Missionaries return after five years of nurturing churches in Ukraine
PHOTO PROVIDED
Back from Ukraine - Bret and Alicia White with their daughters.
Back from Ukraine - Bret and Alicia White with their daughters.
Brett and Alicia White didn’t move to Ukraine to plant churches.
Rather, the young couple — newlyweds when they arrived in 2006 — consider themselves “second-generation mission workers,” Brett White said.
For five years, they helped nurture young churches planted in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Whites, who recently returned to the U.S. with their two daughters, lived in the capital, Kiev, the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, near the Russian border, and Ternopil, in western Ukraine.
Brett, a native of Valdosta, Ga., and Alicia, from Hurricane, W.Va., met while serving victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Both volunteered with the Tammany Oaks Church of Christ in Mandeville, La., as the congregation served victims of the catastrophic storm in the New Orleans area.
The couple moved to Ukraine under the oversight of Ukraine Mission Work, a ministry of the Westworth Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas. After language training in Kiev, they worked with a congregation in Sumy, born out of an evangelistic campaign by Churches of Christ in 1993.
In Ternopil, the Whites worked with a congregation launched by Stephen Epi Bilak, a native Ukrainian. The Minter Lane Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, supports the work in Ternopil.
“We were so blessed to be partners with two amazing support groups from American churches and countless Ukrainian Christians and congregations,” Brett White said. “Even though our bodies are back in America, a part of us will always be in Ukraine.”
MORE INFORMATION: ukrainemissionwork.com
Rather, the young couple — newlyweds when they arrived in 2006 — consider themselves “second-generation mission workers,” Brett White said.
For five years, they helped nurture young churches planted in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Whites, who recently returned to the U.S. with their two daughters, lived in the capital, Kiev, the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, near the Russian border, and Ternopil, in western Ukraine.
Brett, a native of Valdosta, Ga., and Alicia, from Hurricane, W.Va., met while serving victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Both volunteered with the Tammany Oaks Church of Christ in Mandeville, La., as the congregation served victims of the catastrophic storm in the New Orleans area.
The couple moved to Ukraine under the oversight of Ukraine Mission Work, a ministry of the Westworth Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas. After language training in Kiev, they worked with a congregation in Sumy, born out of an evangelistic campaign by Churches of Christ in 1993.
In Ternopil, the Whites worked with a congregation launched by Stephen Epi Bilak, a native Ukrainian. The Minter Lane Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, supports the work in Ternopil.
“We were so blessed to be partners with two amazing support groups from American churches and countless Ukrainian Christians and congregations,” Brett White said. “Even though our bodies are back in America, a part of us will always be in Ukraine.”
MORE INFORMATION: ukrainemissionwork.com
From the March 2012 Print Edition.
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I appriciate your 5 years long efforts for the Lord and His Church in Ukraine. Church of Christ Tubadu is saluting you all. God bless you all. If you have any planns to come to India, here is our warm welcome to India. we will host you in Christ. There are somany places remained to campaign for the Holy truth and Word. We are praying for the encouragements and back-up Please let us know.
Thank you,
Yours brother in Christ,
TJ
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TJ Church of Christ - TUBADU Guntur, Andhra Pradesh - India February 9, 2012 |
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