Q. Why a building in L'viv? A. L'viv is the most strategic city for an initial church plant in the western region of Ukraine
L’viv is the Gateway City to the Region
L’viv is the Western capital of Ukraine with around one million people (metro L'viv is 1.5 million). The city acts as a cultural, economic and educational hub for the region.
There is little Protestant presence and much nominal Greek Catholicism.
There are only a handful of Evangelical churches in this city of almost one million.
There are over 100,000 students in L’viv with under 20 evangelical workers focused on reaching this group.
The Evangelical landscape is often legalistic and separated from the broader culture.
Q. What is the main barrier in a Ukrainian's mind?
Churches are official and credible if they have building.
The history of cults and sects have made people wary, rightly so.
Parents will not, in some cases, let their university students go to private homes.
Rental spaces have a reputation in the culture of being connected with cults and sects.
Rental spaces result in location changes which stifle growth (for example, a church in Kiev, Ukraine had 10 changes in one year)
Q. Has MTW helped to provide church buildings in other cities in Ukraine? A. Yes. This church plant is seeking to build on lessons learned across Ukraine over the last 20 years as well as other Former Soviet contexts: One of the largest barriers to church planting in L’viv is a permanent, physical worship location. Other church buildings have been established in other Ukrainian cities to help break down this barrier.
Q. What is the role of Nationals in this church plant and the building project? A. The Ukrainian Presbyterian Church has asked the MTW Church Planting team, which is half Ukrainian, to plant a church in L’viv with a long-term vision to plant churches throughout the Western region.
Q. Why a building now? A. Relationships are ready, ministries are growing, the need is great. The core group of church members are asking "how and when can we get a church building". - The current economic situation has reduced current construction prices. - The combination of a growing church community and the current economic condition suggests a great time to build a worship sanctuary removing a major barrier to the growth of the church.
Q. Can the church congregation take out a loan to buy a building? A. Loans are rarely given and when if they are, they are at 20-30%. Even if a congregation of 200 gave 100% of their salary, they still could not afford a building in the center.
Q. What about rental space? A. This is only a short term solution and not helpful long term.
Acceptable rental space is hard to find.
Impossible to keep it permanently (no lease or contract).
Moving around would become the norm and is counter productive to ministry and church growth.
Rental spaces are viewed as suspect (unholy) and cultish
Q. If the people cannot afford the property, will they be able to keep up with ongoing maintenance costs? A. The building will be repaired with this in mind. The goal is to have low monthly maintenance costs. It is possible for a congregation to pay for these costs.
Q. Isn’t this contrary to the trend of people wanting to meet in spaces that are not traditionally “sacred?” A. In Western Europe people are seeking “non-traditional” meeting spaces because the historic church buildings act as a huge barrier to people coming, hearing, discussing etc. This is true in some contexts in North America where some people are easier to reach if the meetings are in spaces outside traditional churches. There is also an abundance of rental spaces and it is socially normal to have meetings in rented spaces. In Ukraine the trend, at least in L’viv, is going the other direction. There is not an abundance of rental space, rental space is viewed as suspect by the population and a physical “sacred space” location is the place where people are comfortable to come, hear, discuss, bring their kids etc.
Q. Is this reproducible? A. Is this something that we envision as necessary for each and every church plant in the future, namely foreign money to buy a church building? No. After reviewing our various methods and those of other church planters in the post-Soviet context over the last 20 years we see that having a church building in the city at the beginning of the work is the preferable choice. This point is not disputed by any of our own people who have worked in this area. While this does not HAVE to be done, it seems in our case, that if we can establish a permanent presence in the city via a physical space (building/store front) then we should try. This will enable other church plants in the city/region to point to our physical address to draw their credibility while meeting somewhere else or buying/building their own space. One other thing to note: We are seeking to have a space that is centrally located for people in the city. This means that the prices for real estate will be higher than any other site in the region. It is physically possible for congregations on the outskirts of L’viv and in the smaller surrounding cities (where we hope to see church plants) to actually build and/or purchase their own spaces without outside assistance. The reality of our situation is that it seems best to purchase a building at the beginning of this church plant since there will not come a time where this will be affordable for our congregation.
Building Relationships through Bible Studies: These studies are foundational in the lives of new believers and for the future of the church. Most Ukrainians touched by the church planting team have never read or studied the Bible, but with encouragement from the team, they are making Bible study a priority.
Building Relationships through teen meetings: Compass - a ministry for teenagers and their parents - allows for a safe place to engage the Bible and develop a Christian worldview.
Building Relationships through Community Service: A core component of outreach is showing that God is Lord over every part of one’s life. The team demonstrates this by showing they are stewards over their community and God’s creation.
Building Relationships through Children’s Ministry: Because of the L’viv church plant, Marta and Juliette are hearing Bible stories and the gospel at an early age.