Church Firebombed!
firebombed window
At around 4 or 5am, after smashing the window with a rock, arsonists threw a molotov cocktail into the children’s ministry room of our church/home.
The attack went unnoticed until about 7am, when Olya announced that she could sense smoke.
firetruck at church
It was only after the local fire-brigade arrived (which only took a couple minutes!) that we discovered to location of the fire itself.
The culprits had spray painted on the church wall “Out with Sects” and “ОУН” (an abbreviated name for a Ukrainian Nationalist movement).
After the fire was extinguished we spent considerable time with militia inspectors responsible for investigating the crime answering questions and writing statements. Later in the day the Head of Police for the Kaharlyk region came in person to get a better handling on the situation. He said that this sort of thing had never happened in our town before and in particular to a religious group.
fire damage
Praise be to God for His protection. The fire and water damage turned out to be minor. (Nothing a few thousand dollars won’t fix). Good thing we hadn’t bought new furniture that we’ve been praying about for the children ministry for the last few years. There was some water damage in the basement where the computer class is. We haven’t determined the extend of the damage to the computers yet.
God is so gracious. Things could have been so much worse. Previous attacks had been limited to breaking windows. This act however is a much more serious statement. It was act designed to destroy (our building is valued at maybe $500,000). Worse still six people were asleep in the building at the time of the attack. Our three week-old son, Nikita, was sleeping next to a window, whose protection shield has been jammed open for the last couple weeks. (I fixed that roller today!).
The crime may also be assessed as attempted murder. If the room floor boards had ignited instead of slowly smouldering. We may have all died from smoke inhalation.
We thank you for you prayers. First and foremost for God to be glorified to the full extent that He choses through all this. We pray that the Lord would call people to salvation and that He would build up His body. We rejoice in being chosen worthy to suffer for the sake of our Lord and His Gospel. We do also pray for safety but hold this prayer out with open hands.
The Lord is doing a good work. We do believe that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. So we will continue to pray and work against evil in the society that we minister in.
Oh Wayne! Praise the Lord for all your protection!!
I am so sorry for the damage that was caused, but Praising the Lord that appears to be minimal!
Praying for the eyes of the offenders to be opened to the Saving Grace of God.
Praise God you are all fine and it was minimal. A suggestion to prevent anyone in church (ie christians in your village)not sleeping because of fearful thoughts, do some teaching on the power of the blood for proteaction and pleading the blood in prayer each night. May God be glorified thro it all and keep on doing what you are all doing so well!
blessings
Julia
Gday Wayne,
Thanks for letting us know.Thank God you are all ok.Will be praying.
Dave
Wayne, lord protect you and keep you and your family safe. This is an attack against Jesus and so he will retribute accordingly. Have peace in your heart, wisdom and take action to claim the lords covering and anointing through this attack. Bless you
Hi Wayne, thank God HE knows how to supress fire. We know that what the world means for eveil God will turn to our good. See you soon. God’s Blessings for you all
Dear Wayne and Olya,
Praise God for your protection and that of the others, our prayers are with you, and yes we pray for the eyes of the offenders to be opened, that through this God will use this situaiton to unite the people, and more will come to know his Loving Grace and forgiveness…God Bless our prayers are with you.
Thank God you are all safe… we are praying for your safety and wisdom for the authorities to be successful in their prosocution.. keep up your good works…
ALLAN AND JENNY
Wayne & Olya-
OK, If the devil is dumb enough to reveal his servants, we’ll just ask God to ‘tag ‘em and drag ‘em (into the Kingdom, of course!)’
Meanwhile, keep doing what yer doing. God saw this coming from the beginning of creation and had it factored in. He’ll stay with you!
All Glory to the Holy One, our Savior and friend – Master of all Creation! – cf
Dear Wayne& Olya,
I will thank God for your safety and pray for God’s continued protection for you and your family.
Joan
Hi Wayne & Olya,
Thank the Lord that He kept you all safe, and will continue to keep you protected by His Presence. I know that you are doing a great work there and it seems like the enemy is not happy – Jesus is still building His Church and the enemy will not prevail! we are praying for you.
George & Sophie
Dear Wayne, Olya, Matthew, Mark and Nikita,
We,too, will be praying that things would settle down again for you and that the culprits would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. As you can imagine our first reaction had a lot to do with fury and disgust on reading your news. However, Jesus commanded us to pray for our enemies and do well to those that hate us. Humanly speaking this is impossible, but fortunately the Holy Spirit will help us, if we ask Him.
Diane and I (Pieter) will keep praying for all of you, continually thanking God for your tremendous efforts towards the extension of His Kingdom.
Pieter and Diane Brouwer.
Dear Wayne and all Friends! Sorry to hear about what you are going through right now. We are with you in prayer. Please let me know what we at UETS can do for yo all there? Shalom. Anatole
Praise God that you are all safe. Your Ministry must be very effective for these attacks to be directed against the Church. We continue to pray for the work you do and for the local people you minister to.
Prayers to you and yours from Maine Wayne.
Praise God you are safe!Thinking and praying for you. May His hand of protection be on you! Lots of love.
Praise God the family are ok. Put me in the loop and I will pray and support when able
God bless Roy
This person /or person must be running scasred that your love for God and the Country you are trying to save in the name of Jehova our Lord God – to do this to you and your people. Your works in the Lord are destroying all evil in the town and who ever did this must know that still all these years you are winning for the Lord.
What a Majestic Loving God he is to save you all and let the Fire smoulder instead of Burning. Praise to the Fire Brigade who acted so swiftly as they need you there to do the great works that you are doing.
May our Lord always keep that Armour of protection around you, your family and congregation. Praise be to God he knows what great work you are doing…. Good luck, good health …Amen Samantha
Wow! Shocking!
Makes me think more and more about revival – gotta get some!
Мы с вами держитесь, пусть Господь даст мудрости, мы верим и даже знаем – это к славе Господа и плоды будут большими.
Thank God you are all Safe !!
Sorry to hear about that tho..
I trust and pray that God will strengthen your hearts and what the enemy has purposed for bad, God will turn to a Blessing!!
God Bless you Heaps
Dear Wayne, Olya and Boys
Praise the Lord GOD in the name of His Son Jesus Christ for having protected all of you in that sorry incident. May He in his grace forgive the culprits and draw them to repentance and to Jesus to be granted eternal life thgrough faith in Him.
May the Lord GOD continue to protect the good work He does through you and the Church in Kaharlyk.
Thank the Lord no life was lost. The culpert must be young and inexperienced to fail as he did or God placed his hand on the boom and hindered its effect. You are in our prayers for protection.
Hi guys
so happy to hear you are safe,a nd we will be praying for your protection and for peace!
Praise God that you were protected. Praise God for your faithfulness to your mission field. I read this recently I hope it encourages you all. “I am sending you into impossible battlefields and at the onslaught of the enemy you shall stand……”
Dear Wayne, Olya and Boys
God’s protection is truely great – Praise Him. You and the people who did this are in our prayers. I pray that this horrible relationship they have with you now will through GOds amazing grace bring joy in heaven.
Praising God for His protection for you! May God bless you and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you, be gracious to you, and give you peace! Love from Virginia, USA.
Thinking of you. God can work all things together for good. May you all sense His protection and faithfulness. Our love and prayers.
Glad to hear that you are all ok. Am praying for good to come out of this situation.
With love and prayers, Jeanette
Wow…Am stateside so heard of this through the grapevine. Will definitely be praying and next time someone asks me what is the greatest need over there (Ukraine) I will tell them that right now your church needs funds for repairs! Praise God no one was hurt! Congratulations, also, on your new little guy! So glad you are all safe and well and will keep praying for God’s glory in all this.
Cara
Whoa!!!! That is an interesting way to be woken up Wayne & Olya! I know that God has you all in His incredibly safe hands and that He will turn this around for His glory and the extension of His Kingdom. I reckon Nanna Zschech’s prayers for us all are still in effect!!! So glad to hear of Nikita’s protection too. You guys are doing an incredible work there – one day I’ll come over and see you all. Love – Teresa:)