Many of our readers will recall Carpathian Mountain Outreach (CMO), an annual short-term missions initiative we began back in 2006. After 13 projects spanning 17 years (2006–2023), the time has come to sunset CMO. Today, we are announcing our next major initiative in discipleship and evangelism: Ukraine Gospel Outreach (UGO). Please take a few moments to read this update and discover what we have planned and how you can get involved. The harvest fields have never been whiter.
One of the fundamental principles we taught our CMO teams was this: methods may change, but the message remains the same. That message — the Gospel of Jesus Christ — transcends cultures and languages, remaining constant across the centuries, and offering salvation to anyone who believes. As Christians, our calling is to take this good news to the world, whether at home or abroad, and challenge our listeners to repent towards God.
For our team and the dozens of young men who joined us, CMO became one of our most effective and battle-tested methods, enabling us to consistently proclaim the Gospel message in Ukraine. In conjunction with other outreach efforts, such as our Bible First correspondence course and the Ukrainian-language edition of Good and Evil, our teams were able to bring the message of Christ to every oblast in Ukraine.
But like any method, CMO was always vulnerable to change. And despite a fantastic run of 17 years, change finally came: first in the form of COVID, and then in the form of war.
By late 2023, we realized that it was time for us to adapt: not in who we are, not in our goals, and certainly not in our message, but in our methods. And so we began exploring new techniques, new ideas, and new ways to spread the Gospel during a time of war.
As so often happens, while we made our plans, we were never really in the driver’s seat. In 2024, God brought about a series of circumstances that opened our eyes to new doors of ministry we had not previously explored. Last November, we teamed up with a Ukrainian missionary named Oleksandr, and together we traveled south and east, visiting villages that had been devastated by Russian attacks. What we saw could not have been more different from the quiet Carpathian villages to which we’d become accustomed. And yet the reality was crystal clear: the need is here, the opportunities for service are endless, and the people are open to the Gospel.
That first trip in November taught us so much. I recall the long hours spent in the van as we made our return journey to Lviv. I peppered Oleksandr with questions and ideas, trying to understand the landscape and form a plan that would be sustainable and effective. Several days later, during an ETO staff meeting with Nathan Day and Ben Sargent, we hammered out the details, and Ukraine Gospel Outreach (UGO) was born.
The October Project
There is, of course, so much more that I could say about Ukraine Gospel Outreach. Some of our plans are already finalized, while others are still taking shape. There will be new opportunities for learning and growth, as well as new challenges that we will need to adapt to in the years ahead. Our next UGO project is already on the horizon, and I’d like to share it with you now.
This October, we are returning to the de-occupied zones of southern and eastern Ukraine. We will visit new villages, bring humanitarian aid, and share the Gospel with the precious people who live amidst the calamity that Russia has heaped upon them.
We’ve created an online information page, which you can view at ugoproject.org. This page provides an overview of what UGO is, our initial plans for ministry, and how you can get involved. In particular, similar to CMO projects of the past, UGO incorporates a discipleship component, offering committed individuals the opportunity to join us for projects here in Ukraine.
Good and Evil Printing Update
As many of our readers will remember, No Greater Joy launched a fundraiser a few months ago for a new printing of the Ukrainian edition of Good and Evil. We are pleased to announce that the fundraiser has been successfully concluded, and printing of over 11,000 books is now underway. Lord willing, we expect to receive delivery of the new books by October 1st so that we can begin using them in our next UGO project.
Conclusion
Exciting days lie ahead. The war in Ukraine is a terrible tragedy, but it also represents an incredible opportunity to minister, to serve, to shine the light of Christ in the midst of darkness. Ukraine Gospel Outreach is an agile initiative designed to help us consistently and effectively share the vital message of Jesus Christ during this time of conflict and uncertainty. Please pray for our team as we step into this new chapter of ministry in Ukraine.
How You Can Pray
- Pray for the planning and execution of our upcoming UGO project in October. Pray for the safety of our team and for divine appointments as we minister to the people of Ukraine.
- Praise the Lord for the generous donations received for the printing of Good and Evil! Pray that the books will arrive in time for our October project.
- Pray that many new people will enroll in Bible First during the October project. Bible First remains at the core of our Gospel ministry in Ukraine.
- Pray for wisdom and clarity as we continue to develop Ukraine Gospel Outreach in the weeks and months ahead. Much work still remains to be done, and the opportunities for service are truly enormous.
- Pray for health, safety, provision, and wisdom for our family as we continue to live and minister in the midst of war.
- Pray for peace and liberty in Ukraine.
