Following our first year of studies at the College for Officer Training, my wife, Hannah, and I had the amazing privilege to carry out our summer assignment in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. When approached by the college staff about this opportunity, I remember being very interested but at the same time very anxious. When I first heard Dnepropetrovsk pronounced, I wondered if I’d ever be able to train my tongue to say it, let alone the many other words I would need to learn to connect with the people. But a few months later, armed with a lot of prayer and an English-Russian/Ukrainian dictionary, we arrived in Ukraine’s most easterly city.
We were assigned to a corps that has been in operation for little more than a year. Captains Sergey and Tanya Katchanov, corps officers, began the work in that part of the country with next to nothing in the way of resources. Like Army pioneers of old, they arrived with a few bags in hand and only the clothes on their back. Through hard work and much spiritual planting, in the span of one year they managed to reap a harvest of about 40 precious souls. Our little Salvationist fellowship consisted primarily of young people with an average age of 35.
The welcome we received from our new friends was truly amazing. In the weeks prior to our arrival, they went through the effort of learning songs and choruses in English so there could be unity in our collective worship. We sang praises to God in Russian and English, switching back and forth with perfect ease; it made me think back to the day of Pentecost and how the people worshipped in different tongues and languages.
Our duties and responsibilities throughout the week were not that different from those of our fellow cadets serving at home. We led Bible studies, visited people in their homes and ran children’s programs and various other Christian education courses such as English as a second language, leadership and development, and marriage preparation classes.
What made our experience in Ukraine so unique was the context. In Canada and Bermuda, The Salvation Army is a trusted and beloved institution; in Ukraine, we were hardly known and sometimes met with a lot of distrust. The officers had to work hard to gain acceptance in the community, eventually overcoming the public perception that we were just another cultic sect. There is still a lot of progress that needs to be made in this area as the Army continues to build relationships with the community, the state and the very influential Orthodox Church. What blessed me, however, is that once someone is accepted by the Ukrainians, he or she becomes part of their family and they share whatever they have.
As one who will soon join the Army’s ranks as an officer, the experience to serve in Ukraine was life-changing. It taught me to focus on the strengths of a culture rather than its sins, and to see how God is already working in it. I’ve learned something of what it means to have a missionary spirit. A missionary’s goal is not to change the host culture; it is to fulfil Christ’s plan for the world by removing the effects of sin from the culture.
The greatest honour my wife and I received came during our final Sunday in Ukraine. After thanking us for helping to disciple them, in prayerful sincerity they sent us out as “missionaries for the entire world.” And no matter where I find myself in God’s great Salvation Army, I hope that I’ll continue to labour for the world’s salvation.
Top photo: Cdts Robert and Hannah Jeffery with the congregation in Ukraine; below: Cdt Robert Jeffery interacts with a blind girl