Ministry in Lutsk

As if the New Year’s celebration and a wedding were not enough, UMO started off with a bang as well. I traveled to Lutsk in December to meet with Roman Brystook (pastor of Fimiam Church), Dr. Kobis (head of the Christian Medical Association in Lutsk) and Tetyana Vihovska (director of the new children’s rehabilition center) to begin planning for the joint Caring Partners and UMO mission trip this October. Much to my surprise, members of the Volyn University Department of Psychology arrived to ask if I would speak at the 3rd International Conference Regarding Care of Children with Disabilities. The conference would be only one day. They asked me to speak about the multi-disciplinary approach to the care of children and the role of the church. With such a topic at their request how could I refuse, even if it were short notice.

Despite challenges in transportation to and from Lutsk, as well as finding lodging for two nights for four people, everything came together at the last minute. Cheryl Nemazie, visiting from the USA to photograph the wedding, Maya, our translator, Marianna and I boarded a marshrootka (mini-bus) for the five hour drive to Lutsk. We were greeted in Lutsk by Kimberly Ward, a YWAM missionary, who helped so much during the first CPI/UMO mission trip in October 2006. She agreed to house all four of us for two nights. Laura Moore, a missionary with Send International also agreed to help us. What gracious hostesses and a great example of the body of Christ working together.

The next day we attended the conference. Approximately 140 teachers and psychologists were present. I was one of the six speakers in the plenary session in the morning. The challenge was how to do justice to this topic in 15 minutes. I taught that the principles which served as the foundation of the care of all children were Biblical, including the dignity of man made in the image of God, why we have illness because of the fall of man and man’s purpose to serve God by serving one another. I then reviewed the American Academy of Pediatrics policy on the care of children with disabilities.

During the breakout sessions in the afternoon, there were lots of good discussions on how to improve care for children. I was able to elaborate on the principles taught earlier and encourage the group to give love and attention to the children and honesty to the parents regarding their children’s care. God was really moving in the hearts of those in attendance. One woman held up her Bible and said we needed to put into practice more the care for people we are taught by the example of Christ. Another talked about how initially she did not want to teach these kids, but found out she learned so much from them. I was greatly encouraged. One teacher asked me to return to speak to her high school class about careers in medicine.

This was supposed to be a practical conference but most of the speakers talked about statistics, why there is a problem, and the need to find solutions since the number of these children are increasing. There seems to be a disconnect between recognition of problems and their ability to develop solutions. Part of this is secondary to the lack of teachers with sufficient experience and knowledge to teach new methods and develop programs in conjunction with the government. In October UMO and CPI hope to address this through mentoring small groups by a team of physicians, speech therapists, physical therapists and special education teachers.

The next day I met with Pastor Roman at Fimiam Church along with Sergi and Natasha Bolchook. Natasha was in a car accident that left her with hemiplegia. This beautiful Christian couple minister to the disabled in the Lutsk region and lead the development of an outpatient rehabilitation facility at the Church. Recently they have also begun to partner with Joni and Friends Ministries.

We continue to pray for God to cause the seeds planted amongst the health care providers to begin to sprout and that the Gospel will transform the culture of medicine and the care of patients in Ukraine.

The Healing Ministry

Physicians are called to care for the sick.  Some physicians claim to heal the sick.  John Stott offers some insight and puts into proper perspective the ministry of healing in his daily devotional, Through the Bible, Through the Year.

“The gospel writers describe Jesus’s ministry as threefold: teaching, preaching, and healing.  Teaching and preaching are not hard to grasp or to imitate, but how are we to understand the ministry of healing?

Perhaps the place to begin is to affirm the goodness of God’s creation.  that is to say, disease was no part of God’s original intention for the world, and it will be no part of his ultimate purpose either.   In the new universe there will be neither sickness nor pain nor death nor tears (Rev. 21:4).  Since, then, disease and death are alien intrusions into God’s good world, doctors and nurses are reight to wage war against them.  Moreover, all healing is divine healing, since God has put into the human body remarkable therapeutic processes.  For example, no sooner has an infection appeared then antibodies are created to fight it.  It is this conviction that led Ambroise Pare, the Huguenot physician, to say, “I dressed the wound, but God healed.”  The words are inscribed on a wall of the Ecole de Medicine in Paris.

The Gospels make it plain, however, that the healing ministry of Jesus belonged to a different order.  Like changing water into wine, multiplying loaves and fishes, and walking on water, Jesus’s healings were supernatural demonstrations of the kingdom of God.

In trying to understand them, we will be wise to avoid opposite extremes.  On the one hand, it would be absurd to put the creator in a straightjacket and declare that miracles can’t and don’t happen.  On the other hand, we have no liberty to say (as some do) that performing miracles is the normal Christian life.  for however we define miracles, they certainly belong not to the normal but to the abnormal.  If we claim to be able to heal the sick like Jesus, we need to remember tht he healed without the use of medical or surgical means, without delay, degree, or remission, but immediately, completely, and permanently, and that even hostile eyewitnesses said, “We cannot deny it” (Acts 4:16).”

Reflections on Weddings

There may be many ways to know if you are a successful missionary, but maybe the first test would be your own children.  Marianna and I have always considered our three children our first and most important mission field.  God works in and through us.  We reflect God’s glory to them and then one day they actively assume the same role.

Just as we pray for God to raise up believers in the country we serve, so Marianna and I  have been praying for God to raise up believing spouses for our children.  He indeed has been faithful to us in every area providing an incredible wife for our son and now a husband for one of our daughters.

After the wedding of our son I felt a milestone had been passed, but we still had our daughter living at home.   As I looked back on my journal entry of that day August 13, 2005 I was reading 1st Chronicles Chapter 8.  No less than four times scripture talks about sons who were heads of their father’s houses and ends with sons who were mighty men of valor.  My thoughts turned to our son and I prayed that he would be such a man.

On that day I wrote the following: Today God is allowing a new family to begin, may God bless them directly and in proportion to their knowledge and obedience to Him.  May Jamie become the head of his home and always take into consideration the thoughts and suggestions of Dasha.  May Dasha truly love and cherish Jamie as he provides for her.  May they both strive to serve God and in so doing serve and love one another.

Now almost two and a half years later, our daughter Jeanne got married one week ago.  I could pray that same prayer for her and Kolya.  Interestingly my daily reading of the scripture has carried me to almost the same location in 1st Chronicles, but now chapter six.

 The beginning of Chronicles contains many genealogies of the families that formed the nation of Israel.  I am struck by the faithfulness of God through many generations and His design to have a purpose for each of these families.  As friends gathered from two different families to celebrate the beginning of a new family, I begin to recall the role God has given to the many people in each of the lives of this young couple which God used to devel0p their character and make Kolya and Jeanne more like Christ.

Certainly when they were born did any of the parents suspect their children would be marrying someone from another country.  I am grateful to God for using Kolya’s parents, teachers, friends to mold his character so that he will be the head of his household and a mighty man of valor for God.  We are thankful for all of our friends, pastors, teachers and the congregation of  our church in helping us raise our children to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Weddings are a celebration of all these things.  The ceremony was for Kolya and Jeanne.  The celebration is for all of us as we give glory to God for what He has done and brought together remembering the small role God gave us in the process.  He indeed is faithful.  May we rejoice and be glad for the great things He has done.