We invite you to pray for us over these next few weeks. We are going to be setting our next 5 year plan including projects, goals, budget etc. We are excited to tell you that so far we have most of the new monthly supporters we were hoping to add to our team this year but we need a few more. During this next season our kids will all be in high school, graduating, moving on to college and their futures as adults! There are many things to consider, not the least of which is the ongoing war being waged on our beloved Ukraine. We would love your prayers and if you have words of encouragement or advice you sense as you pray for us, please let us know.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our invitation to pray, listen and share :) Love Ben, Angela, Cassie, Jay and Kai
“But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.” We love this from the book of Acts 12:24 (a book describing the work of the Holy Spirit through the church right after Jesus rose from the dead). This is what we are trusting for our next term!
As we come to the end of this term, it is important to share with you what has been accomplished throughout these past 5 years, especially since you have financially supported us. It has been a term like no other, but we have seen Godโs faithfulness in a way we canโt even express in words. In the book of Lamentations, the author has gone through a devastating experience, displacement, and the destruction of his beloved home, but he can still say, โThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.โ Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
The life of the long-term missionary is really based on trust.
First, the missionary must trust that God will take care of them and their family, year after year. The missionary must also trust that the people that are back at home believe in the calling that God places on his church to โGo into all the worldโ and that they also believe that some people have a unique calling to be sent beyond their own countryโs borders. Missionaries must also trust that those same people will act on their beliefs and will financially support the people they are sending. Finally, the senders put a great degree of trust in the missionaries themselves since the senders are not there to oversee the work. We are so grateful for this wonderful gift of a trusting relationship, because it really shows forth the uniqueness of Godโs kingdom and we believe brings him glory! He is trustworthy, and therefore, his kids walk that way too because we are made in His image. Nevertheless, as so many have done their part to send, we want to do our part to share a bit of the past five years. Although you havenโt been there in person, you can see that we are working hard for the kingdom and we are using our time and energy in a way that you can be confident in us. This email is a bit longer than others, but we hope you will take the time to read it, especially because the work we did was done by you as well as our partner.
2019 (September-December) โ Our home assignment ended in August and we returned to Ukraine. We had many students in our Bible school and we were busy with teaching them through books of the Bible such as Chronicles, Nehemiah, multiple prophets, Mark and Romans. Our students graduated in December and most participated in Titus Project at the beginning of 2020.
2020 โ The beginning months were very exciting โ training 11 new Bible teachers! We love this because it multiplies our work โ more Bible teachers who are not easily tossed about by โevery wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14)โ and are strengthening the body of Christ. We sent a team of teachers to the French speaking parts of Europe, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and we kept one team in Ukraine (which we led) to teach in churches and in our evening Bible school for professionals.
Obviously, in 2020, Covid began. We still chose to run our yearly Bible school and all the students came in just before restrictions began everywhere on travel. This was a very full year for us. While many places around the world slowed right down, our work just got busier. We had many students and teams coming to Ukraine because Ukraine was quite open, even throughout covid. Also, Ben was asked to help co-lead the base while our base leaders were on a 6-month furlough, he needed to help oversee a large building project, and as YWAM Kyiv, we also ran multiple courses beyond our Bible course. We ran out of classroom space, so our living room turned into a classroom for awhile.
2021 โ Once again, the year began with Titus Project. We sent one team into Belarus and we kept two different teams in Ukraine. Our goal is always to have the teams teaching people how to study the Bible. It was very exciting because these teams had very fruitful outreaches and as we moved towards March, we could see that our Bible school that we run each year was receiving more applications than ever before. Our staff team was also growing very quickly. Our Bible teaching team alone was at 18 people (YWAM Kyiv had grown almost up to 50 fulltime staff), with new Bible teaching courses being pioneered. After a very full few years, we endeavored to get home to Canada for the summer, even with all the covid restrictions and quarantines. We were thankful that we did because while we were there Angelaโs mother received the news that her cancer had returned and there would be no option of further treatment.
Instead of leaving in August as planned, we stayed until the end of the year. During that time, Angelaโs mother passed away (October). It was a very hard time because Angela was so close to her mom. Of course Ben and the kids also went through so much grieving โ Angelaโs mom was such a wonderful, loving person to everyone, especially her family and grandkids. Some YWAM work did get done during those months. Angela wrote a book to help graduates from the Bible course that YWAM runs all over the world called After SBS and Ben finished another course towards his Biblical Studies degree. It was also a special time to be home with Angelaโs dad and her brotherโs family as everyone grieved together.
2022โ Just after the New Year, our family returned to Kyiv, Ukraine. Russian troops were gathered around the border, but like most people, we didnโt believe a nation would really attack another nation right in Europe. We trained new Bible teachers in Kyiv with Titus Project like we do every January. We sent one team to Armenia and we kept a team in Ukraine. We were preparing for our largest Bible school yet, which was due to start in March, and we were also anticipating beginning a new course on Church History.
Everything changed on February 24. Our team in Armenia continued to teach for a few weeks, but found they were unable to really focus on teaching while worrying for the safety of their friends and family in Ukraine. Our team in Ukraine obviously was unable to continue (the churches in the area we were teaching all turned into rescue and refugee housing. Many of our staff gathered at the YWAM base to seek the Lord for safety and guidance. Our family went to nearby Romania for a month while we prayed and asked God what to do. He led us to Norway for 3 months, where our kids finished up school online and Ben joined a team there to teach 20 students how to study the Bible (the same course we run in Kyiv, but a 3-month version).
Angela began a new role for YWAM Kyiv in the area of communications, since this became very important due to the war. After the 3 months, taking much time to pray as a family, we decided to temporarily relocate to Budapest, Hungary. This enabled us to stay close to Ukraine, and we also had a great school there for the kids (International Christian School of Budapest โ ICSB โ a sister school to the one in Kyiv). Many of our childrenโs friends from Kyiv were in Budapest as well. Now it was Benโs turn to take on a new role: Educational Technology teacher.
Despite the difficult circumstances we faced in 2022, we were still able to teach students from all over the world how to study the Bible. Angela pioneered a new Titus Project location in India where she was able to take a staff team and train 9 new Bible teachers. We continued to lead and support YWAM Kyiv with our work in administration (Ben), global communications (Angela) and team leading (off-site staff displaced during the war). Ben also helped disciple younger students as he taught part-time at the kidโs school, which helped reduce tuition costs.
2023- We began the year with our first trip back to Kyiv since the war began. We went for two main reasons: to meet as a leadership team for planning 2023, and to clean up our house in Kyiv so it could be used for hospitality. The time as a team was fruitful as we planned for ministry during wartime. There was very little electricity, so it was cold, but we were safe.
We returned to Budapest after a few weeks and Ben continued to teach at ICSB part time. During this year, Angela was able to teach the โBible weekโ in the Budapest Discipleship Training School. Ben also finished his last course for his bachelorโs degree in Christian Ministries (with a focus on Biblical Studies) with the University of the Nations.
One of the teams of which Angela has been a part for about 10 years is a team of Bible department leaders in Europe that bring together YWAM Bible staff on our continent. The purpose for gathering everyone together is to encourage, serve, and equip one another. The trend away from a biblical worldview, even among Christians, can become discouraging, and so Angela helped to convene a gathering in Norway with over 40 in attendance.
A significant area that we developed in 2023 has been an approach to humanitarian aid work in Ukraine which we call โWaves of Hope.โ Each Wave of Hope is approximately 10 days. We bring in teams from all over to build homes, run kidsโ camps, and share the gospel while praying for people. We built over 70 homes in 2023. Coordinating all the teams, translators etc. was a lot of work in communications (Angela develops all of the registration forms, builds the websites, manages the social media team and writes the newsletters).
Of course, our primary focus is still to teach the Bible and train up new Bible teachers. We continued to do this in many locations, including Quebec during a trip home to Canada in the summer. Angela helped develop an international team for Titus Project โ our Bible teacher training program that currently works in over 15 locations around the world โ this small team is responsible for curriculum updates and resources. Ben also became more involved in the kidโs school with moving into coaching basketball and volleyball for the middle school and high school boys.
2024 (January-June)
This year has been full as usual. We have done our best to continue to be involved and help with the work in Ukraine. We have been there to visit multiple times in the past few years for leadership team meetings, staff retreats and just to say hello. We took our children to visit Kyiv this spring so they could go through their things. This was their first time back home since the war began. It was good to be there all together. It was a bit emotional, but life-giving. We have also been Bible teaching in multiple locations, preached in our church here in Budapest, spoke at a ladyโs outreach event for Hungarians, filmed Titus Project training videos, and helped run a new fundraising campaign called โGive a day for Ukraine.โ
Now we are just over two weeks away from travelling back to Canada for our one-year home assignment. It is good to reflect on the work we have done, the people that we have served, the goodness of God. We understand this update was a bit longer than usual, with many more details. However, like we said at the beginning, we know that you are not here with us to see the many peopleโs faces we teach, the programs we run, the hours we spend in preparation, teaching, serving, working. We are so grateful for your trust, and we always want to do an excellent job communicating so that even though you are not here, you can be confident that we are being faithful to our calling as those who have been sent.
If you have any questions at all, please donโt hesitate to ask. We previously sent out our plans for our home assignment in an email, but if you would like to revisit those plans and canโt find them, they are posted on our website.
As you can see, God has been so faithful to our family, faithful to the people we have served, and has definitely surrounded us with his loving kindness. We are really looking forward to a year in Canada and to the future ahead.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our work summarizing the last four years.
With love,
Ben and Angela (Cassie, Jay, and Kai)
Ps. Here is a list of most of the teaching topics that we have done during this past 4-year term (in a somewhat chronological order), in case you are curious:
โข The books of 1 & 2 Chronicles
โข The gospel of Mark
โข The book of Romans (multiple times)
โข How to prepare a teaching
โข How to present a teaching
โข How to teach creatively
โข Cross cultural ministry
โข How to study inductively (multiple times)
โข The book of Philemon
โข The book of Jonah
โข The book of Genesis (multiple times)
โข The book of Song of Songs
โข The book of Ezra
โข The book of Nehemiah (multiple times)
โข The book of Ruth
โข The book of Malachi (multiple times)
โข Why can we trust the Bible is Godโs Word?
โข What happens to the church when people stop reading and studying the Bible?
โข The book of Revelation (multiple times)
โข An introduction to wisdom literature
โข An overview of the Bible
โข How to teach the Bible
โข The book of Exodus
โข An overview of worldviews
โข The book of Job
โข The problem of theodicy
โข Pneumatology
โข How to teach online
โข How to work as a team
โข Conflict resolution
โข How to preach inductively (multiple times)
โข How to study the prophets
โข The book of Amos
โข The book of Micah
โข The book of Zechariah
โข The book of Song of Songs
โข Biblical wisdom with the tools of today and the future
o Robotics
o Digital citizenship
o Typing
o Coding
o Using AI responsibly
o Digital presentations
โข Leading 1 hour times of intercession on:
o Business in Budapest
o People in the technology field
o Music and Film
o Unreached people (Sentinelese near India, Nuiqsut northern Alaska)
One of the teams that we sent out stayed for one month in Ukraine and then moved on to the mid-west of Russia. Here is a quote from one of the interns, James from Germany:
“From the training time on God began to show me that teaching the bible and even teaching in general is not really about me as the teacher, it is all about honouring God and serving the people in my audience. As a teacher I can be so focused on myself and overly concerned with my performance and what people think of me, but Iโve come to realize that what really matters is what the audience โwalks away withโ. Throughout outreach I was able to put this revelation into practice and learn how to better make Godโs word applicable to people of different backgrounds.
One of our main goals was to equip Ukrainian and Russian believers to study Godโs word for themselves using inductive principles. We guided them through small books such as Philemon and Jonah and were amazed to see and hear what they โgot out of itโ. God gave us many opportunities to strengthen his body, the church, and encourage believers to dig deeper into the bible.
I think it is just amazing how God speaks to his people. Our audiences were encouraged by the truths they discovered and how these principles could be applied in their own lives. That is really what it is all about. We study and teach Godโs word in order to be transformed, becoming more like him and giving him glory!”
Well, we are nearly finished with the first 3 weeks of the training program. This is exciting because the theory (classroom) part is over and now we will get out into the real world and teach people.
Some of the special characteristics of this particular program:
– of 9 participants and 9 staff, we represent 9 different countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Canada) – wow!
– many of us went to see a ballet in Kyiv, perhaps you’ve heard of the Vienna Waltz
– of 15 class days, 7 of them were spent without electricity in the classroom, this also meant no hot water… (thus the title: Titus Survivor)
– this is the first ever Titus Project to run in Kyiv, Ukraine – also, it is the first ever Russian program to run! YAY!
It has been a great training time – as a group we’ve learned the core elements of teaching, had opportunities to practice, been encouraged, critiqued so we improve… let’s go out and do it!
The other day Cassie and I were “pretending” in the car. She was the mom with 4 kids. “Okay Cassie, how many are girls?” “Well, 1 is a girl, mom”. “Then how many boys would you have?” “3!” Math already?! She must take after her Daddy.
Speaking of Daddies, last week we travelled to Lviv, Ukraine and we saw at least 10-15 brides taking pictures all over this small picturesque city. Cassie was of course enthralled with them all day! She kept saying that one day she would marry her Daddy. Awww.. It was so cute!
We like to introduce you to different people we meet, since that helps you understand our life a little more.
Today I want to introduce Vicka. Vicka is a student in our bible school. She is Ukrainian and has a passion to teach God’s word. She will do Titus Project this fall to get stronger in her teaching skills and to bring Bible teaching to a country that really needs discipleship.
Here is her testimony:
Being born in a family with Orthodox beliefs, I was baptized almost after birth and given a cross to wear at all times as a symbol of Christianity. The existence of God is a fact that I have always known.God was, He is, and He always will be.
But a lot of times, what is visible on the outside is not reflected inside.
Yes I knew ABOUT God, but I didnยt know Him.
Time was passing and life was bringing more struggles as I grew up. The Soviet Union collapsed and had a great influence on every person and every family. I hardly saw my parents at home as they were trying to earn some money to make ends meet. I was growing up ยon the streetย and at the age of 12 I almost commited a suicide. I was so disappointed in life and all it had to offer, that I said: ย God Iยm not going to believe in You anymore!ย A year passed, and I experienced Godยs grace pour out on me. After attending a Christian camp I experienced something I never knew, some One Iยve only heard about. God found me at the age of 13, and I was saved. I made a decision to ask God to come into my heart and change my life, and then was baptized, after truly believing. Since then I had a strong desire and motivation to help out kids at these Christian camps to find out who God is and who they are in Him.
Lately Godยs been teaching me how to build up my faithfulness, teaching me how to trust in Him with patience and what humbleness is before Him. He showed me my heart and revealed that being faithful starts from the inside. I knew that, but sometimes my priorities were not set straight, letting other things take 1st place in my heart. I thank God for always being faithful, guiding me in His footsteps so that I may have a good example to follow.
God is my Lord, my Father and my Friend.
He is my beloved and i belong to Him...
Just as a side note, Vicka is planning on moving into long term missions after this bible school and will need monthly supporters so if you are interested in being a part of her team just let us know and we will get you connected.
We just finished hosting a team of Bible teachers from Taiwan. It was great, we got to see a couple of our friends and they brought some Bubble Tea too – Bubble Tea is probably one of our favourite drinks of all time (at least for Ben)!
Anyway, not only did we have a great time with them, but they also got to do some great work. They taught in rehab centres, within the YWAM community here as well as a bunch of churches in the area – they even spent a whole week in a little village to the south of Kyiv. We got to hear them a few times, and they we’re great to listen to, challenging, passionate and creative! It’s no wonder we love Titus Project, we get to work with the best! :)
Our first experience with the orthodox church happened in late May 2009. We were visiting Kyiv while considering where we might relocate Titus Project in Europe. As part of our visit, one of our hosts by the name of Tim Huddleston, now a treasured friend, took us for a tour around Kyiv.
As we learned, one of Tim’s hobbies was really understanding Kyiv’s history. It turns out to be very rich and interesting (but more on that later). Anyway, one of the landmarks on his tour was St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Writing this nearly two years later, I barely remember anything. I will briefly introduce two things that I do remember because they really struck me, but we will only go into depth in subsequent posts.
The first thing I remember was how different it was. Angela and the ladies put on scarves before we entered. There was the paintings and the dim light with candles and a few other things that I really hadn’t experienced, even in the old catholic churches I’ve entered in other European countries.
The second thing I remember was Tim’s comment. It was a teachable moment and he took the opportunity. He said that although worship may be very different than what I am used to, do not quickly pronounce judgment on it because there are many many positives to it and things we can learn from. It was, and remains, wise advice.
So why begin recounting our experiences with the Orthodox Church here? There are a few different reasons, but probably the most important is that the Christian church is vast, and vastly diverse in its style and character. To breathe Ukrainian air is to breathe a mixture of Christian faith. Need a picture? Consider how puppies are tied to the same pole, yet as they run around and around, they get tied together even while they run in many directions. So while we are all rooted to the same Christ, the atmosphere and experience of his worship may be very different, sometimes crossing, sometimes running in parallel. I want to explore this relationship more fully, understand these other worship experiences without prejudice and with love. And in turn, hopefully, bring my own experiences to people who might benefit from them.
Teaching Adventures 