My wife, Jeannette and I were born and grew up in the Netherlands. As a young businessman and newly married, Jeannette and I immigrated to Melbourne, Australia where we made our home, raised three children and built a thriving automotive business. Being active believers in the Lordship of Christ, we were ready to serve others with the blessings we had received.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, God gave me a burden to help bring the Gospel in person to the Russian people.  Our church leadership came behind us and supported our call.

I had heard about The Bridge Int’l, so in 1997, I visited their Dutch office in Amsterdam. Connections were made, and I was hired to serve as head of the Bridge Bible School in St. Petersburg, Russia while overseeing some of the young churches planted by the graduates from the school.   In December, 1997, I moved with my family to Russia where we spent two years in St. Petersburg. At the end of 1999, we were called back to Australia. We did not want to leave, but there was absolutely no doubt that God had called us home. We  were sad, but we obeyed.

Back home, we are part of a thriving local church, Care Force Church, Mt. Evelyn, which has a clear vision for world missions. Our leaders were happy at our homecoming and asked us to serve in India, where our church already had a very large church planting mission. We loved it, but the love and burden for the Russian  people were still in our hearts and prayers.

In 2001 God showed me a vision: A large map of the whole former Soviet Union while a finger appeared and drew a big circle on the map. All five …stan countries of Central Asia and a very large chunk of Russia were in this circle. Our church blessed us to return and pioneer something very new: A healing ministry based on the work of our senior pastor at the time.  See:  https://www.careforcelifekeys.org/default.as

We translated the programs and started training Facilitators in seven countries, Russia being the main one. The word spread fast, so in 2004 we were approached by Ukraine. A major Evangelical Seminary in Kyiv soon after made the course a subject for three of their Bachelor classes.

Since 1997 and Ukraine since 2004, till the end of 2019, we have been traveling every year on short term ministry trips to Russia while teaching and training church leaders and believers. Then, Covid-19 hit the world; Australia locked its borders. It shut down our travels abroad for two years which brings us to the present.

We are blessed to know and love so many Russians and Ukrainians across those two vast countries through our network of personal relationships which is a great tool in our current effort to help the victims of war from Ukraine.  Right now, we are busy working on bringing several Ukrainian refugee families to Australia to stay with us to help them with a new start.

RUSSIANS AND UKRAINIANS — HOW HISTORY HAS SHAPED THEM DIFFERENTLY

Before year 1000, neither Russia nor Ukraine existed.  Ukraine’s capitol, Kyiv (Kiev in English), however has a longer, rich, and often stormy history.  There is archeologic evidence that various tribes and peoples have lived in that region since before time immemorial.  The officially recognized year of the establishment of Kyiv as a city was in 487, so the Ukrainians celebrated its 1500 anniversary in 1982. Moscow was founded in 1147, 660 years later!  Kyiv, located on the Dnieper River was an important stop on the trade routes by Slavic tribes and also for the Vikings who traded all the way south to Constantinople, as well as a connection point East-West via the Silk Road.

In 988, Vladimir of the Kingdom of Rus, a prince of Viking origin, having converted to the Christian faith, baptized the whole nation and established the Orthodox Church in Kyiv.  By the 12th century Kyiv’s wealth and religious importance was demonstrated by its more than 400 churches, some of them are still beautifying the city by their craftmanship and splendor.

In the mid-1200, the Mongols invaded Moscow and Kyiv and destroyed them both by fire. Throughout the next centuries there were numerous wars and struggles for power between princes — Lithuanians, Prussians, Poles, Ottomans and Russians.  In 1326, Russia moved the seat and Patriarchy of the Orthodox Church from Kyiv to Moscow, which after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, was named the Third Rome.

In 1547, Ivan the Terrible was the first proclaimed ”Czar and grand prince of all Russia.” Through marriage, he marked the beginning of the Romanov Dynasty which lasted till the end of World War I, when the last Czar Nicholas II abdicated and subsequently was killed by the revolutionary Bolsheviks.  From 1917 till 1922 civil war broke out in the Russian Empire, commonly known as the Russian Revolution which ended with the formation of the Marxist communist based Soviet Union, consisting of 12 republics, including Ukraine

From 1930-32, Stalin aggressively pursued collectivization of the rich farmland of Ukraine.  When the farmers resisted, the Soviet Union caused the death of 5 million peasants by starvation (Holodomor). It is today recognized as purposeful genocide.

Less than 20 years later, Hitler invaded Ukraine. This was seen as an opportunity by Ukrainians to break away from the yoke of the Soviet Union, so many sided with Hitler.  But, in 1943-44 Stalin returned with his army and subjugated them, again. Many Ukrainians were shot, being suspected of  working for Germany. Stalin never forgave Ukraine for breaking loyalty to the “motherland” which made him inflict much suffering on the people. 

In 1940, the three Baltic States were annexed, totaling 15 Soviet republics.  Nikita Khrushchev, a native born Ukrainian, followed Stalin. In 1954, he annexed Crimea from the Russian into the Ukrainian Republic of the Soviet Union. All these conflicts and wars caused many changes and shifting of boundaries, especially to the borders of Ukraine and shaped culture, language and the Russian and Ukrainian peoples very differently.

Generally speaking, Russians are very fatalistic in their thinking. Ukrainians are go getters. Most successful ministries we have seen in Russia were started and/or are run by Ukrainians or Belarussians. Why: One of the advertising slogans of LifeKeys is: “Life can be better!” An average Russian will respond to that: “No life has always been bad, it is bad now and it will always be bad.”  Say the same to a Ukrainian and the response will be something like: “O yeah? Show me how!” This will affect the way they read the Bible, the way they respond to tragedy, the way they respond to Grace, the way they see God as Father, also how they respond to propaganda.

We experienced this first hand in 1999. Our family lived with the Bridge Bible school students in a large home in the outskirts of  St. Petersburg. The war was raging in the Balkans. One day the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade Serbia was bombed by NATO forces. Serbia of course was a staunch ally of Russia at the time. All the students watched the Russian TV report after dinner, which was brought in the old Soviet war propaganda style.  In an instant, the spiritual atmosphere at the school changed. The Russian students, including our interpreter, became instantly fatalistic about what this event would mean for life and became very downcast.  The three Belarussian students took it very differently. They did not become downcast but rather tried to encourage the Russians.   It took two weeks to get back to our normal daily routine.

Putin has expressed that the collapse of the Soviet Union is one of the biggest disasters in history! This view is not shared by the other 14 republics, definitely not Ukraine.

We have hundreds of great ministry friends in Russia as well as in Ukraine. We find that, since 2014, it has been nearly impossible to talk with many of our Russian friends about the Ukrainian situation as they are ignorant about the reality on the ground in the country. The reason is that factual news in Russia are carefully controlled and being blocked by the government in favor of their propaganda and disinformation.

Many Russians living in Ukraine are unable to convey to their relatives  back in their homeland that there even is a war Ukraine—they are simply not being believed!  The general consensus by the public in Russia is that Putin’s invasion is a “Geopolitical Problem”, and with that, totally ignoring the loss of life and the suffering of the people, due to a war that was started by Russia (in my opinion) in 2014.  The 2022 war is a continuation and escalation of the same conflict which now is a full scale invasion.My problem is not with the Russian people, as they are victims, as well. This is not their war, it is a war waged by Putin’s evil regime.

We are directly in touch with many of our Ukrainian friends & have received many  eyewitness statements from so many on the ground fleeing the atrocities.  The suffering is real!   Our hearts and prayers are with them. We have decided to help as many as we can.

FROM R.K.’S CORNER 

The Bridge had a large presence in Russia in the 90ties through evangelistic outreaches, Bible schools and church plantings, but we were not directly involved in Ukraine.  Last month, when Putin with his Russian war machine invaded Ukraine, I wanted to give a perspective on the situation beyond the partisan news of the mainstream media by a outsider who knows the inside.  I contacted our friend and former ministry partner in Russia, Roedie Rap from Australia. For 25 years, he and his family have been actively and broadly engaged in Bible based teaching and mentoring both in Russia and Ukraine.

To better understand the issues of the present, it is important to understand the past.  Roedie shares his testimony, gives you a brief historic account of the two nations, and then expresses his views on the present conflict.

Through Roedie’s network of relationships and contacts in Poland and Moldovia, we are able to send relief funds directly to the Ukrainian victims of war.  Please mark you donation Ukraine Relief

To give you a brief background on the Ukrainian crisis from the perspective of the Christian faith, I have reprinted in full a news article published on February 24 in Christianity Today emphasizing the positive Christian influence in the Ukrainian’s struggle for freedom against tyranny.

Oleksandr Turchynov, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, took office on Sunday, Feb. 23, as acting president after the Parliament voted to oust President Yanukovych.

The collapse of the Yanukovych regime follows three months of growing protests that exploded in last week’s violence, which claimed more than 88 lives. Many of these protests took place in the Maidan, or Independence Square in the capital city of Kiev.

At issue was Yanukovych’s decision to move Ukraine into a much closer economic and political relationship with Russia. This move triggered outrage among younger Ukrainians who wish for their nation to cast its lot with the European Union.  After the vote to oust him, Yanukovych fled Kiev and is reportedly in Crimea, an autonomous republic in southeast.  Ukraine. According to media reports, the new government has charged Yanukovych with murder and has issued a warrant for his arrest.

Monday night, February 24, in Kiev, Turchynov, 49, spoke publicly for the first time since taking office as acting president. According to an unofficial translation, he said, “Unprecedented cruelty and brutality of the dictatorial regime did not stop citizens. They selflessly gave their lives to defend their rights—and won.”

Our first task today is to stop the confrontation, to regain control to ensure peace and tranquility, to prevent new victims, local rivalries and lynching. Another priority is returning to European integration. We must return to the European family. We recognize the importance of relations with the Russian Federation, and are ready for dialogue with the Russian leadership to build relationship with this country on a new, truly equitable and good-neighborly basis, which implies Russia’s acknowledgment of Ukraine’s European choice.”

The Parliament has set new national elections for late May. Te choice of a Baptist pastor as acting president in Ukraine — which has had an Orthodox majority population for centuries — does not come as a huge surprise to Sergey Rakhuba, head of U.S.-based Russian Ministries. For years, he has been in periodic contact with Turchynov.

“He is well-known in political circles as a principled, honest leader, although he was always in the shadow of Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed prime minister who was released yesterday. “He is well-known as a preacher who, despite his political opposition work, preaches on a regular basis at one of the Baptist churches in Kiev, even though security must travel with him. Overall, the evangelical church is excited about Turchynov’s sudden unanimous appointment as acting president. Within the evangelical community, the post-Soviet mindset presupposes that a true Christian cannot necessarily be a politician. Personally I think it is great that Turchynov is calling for unification and healing of the nation.”

Reported in a substantial cover story from Ukraine about the changing role of the nation’s evangelical minority after the 2004 Orange Revolution, exploring how Eastern Europe’s most mission-oriented evangelical church was rethinking tradition and the Great Commission.i.

This is not the first time that an East European nation has turned to a Protestant to serve as president. In 1999, Macedonia selected as its president Boris Trajkovski, a lay Methodist who served the Roman community. Nationally, citizens referred to him as the “George W. Bush of Macedonia.”

Trajkovski at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. “To serve God,” he told CT, “is to be with the people and to follow Jesus’ steps.”Tragically, Trajkovski was killed in a 2004 plane crash in Bosnia. On Monday, Christianity Today was given the public statement of Valery Antonyuk, vice president of the All Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches.

A MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION

During this time of fateful change in the life of the Ukrainian nation, the Church and each Christian individually cannot remain spectators on the sidelines of the battles and losses. The Church serves society and mourns together with it. We went through difficult days together with the nation – we served through prayer, evangelism, volunteers, medical help, clothing, and food. Today a time has come for a ministry of active reconciliation, which will help maintain unity in our country and nation.

We supported the nation’s demand to put an end to the tyranny of the authorities and repressions by the police. Now it is important to restore justice and due process of law in the country, to form a government that has the people’s trust, and provide fair presidential elections. We believe that those guilty of crimes against the people will be justly judged, and that peaceful citizens will be protected.

But on behalf of the Church we must say more, speak the whole truth and say that which is still hard to accept and fulfill that, which is a precondition for a better future.

Therefore the Church calls the Ukrainian nation to more than just feelings of human justice – to Christian forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. We pray to God for repentance on behalf of the guilty. However at the same time we ask victims to forgive those who are already repentant as well as those who are still lost. In order to unite the nation, in order to reconcile its various parts, its various social, cultural, and political groups, laws and justice are not enough. Without repentance, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, the country will remain divided and in conflict. This is the basis for a deep spiritual transformation of Ukraine.

The Bible says that there is, “a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecc. 3:7-8). In accordance with these wise words, we declare today to be a time to mend, not a time to tear the nation apart; a time to seek peace, not a time to fan the flames of war; a time to learn to love yesterday’s enemies, not a time to continue to hate rivals and those who have hurt us.

We call on the Evangelical churches of Ukraine to serve to bring peace between people and healing to the wounds of war. We do not call black white and do not justify crimes or even mistakes. But we, as Christians, forgive, because we have been forgiven by God. He reconciled us to Himself, and gave us a message of reconciliation. This grace-giving Word to our whole nation should be heard from Lvov to Donetsk, from Kiev to Simferopol.

We also call upon the international Christian community asking for prayer and intercession for the Ukrainian nation and for help with peacemaking. We mourn for the victims, and thank God for His grace toward Ukraine, and pray for peace and spiritual revival in our nation. @Christianity Today

 FROM R.K.’s CORNER

In the last few months, our focus has been on the newest nation in the world, South Sudan, and our engagement with the national people and ministries we serve there. My plan for this issue was to continue this story and show how each of them in the midst of strife and armed conflict, are light-bearers of love, forgiveness, and healing in their local communities.

Then came the braking news about the crisis in the Ukraine, and I decided to prioritize this conflict which is very much in the making. This may guide you as you intercede for the Ukrainian people and the region at large. God’s ultimate purpose is that “all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth” (2. Tim 2:7).

I came across a news article from Christianity Today that brings to light the active involvement of the Evangelical believers in the Ukraine. Although constituting less than 3% of the population, they are having a major positive impact on the dynamics of the freedom movement in the country. This is particularly important in light of the most recent events: Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula, Ukraine’s significant Black Sea military port, and President Putin’s threat to enter Eastern Ukraine with military force. The uncertainty and fear of the future is an open door for the Ukrainian believers to share their faith in Jesus and demonstrate love in action (see article).

OUR BRIDGE PARTNERS HAVE REACHED OUT TO THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE IN THREE WAYS

•  In the early eighties during my tenure at the East European Mission in Germany, I traveled clandestinely from Germany with Bibles and Bible study books to the border cities of Russia — Kosice in Slovakia, Debrecen in Hungary, and Ias in Romania. We later learned that it was not Russia which was located on the other side of the border, but it was the Ukraine. The believers in those cities risked their lives in smuggling the material into the Ukraine where other dedicated believers distributed them among themselves, and brought this precious cargo further East – to Russia.

•  After the Iron Curtain fell, The Bridge helped sponsor a Bible-based leadership training school near Kiev, from which the graduates were commissioned to do church planting and mercy ministries.

•  One of our close partners, a retired New York lawyer, John Mackenzie and his wife, Mary traveled for several years to the Ukraine where John invested his life in teaching young emerging leaders at a local Bible training school.

PRAY THAT THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE WILL FIND TRUE FREEDOM AND PEACE AS THE GOSPEL PROSPERS IN THEIR NATION!

CHURCH STATISTICS IN THE UKRAINE

Protestants make from 1% to nearly 3% of the population in Ukraine, but they constitute over 25% of the church network in the country. The biggest is the Christians of Pentecostals faiths with over 2,500 churches and over 250,000 members that make several unions and also there are 1,560 Charismatic churches. There are over 2,500 Evangelical Christian Baptist uions with over 150,000 members, plus Methodists, Mennonites, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others. There is also a Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church which is one of the earliest Protestant communities in the country.  @Wikipedia