burden to see a work begun again in Mogilev-Podolsky. He chose Sergei, one of the then current Ukrainian students in the Mission School, to join with him and they began to hold meetings and do outreach work, to make contact with the people. Eventually there was a group who desired to study the Bible and the first Bible Studies began. Over the years the Lord added to their number and the next hurdle they faced was getting a building in which to meet regularly.

They approached the Mayor of the town and requested to have the original church building back. As far as he was concerned it was totally out of the question. Nor would he grant them a site on which to build. Many attempts were made to make the Mayor change his mind but he stood firm. However, a new Mayor was elected who held the position for just a short time, but in that time he told the believers that, although it wasn’t possible to return their original building, he had a restaurant with a large plot opposite, on the other side of the street in downtown Mogilev-Podolsky which, if they thought it suitable, he would give to them. It was absolutely ideal and soon work began on erecting their Dom Molitvy – House of Prayer. They were overjoyed to see how God had overruled and granted them a site better than they could ever have imagined.

Today there are eighty members in the church with a steady flow of souls coming to faith in Christ. It was good to see families, parents and children, joined together in the Lord. The labours of Sergei and his wife Ludmila, and the leaders in the church, have certainly been blessed of the Lord. They had no recourse in their early difficulties but to their God and He did not fail them. Even so they do not sit back, satisfied with what has been accomplished in His Name thus far. They continually pray and cry to God to work in their town and district and save many more.