As a consequence the Ukraine lost much of its market for the steel it produced and many of the coal mines and steel making plants are now closed or very dangerous because of poor maintenance. The outcome is a very depressed economy, many unemployed people and migration away from the region.
Following the first visit IMM linked up with a church in Yenakievo supporting work among young people in a community badly polluted by a steel works in the middle of town. This led to a further link in Artemivsk, a town associated with a large salt mine where IMM has been helping Pastor Vasiliy Dmitrev now for over 15 years. Vasily helped found this church which has been very active in all kinds of Christian service in the town and surrounding district including youth work and annual camps, ministry to drug and alcohol addicts, meals for those homeless and living on the streets, help for refugees as well as further church planting in the area. Our relationship has also been facilitated hugely by another young man, Aleksey Balakhon, from Kramatorsk. He has just been elected to be an elder in the local church there.
The scene changed drastically in 2014. First Russian annexed Crimea and then Russian separatists seized the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk setting up self-declared People’s Republics. This led to bloodshed and major disruption to everyday life with many families fleeing to neighbouring “free” areas of Ukraine. Sadly those brothers and sisters left behind are suffering loss of their church buildings and personal persecution.
The churches in Artemivsk and surrounding area found themselves literally on the front line with fighting all around them. But Artemivsk, now renamed Bakhmut, finds itself still in free Ukrainian-controlled territory. The churches have thrown themselves into helping the constant stream of refugees and providing food and clothing for communities devastated by the fighting. Praise the Lord the ministries continue, people are being saved, the churches are full and new churches continue to be established. Sadly, IMM personnel have been unable to visit the brethren for the past eight years. Please support them in your prayers.
M G Jarvis
January 2022