Letters from Kyiv, Week Three
“The enemy wants to kill pastors, destroy lives and wipe out ministries off the records completely. But they forget that the Church is not a building – it is the people.” — Tim Vashchyshyn, Pastor, Kyiv, Ukraine
On the morning Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, International Christian Assembly Kyiv had nearly 180 people attending Sunday services.
Within days, 175 of them were gone.
Students, expats, and international workers fled the country overnight. A handful of members remained. And Tim was left to ask a question that would define his ministry: Now what?
I Assumed He Was an American
I first met Tim when he was a seminary student in Belgium. When I heard him speak I assumed he was an American — his English was that good.
He’s not.
Tim was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. His grandmother is American and lives in Florida, which explains the accent — but Ukraine is his home and always has been. After graduating, he returned to serve the Lord there.
“For Such a Time as This”
When the war started, Tim could have left as others did. But he knew that the war didn’t change his calling.
“When the invasion revealed a gaping hole within Christian circles here, I realized that this was still my calling,” he said. “People needed a place where they could come to worship and hear the Good News.”
So, he stayed. And slowly, the church began to rebuild.
Today, 80 people gather each week at ICA Kyiv. Some Sundays begin with the hum of a generator. Others start without heat or water. But every Sunday starts with a community that has chosen to stay.
“God Has Given Us Broken People, Hurt People.”
The people who find their way to ICA Kyiv are not casual churchgoers. They are people broken by war, displaced by conflict, or searching for something solid in a world that keeps shifting beneath their feet.
“God has given us broken people, hurt people, those who have lost their way in life,” Tim said. “And we have this privilege of restoring them back to where they lost sight of Christ.”
Then there are the occasional visitors — like the man who came to Kyiv on vacation.
In the middle of a war zone.
“He came to have a good time,” Tim said, “but left with the answer God gave him.” His own words: ‘I was running away from problems but then ran into God’s calling for my life.'”
Persecuted, Yet Unstoppable
This is the Church Tim pastors: a community that keeps showing up despite every reason not to.
“The enemy targets churches because we serve only one King,” Tim said. “They want to kill the shepherd and scatter the sheep. But they will never be able to destroy those who answer to a higher authority.”
“We are truly living out the reality of the first-century Church described in the Book of Acts — persecuted, yet unstoppable.”
Revival in the Rubble
This July, Tim and I and other leaders will be together in Germany loving on 70 Ukrainian teenagers (plus 70 other European teens) who desperately need a week of hope. And then we minister at a camp in Belgium for young adults.
After the camps conclude, we are giving Tim and his young family a few days of rest in Belgium — so that a man who gives everything can be poured back into before he returns to give again.
And because of friends like you, we can be there for both.
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