Listen to Ukrainians discuss the L'viv church plant in the videos below
A Vision Generated by Ukrainian Nationals
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine 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 and the world. This is the vision of the national Ukrainian Presbyterian Church.
A Word From Ukrainians
"In our city, L’viv people always associate church with a permanent building. If people gather somewhere that doesn’t look like legitimate church, it makes people think that we are a sect, or even an illegal group of people. The lack of a permanent building doesn’t prevent us from telling other people about our church. But if we had a building we would feel more comfortable answering their questions. We could more easily invite friends and neighbors to our own building. A permanent church building will make our church more credible in their eyes." - Taras (L'viv Church member)
"A permanent church building will greatly help our church. There is a tradition in the culture of Ukraine – if there is church there should be a building. It’s very hard to change this stereotype among people. It’s not easy to explain to them that a church is a gathering of believers not a building. If I tell someone that we gather in a building in the park, that person will not take our church seriously." - Roman (L'viv Church member)
"It is challenging to talk about our church within the Ukrainian community. The Ukrainian mentality is that a church without it`s own building is probably a sect or something similar." - Marysia (L'viv Church regular attender)
"In L’viv it’s very important for the church to have a permanent building. People are very skeptical when they are invited to the church and they arrive to a random building in the park. Also, having a building would give us a place for kid's ministry, children's events, Bible studies, conferences and Presbytery meetings." - Sergiy (L'viv Church member)
"In Lviv (and in Ukraine in general) when you talk about Church, at first you mean a building which looks like a church. It`s really hard to explain to people that you go to a church service at a building in the middle of the park. We need our own building to help us grow in numbers." - Khrystya (L'viv Church member)
"In L'viv, a Church that has it`s own building is accepted more seriously and less like a sect." - Nastya (L'viv Church member)
Building Relationships through Children’s Ministry: Because of the L’viv church plant, children are hearing Bible stories and the gospel at an early age.
Building relationships through family ministry. Parents and children alike can hear the Gospel together and grow in their faith.
Building relationships through women's ministries. Bible studies and women's events have helped grow the fellowship and community within the L'viv Church.
Building relationships through university ministries. L'viv is home to over 100,000 university students.