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Andrey Kuharenko Serving in Eastern Russia with Slavic Gospel Association Hartford Bible's newest Missionary! |
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Current Update
Kuharenko, Andrey Ministry report July-September 2019
Our heart greetings to you and gratitude for your part in our ministry in the Far East of Russia! Our family is together again. Olga and Olivia are back from the Ukraine. All together we participated in the summer ministries. Older children, Sophi and Teresa, already started school classes. Please, pray for Sophie; she had to have a surgery in Khabarovsk. In the summer we managed to visit Primorye and participated there in ministry of local churches. We had some rest as well. God blessed our trip. We came back home to Vanino with our new friend and defender – Berger Blanc Suisse— Luna. Our friends made this gift to our children. Thank you for your prayers, we need them.
We have ministry news as well. I’d like to share three of them. In July, I continued attending the nursing home in Oktyabrskiy on Thursdays. Their administration is very good to us. We weekly go there and read the Bible. Now two people, Aleksey and Nikolay, want to be baptized. Together with the pastor we visited them and took them to the preparatory classes in the church. There is news in the life of Aleksandr Kukushkin. We already finished 10 chapters of Mathew. He is surely moving forward more and more in getting to know God. He has good changes in life too. His son Ruslan allows him to see his granddaughter Vika. Also his ex-wife, Lena, now writes and calls him. Lena is a widow and she lives in Kamchatka. In July she visited her son and they together decided to send a parcel to Aleksandr from Moscow area. For the first time they had a videocall from my phone. Aleksandr was in the church that day. For the first time for 30 years they cried and asked for forgiveness. Lena and Ruslan sent a parcel to Aleksandr through me. I was glad to serve this family. Lena attends a church in Kamchatka and she asked us to send her a book of Psalms. Together with Aleksandr we decided to send her a Bible and a book of Psalms as a gift! Praise God!
In August in the church building we organized a 3-day children's summer camp for nonbelievers. My family, a team from Khabarovsk, with the help of Vanino believers, served all week for the Lord. God blessed us with good weather and we had more than 40 children. Only five children were from families of believers. All others were invited from the street. The center of our meetings were Bible lessons. Many children heard of Christ in those days. Many prayed in groups. The Word was sowed in hearts of children.
In September we celebrated the Harvest in the church. We had guests. One young family who hadn’t shown up for a long time, came this time with three children. Darina has a new baby boy. They decided to bring the child for a blessing prayer to the church. We especially were happy that the nursing home administration allowed us to bring 4 men to the church service: Nikolay, Gennadiy, Kolya, and Aleksey. And for Aleksandr they even paid a taxi to take him to the church. Aleksandr read two poems, one about the Cross and another about fruit. As a church we congratulated Gennadiy on his 80th jubilee. We had good time for good testimony. Everyone heard and received the truths about God’s harvest, the church prayed. We are very grateful to God to serve to Him together with you. May the Lord bless you!
01.10.2019 Andrey Kuharenko
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Personal Testimony
Personal testimony
I was born in a usual nonbelieving family in the Ukraine. My father was a worker and my mother was an employee, my sister was older than I, we had a very simple and modest life, very rarely somebody talked about God in our home. When father talked about God- he did it with mockery toward his relatives in Moscow, parents called them sectarians. There was a Bible in our home, a gift from relatives-believers, each Christmas they also send us a parcel with food. The Bible was put on the shelf with other books, but nobody ever opened it. My father didn’t take it seriously and didn’t believe in God. I also grew up with understanding that believers were very small- minded, uneducated people. I finished the school well and graduated from the university, got married to my beloved girl, family, three daughters, apartment, car, job, business and vanity. I was 34, I didn’t view myself as a sinner, but thoughts of life meaning, of God, didn’t let me be sure that I was living correctly. I knew that there was God and I needed to contemplate the question. I read many books of eastern thoughts, mysticism, esoterica and development of awareness, belles-lettres about divine things. I didn’t view Bible as an important source. It continued before I started reading books of an orthodox priest- Aleksandr Myen’. I was astonished that a believer could be so educated, in his books he revealed the personality of Jesus Christ—Son of Man. I began reading New Testament, didn’t understand much but view myself an Orthodox. Though Orthodoxy didn’t answer my questions about meaning of my existence, it gave me morals- but not the fellowship with God.
In those days I travelled a lot around the Ukraine because of my job, I noticed that God was sending believers on my way. In one of my trips on the train I met an old lady of evangelical faith, she witnessed about Christ and her favorite Isaiah book from the Bible. I felt ashamed that I didn’t know much about it, but I didn’t show it. Later I met her again and she presented me a book “Peace with God” by Billy Graham. That business trip to Rovno city became a special one in my life. Words from Bible, words from the book- touched my heart and my mind. I realized that I lived a life against the Holy God, I thought I was a good man- lived my way, but God loved me, He hated sin, and He was looking for peace with a sinner. Right there in the room I repented, accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and the Lord, I now knew that Jesus was not only a Son of Man but also the One who gives reconciliation with the Heavenly Father. That fall evening of 2004 I received peace in my heart and knew the truth, I found the way to God. Today I understand, that it was not me, but God and His love Who found me. The gospel, God’s grace and mercy reached me, a sinner. That day my life changed. I knew Jesus Christ and I believed in Him, my understanding and my behavior started to change. I began reading Scripture, thinking about my position in God, my predestination, searching for Christian literature and meeting believers.
With time I understood that believer needed to go to church. It took me almost a year to find a church in my city, a church that preached God’s Word. In 2005 I came to church with my wife, we were always together. In the summer of 2006 I was baptized. I searched and found my relatives-believers who prayed for me and my family, my brothers and sisters. Praise our Lord Jesus Christ!
Andrey Kuharenko
Testimony of my church ministry and call
When I came to church in 2005 right away I made a decision to serve Christ. Of course, first there was a long growing period in knowing faith basics, it went along with shocks and harmonizing my family, job and relations with God’s Word. It was the process of building the bases for serving Christ and other people. Forgiveness, humility, obedience and devotion were coming to my life and ministry. I started my ministry with sharing my testimony and participating in prayer meetings in the church, then the Lord gave me opportunity to do counseling for individuals and families in evangelical churches.
In 2008 my family and I came to the Baptist church in Novomoskovsk through the bishop of the regional Baptist Union. We became church members in 2009 and right away started participating in ministries. We served in a new under-construction Baptist church near our house. We sang in a choir, helped in all church events, attended Bible Study groups. The presbyter asked me to prepare a small sermon for a prayer meeting during a week. It was a new and very responsible step for me. At once I felt responsibility for my words said from the pulpit. Brothers supported me, I began to preach more often and on Sunday services too. I got a desire to study and get spiritual education. In 2013 I entered pastor’s faculty at Irpensk Bible Seminary, near Kiev. I studied four years. Between sessions I started to lead groups and evening Bible study service on Sundays in the local church. Last two years I’ve been helping the pastor in ministry in villages. I lead two Bible study groups on Wednesdays, preached at Sunday services, lead a group to prepare people for baptism, helped during Communions, together with the pastor we did Christian children summer camps, visited sick people from the church and etc. In my church I continued to lead evening Sunday services, and started a group for emigrants-nonbelievers from Donbass. Once a week I came to the hostel and we read Bible. In summer of 2017, I graduated from the seminary as a Bachelor of Biblical education, I had plans to continue my study in the seminary.
I prayed for my future ministry. Suddenly, through the sermon of seminary’s partners, I heard God’s call to minister in the Far East of Russia. The word touched me and I started to pray about it. During next year through different circumstances, new meetings and fellowships with brothers from my region and Russian Baptist Union, I saw that the Lord was opening an opportunity of a new ministry to my family. Even the embassy gave me permission to move in Chabarovskiy Krai as a minister of the Russian Baptist Union. Meeting with Far East bishop, his favor and help, confirmed that the Lord views us useful there. With the help of seminary’s partners, my family moved to village Vanino. The local church prayed for our travelling, our church blessed us for missionary ministry in Russia. I know the importance of God’s call, it encourages me in our new circumstances. I expect rich blessings from our Lord here in Far East and in the church “Baptists of Vanino”.
Praise to Jesus Christ!
Andrey Kuharenko
I was born in a usual nonbelieving family in the Ukraine. My father was a worker and my mother was an employee, my sister was older than I, we had a very simple and modest life, very rarely somebody talked about God in our home. When father talked about God- he did it with mockery toward his relatives in Moscow, parents called them sectarians. There was a Bible in our home, a gift from relatives-believers, each Christmas they also send us a parcel with food. The Bible was put on the shelf with other books, but nobody ever opened it. My father didn’t take it seriously and didn’t believe in God. I also grew up with understanding that believers were very small- minded, uneducated people. I finished the school well and graduated from the university, got married to my beloved girl, family, three daughters, apartment, car, job, business and vanity. I was 34, I didn’t view myself as a sinner, but thoughts of life meaning, of God, didn’t let me be sure that I was living correctly. I knew that there was God and I needed to contemplate the question. I read many books of eastern thoughts, mysticism, esoterica and development of awareness, belles-lettres about divine things. I didn’t view Bible as an important source. It continued before I started reading books of an orthodox priest- Aleksandr Myen’. I was astonished that a believer could be so educated, in his books he revealed the personality of Jesus Christ—Son of Man. I began reading New Testament, didn’t understand much but view myself an Orthodox. Though Orthodoxy didn’t answer my questions about meaning of my existence, it gave me morals- but not the fellowship with God.
In those days I travelled a lot around the Ukraine because of my job, I noticed that God was sending believers on my way. In one of my trips on the train I met an old lady of evangelical faith, she witnessed about Christ and her favorite Isaiah book from the Bible. I felt ashamed that I didn’t know much about it, but I didn’t show it. Later I met her again and she presented me a book “Peace with God” by Billy Graham. That business trip to Rovno city became a special one in my life. Words from Bible, words from the book- touched my heart and my mind. I realized that I lived a life against the Holy God, I thought I was a good man- lived my way, but God loved me, He hated sin, and He was looking for peace with a sinner. Right there in the room I repented, accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and the Lord, I now knew that Jesus was not only a Son of Man but also the One who gives reconciliation with the Heavenly Father. That fall evening of 2004 I received peace in my heart and knew the truth, I found the way to God. Today I understand, that it was not me, but God and His love Who found me. The gospel, God’s grace and mercy reached me, a sinner. That day my life changed. I knew Jesus Christ and I believed in Him, my understanding and my behavior started to change. I began reading Scripture, thinking about my position in God, my predestination, searching for Christian literature and meeting believers.
With time I understood that believer needed to go to church. It took me almost a year to find a church in my city, a church that preached God’s Word. In 2005 I came to church with my wife, we were always together. In the summer of 2006 I was baptized. I searched and found my relatives-believers who prayed for me and my family, my brothers and sisters. Praise our Lord Jesus Christ!
Andrey Kuharenko
Testimony of my church ministry and call
When I came to church in 2005 right away I made a decision to serve Christ. Of course, first there was a long growing period in knowing faith basics, it went along with shocks and harmonizing my family, job and relations with God’s Word. It was the process of building the bases for serving Christ and other people. Forgiveness, humility, obedience and devotion were coming to my life and ministry. I started my ministry with sharing my testimony and participating in prayer meetings in the church, then the Lord gave me opportunity to do counseling for individuals and families in evangelical churches.
In 2008 my family and I came to the Baptist church in Novomoskovsk through the bishop of the regional Baptist Union. We became church members in 2009 and right away started participating in ministries. We served in a new under-construction Baptist church near our house. We sang in a choir, helped in all church events, attended Bible Study groups. The presbyter asked me to prepare a small sermon for a prayer meeting during a week. It was a new and very responsible step for me. At once I felt responsibility for my words said from the pulpit. Brothers supported me, I began to preach more often and on Sunday services too. I got a desire to study and get spiritual education. In 2013 I entered pastor’s faculty at Irpensk Bible Seminary, near Kiev. I studied four years. Between sessions I started to lead groups and evening Bible study service on Sundays in the local church. Last two years I’ve been helping the pastor in ministry in villages. I lead two Bible study groups on Wednesdays, preached at Sunday services, lead a group to prepare people for baptism, helped during Communions, together with the pastor we did Christian children summer camps, visited sick people from the church and etc. In my church I continued to lead evening Sunday services, and started a group for emigrants-nonbelievers from Donbass. Once a week I came to the hostel and we read Bible. In summer of 2017, I graduated from the seminary as a Bachelor of Biblical education, I had plans to continue my study in the seminary.
I prayed for my future ministry. Suddenly, through the sermon of seminary’s partners, I heard God’s call to minister in the Far East of Russia. The word touched me and I started to pray about it. During next year through different circumstances, new meetings and fellowships with brothers from my region and Russian Baptist Union, I saw that the Lord was opening an opportunity of a new ministry to my family. Even the embassy gave me permission to move in Chabarovskiy Krai as a minister of the Russian Baptist Union. Meeting with Far East bishop, his favor and help, confirmed that the Lord views us useful there. With the help of seminary’s partners, my family moved to village Vanino. The local church prayed for our travelling, our church blessed us for missionary ministry in Russia. I know the importance of God’s call, it encourages me in our new circumstances. I expect rich blessings from our Lord here in Far East and in the church “Baptists of Vanino”.
Praise to Jesus Christ!
Andrey Kuharenko