Everyone is different. Some people have big noses, other people have small ones. Some people like to sing. Some can't live without books and others can't give up TV. But there is one common enjoyment that unites all of humanity - food. It's not easy to find someone who will refuse a tasty dinner. Especially if that dinner was prepared by a professional chef from an elite Kiev restaurant. Recently just such a master of the culinary arts, Vyacheslav Tsimbal, conducted a cooking lesson for the women of Salvation Church.

 

Christmas is a wonderful winter holiday when people gather as families, visit friends and enjoy seasonal traditions. For many this day is associated with the atmosphere of home, comfort and fun. On Christmas some visit godparents, some set a table with twelve courses, and some, following our Ukrainian tradition, greet their neighbors with Christmas songs (and get sweets as a reward).  Some are glad to have an extra day off and some are just glad to have another opportunity to eat and drink…

 An Inter-church women’s meeting was held on January 15, 2011. The event, which was titled "For Sisters Only", focused on the theme: "Our unity in Christ." The purpose of the meeting was to help women to look into their own hearts and to realize their need for one another. The organizers of the meeting showed examples of all sorts of difficult situations in our daily lives and explained how to find wise solutions using Scripture. In spite of bad weather and busy schedules there were 33 women present representing 10 churches.

There was a working meeting of the prison ministry team on January 3. It was the first meeting of the new year! At this meeting the agenda included plans for ministry, the vision guiding the work with prisoners, and a schedule for visiting three prisons. Praise God that the number of people who want to be involved in prison ministry is growing. We need prayer for every brother and sister on the team that the Lord will give them complete dedication to serve and a spirit of unity.

In December last year Salvation church held a day of fasting and prayer. For the third consecutive quarter, we came together to seek God's face.

It is good that ministry leaders are increasingly aware that it is important for the congregation to come together in prayer. The success of the church will never be guaranteed by the number of ministries it organizes. Only God's direct assistance and fatherly blessing will bring the results we all desire. No matter how many "good" programs we develop - if they were not given from above - then the kingdom of God will not grow. (Ps.126: 1) This is the idea we emphasized during the ministry leaders' prayer meeting.

This Sunday Salvation Church had an excellent opportunity to combine business with pleasure. Continuing the Christmas celebration, members of Salvation Church decided to host a Christmas Fair and to contribute the proceeds to the repair of the church in Dnipropetrovsk that was destroyed by fire.

Representatives of each small group of Salvation Church had a good opportunity to showcase their culinary and creative skills. The idea to host a church fair inspired everyone. Everyone involved was focused on serving their neighbors at the fair.

It seemed that each charming housewife had taken this opportunity to let her imagination take flight and realize her secret culinary dreams! There were lots of treats: pancakes, different types of pastries, sandwiches and more. And it was impossible to count all the sweets!

Christmas is a holiday for everyone! Those who have met the Lord as Personal Savior cannot keep silent about Him, especially at this time of year! So, late in the evening on December 6, one of the small groups of Salvation Church went on a missionary trip to Chutovo to tell the residents about the Birth of the Savior.

The Christmas celebration has already started! It was a special event for children and adults when a team from two Poltava churches: Salvation Church and Born Again Church, came to Chutovo on December 26. They hosted a Christmas party and a Christian puppet show!

On December 18, 2010 in the city of Kremenchug there was a conference for married couples. The theme of the conference was: "Communication - the first secret of a happy marriage." I think that by the end of the conference everyone agreed with this, but more on that later. The couples who attended were not only from Kremenchug, but also from Komsomolsk, Cherkassy, Kirovograd and Svetlovodsk.

Good News Clubs are one of the most important areas of ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship. A Good News Club is a regular class (once per week) for children from unbelieving families. We organize these clubs to introduce children to Christ, to help and support them in their faith, and to invite the children and their parents to church. During the course of our work in child evangelism God has provided a variety of locations for these groups: activity rooms in community centers, offices, hospitals, orphanages, rehabilitation centers, dormitories and even private homes and apartments.