Category: Global Relief

Normal is nice. There is a sense of security, stability and safety when things around us are normal. And the 14th annual graduation ceremony at the Ukrainian Bible Institute was a significant step in returning to normal for the students and staff. Graduation is always a special event because it represents a sense of accomplishment for the students and a time family and friends gather to applaud and congratulate their loved one, but this particular event was significant in a couple of ways.  First, this graduation had been postponed for some of the students due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine and their flight to safety in Kiev. Secondly, for the staff and faculty members who gave up their homes, left behind friends and family in Donetsk, this graduation marked a new beginning in the life of UBI. For people like Natasha Maluga and Ludmilla Haleeva it meant keeping their children safe, enrolling them in new schools, setting up new homes, setting up an office and starting a “new school.” They deserve our thanks and support. Fifty-two people were present for the ceremony and dinner as eight graduates received their diplomas. Among the eight graduates was our first student to have completed the entire program via the external learning program. We have been working for several years to develop a complete program for those wishing to study God’s word but unable to attend regular classes.  Your generous response to the challenge issued by Sunset made all this possible. With your help, the Bible institute relocated from...

(reprinted from the newsletter from Jay Don and Mary Lee Rogers, director of the Ukrainian Bible Institute) Greetings from Ukraine, What a WILD and WONDERFUL week we have just completed!!  God is doing amazing things in Kiev for UBI and we are so very thankful for that. August 1st we began our 16th year in Ukraine with UBI and what a beginning we had.  Natasha had been writing us before we left Canada that we were going to have at least 10 new students which was wonderful.  With the 12 we had that would about put us to our max, considering our building space and funds for scholarships is now so limited.  But~~~ when we arrived back to Kiev, she told us the number was up to 12 and we thought whoa, that is probably more than we can handle.  Well, opening day we had 5 more wanting to come so now we have an enrollment of 29 with one more coming first of September giving us a total of 30 students!!!!  We are literally crammed in like sardines and if you don’t get to chapel early you stand or sit in the hall!!! Great problems to have but a little overwhelming on how to handle them all.  We have 16 men and 14 ladies.  With our ladies growing from 1 to 14 our ladies classes are now back in action even if we did have to push one of the men’s classes to meet in our staff’s office! Saturday, August 8th Dave Phillips and Gabe...

ON THE REOPENING OF UBI IN KIEV

After nine months, Sunset is once again equipping servants of Christ in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Bible Institute (UBI) has moved to the capital city and is receiving students to train as preachers and church leaders. UBI is again reaching out with the gospel and blessing the lives of those who are in need physically and spiritually.  All of this is possible because you allowed God to work through you to meet a pressing need.

$25,000 Matching Grant Allows You to Double Your Gift Read the latest on the work in Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainian Christians have become refugees, among them, the faculty, staff and students of Ukrainian Bible Institute. UBI Dean, Jay Don Rogers, and his staff are leading a huge relief effort, which includes resettling the preacher training school students and faculty from the war zone of Donetsk to Kiev. For months separatists have been in control of eastern Ukraine and that, according to Vincent Cochetel (Director of the UN refugee agency’s European bureau) has displaced more than a million people. The war refugees have scattered across the country and some have gone to live in Russia. They leave their homes, their work and sometimes their families behind.  They arrive at refugee camps and church doorsteps with very little besides great need. Our brethren in various regions of the country are trying to help to the very best of their ability but the needs go far beyond their resources. They have appealed to all of us for aid and Sunset will do all that we can to help. We are dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance for those who have been displaced by the war in the east and also to meeting the spiritual needs of those who may be more open to the gospel than at any other point in their life.   The relief effort of Sunset and UBI has been given a matching grant of $25,000 from a donor who is challenging others to match his gift....