Page 8 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians Jan-Mar-2024-125

‘Just
knowing
he’s alive
is enough’
‘I was interrogated every day for three
or four hours. They accused me of
what I could call “normal” things – like
receiving money from another country.
I said, “That’s not illegal.” They
said, “It is in Russia.” I said, “We’re
not in Russia!” They said, “We hate
Americans, evangelicals and Nazis –
and you are all three!”’
Dmitry spent a total of eight days in
prison, in appalling conditions. ‘Every
time they took me for interrogation
they put a bag back over my head and
dragged me through the corridors.
Every day I thought it could be the last
day of my life.’
‘I had no fear. It was
supernatural’
Although he could hear screams
when other prisoners were being
interrogated, Dmitry said the Lord
gave him a peace in his heart during
his time in custody. ‘I had no fear. It
was supernatural. I began witnessing
to them and talked about the Bible
to them. I had a sleeping bag and a
Bible. They said they had watched
my sermons online. I said, “Good, let’s
talk!”’
The Russians eventually took over
Protestant churches in the city. ‘We
had some large church buildings. They
took all the crosses from the buildings,’
he said. ‘The Russian soldiers came
to worship services and stopped the
services and took fingerprints of
everyone in the congregation. Then
they took the building. Our former
church is now a police department.’
After his arrest Christians were
praying for him and Dmitry says those
prayers were answered with a miracle
when he was released. However, the
secret police continued coming to his
home and so, for his family’s safety,
he made the decision to flee the
country. ‘When they released me from
the prison they wanted information
on everyone in the church; how they
live. They wanted me to bring sermons
to them before I preach so they could
assess them,’ he said. Instead, he and
his family took a journey through
the Crimea to Russia and then to the
Baltic states before arriving in Poland,
where he now lives, working with
refugees from Ukraine and Belarus.
‘There are a lot of problems for
Christians in Belarus as well, although
you don’t hear about that so much,’ he
said.
From Poland Dmitry now serves and
supports an underground network of
churches in Melitopol where he once
lived and pastored. ‘We are trying
to take care of those people. We have
some ministers in those territories
who are working with people who are
still there. There is a teenage ministry
there; and we are seeing teenagers
coming to the Lord. We have a number
of homegroups operating: we have
about 120 people in Melitopol, meeting
in homes.’
Despite the number of times in his life
Dmitry has had to flee and restart life,
he says he is not angry. ‘I’m still happy!
I’m not worrying. I am still living. But
the reality is people are dying every
day. The war is not finished. I have
friends who have lost children. I know
several pastors whose sons are dead.
We bury a lot of people in Ukraine.’
Dmitry regularly visits Ukraine
from Poland and continues to be
passionate about seeing people won
for Christ and discipled. ‘I have been
working with pastors from different
denominations. We need to re-evaluate
our doctrine and what we are teaching.
When I first had to leave because of
the communists the church carried on
because we had structures in place. You
need to be intentional about building
a culture in the church; a culture of
the kingdom and of the body of Christ.
We are thinking about what we are
supposed to be doing in the next
five years. Now is a good time to be
building. The church is not to wait until
the war is over; that will be too late.
‘If people are to be changed they need
Christ. Only Christ can change the
problem. Until the end we will have
more problems – and then Jesus will
come. In the meantime we change a
nation by changing a person – one by
one. Our goal is not the nation; it is
people.’
In Melitopol there were numerous protests against the Russian invasion. Stock image
8 8
How to pray for
Ukrainian Christians
•
 Pray for Pastor Dmitry’s safety as
he continues to visit Ukraine from
Poland
•
 Pray for strategic teaching and
training of Christians in Ukraine
•
 Pray God will use the present
conflict to bring many more
people to saving faith in Christ
•
 Pray for the counselling ministry
to Ukrainian Christians affected by
the war
•
 Pray for the frontline workers,
who continue to preach the
gospel and disciple Christians in
dangerous situations