Arkansas Baptists minister in Ukraine

As International Mission Board missionaries to the Ukraine for the past 15 years, Arkansas Baptists Mike and Linda Ray face a huge ministry task – sharing the gospel of Christ with Ukrainians living in a region the size of Indiana.

As team strategy leader, Mike is responsible for coordinating ministry in more than 3,000 towns and 10 cities of more than 100,000.

Mike puts his task in perspective. “It would be like if you were responsible for the work in the entire state of Arkansas, but with a lot more people living there, and a lot fewer churches,” he says, noting the ratio of people to Baptist churches can be as low as 100,000 to one.

For this reason, the Rays spend many months of each year coordinating volunteer projects, working with Ukrainian Christians to share the gospel of Christ.

Projects include backyard Bible camps for children, sports camps, offering English practice with native speakers (volunteers) at a university, medical clinics, construction including community improvement projects, prayer walking and building relationships in Ukrainian schools.

Most importantly, the Rays link up the volunteers with Ukrainian churches, whose members are able to continue to minister once the volunteers return to the states.

“Volunteers are here for a short time and are good at drawing fish,” says Ray, “but we also know that many people make decisions in the days ahead, as the Holy Spirit has time to work in their lives and bring about a harvest.

“That is why it is important to design each project so that we are partnering with local Ukrainian believers, who are the long-term fishermen.”

The Rays also help train national church leaders to help develop Ukrainian leaders using conferences and seminars. “Some of the important training we do is simply through mentoring and spending time with younger leaders,” says Mike, who also teaches a few times a year at a regional Bible college.

Linda is actively involved in developing relationships and ministries with women. She also leads seminars on prayer walking.

Throughout the year, they also visit regional churches to “share what God is doing in the region” and “encourage them to be involved in planting churches,” says Mike.

“We try to be catalyzers in our region, to stimulate those we work with to try new things and to facilitate that happening,” says Mike.
First Church of Crossett, where Mike grew up, has recently decided to become involved in the Ray’s mission.

First Church, Crossett ministers

Jamie Staley, pastor of First Church, and Chuck Otts, a First Church member, traveled to Lubny, Ukraine on a vision trip July 2-8.

While there, they worked with a team from Warner Robbins, Ga., helping out at a soccer camp and vacation Bible school.

“Our whole intent was to see where our church might fit into what the Rays are doing to reach Ukrainians,” says Staley.

The team from Georgia served as a great example for First Church. “Everyone knew what they were supposed to do,” says Staley. “They did a great job.”

Because it was the third year the Georgia team had worked in the same area, members were able to build on relationships established previously. “It was amazing to me, the first day we pulled up to the VBS camp, quite a few of the kids that came this year had also come last year,” he says, noting it was “really special” to watch those people reconnecting with team members they had met in previous years.

Staley hopes the same thing will happen for members of his church. He hopes to take teams from First Church on mission to the Ukraine for the next five years.

Most importantly, Staley wants First Church’s involvement to be “an extension of Mike and Linda’s ministry.”

In addition to the Rays, Staley says First Church members and former members are involved in ministry all over the world.

And he hopes to connect with those people to become involved in their ministries, serving as an encouragement to them.

“I feel like our people are going to be responsive to the Lord’s vision for this church,” says Staley.

Staley wants to develop a biblical approach to missions, participating in projects close to home, as well as overseas.

“Not everyone can go overseas,” he admits. “But I want our people to have experiences where God uses them right here.”

Staley says it is an exciting time in the life of First Church as they begin to embark on this mission opportunity with the Rays. “It’s a dream I think God put in my heart years ago, and He’s beginning to allow me to experience it,” he say.

Staley believes his church can make a difference in the Ukraine. “We want to be those people who are the workers, who plant and water,” he says. “We want to make an impact in people’s lives.”

Making an impact

A primary way for Arkansas Baptists to make an impact in the Rays ministry is to pray for them, says Mike.

“Until we have prayed enough, the other things we do don’t make much impact,” says Mike. “We encourage and treasure prayer partners who regularly lift up what God is doing in Ukraine and pray for us and our people here.”

To become a prayer partner, send an email request to mikeray@pobox.com.

Another way to become involved in the Rays’ ministry is to participate in a mission project in the Ukraine.

Many volunteers who work with the Rays often feel led to return to the area over and over again.

This “partnership” can make a great impact, says Mike.

“Often, the more meaningful contributions that churches are able to make are because of longer term partnerships, seeing what God does over a number of years,” he says. “Most work on the field does not happen overnight, in spite of some of the impressions people may get from time to time when reading missions stories.

“Much of the work takes time to cultivate and needs continuity, rather than a one-time, short-term, project,” he says.

Partnerships help volunteers realize they can be part of the ongoing ministry in the country, says Mike, pointing out they are careful not to encourage the national Christians to become dependent on the volunteers.

“But on the other hand, there are many positive consequences and contributions for the volunteers and the nationals when groups are able to see how God has worked over a period of time,” he says.

Mike’s prayer is that First Church volunteers will work together with them to “see God working through us to accomplish His Kingdom purposes, both here in the Ukraine and in their home church,” he says.

“I believe that God is faithful to those churches who have a heart for missions, a heart to see people from all nations around His throne praising Him,” says Mike.

“I believe He is calling every church to be involved in this task in some way,” says Mike. Though he knows that not every person can go on an overseas mission trip, everyone can be involved in a world missions endeavor.

“It takes a whole church to send a missions team, and we know that every time people come here to work with us there are many standing behind them at home who have helped them to come and who have made that possible,” he says.

Through the years, the Rays have had great joy as they have witnessed God at work developing churches and people in the Ukraine.

“When we see young leaders developing and becoming involved in the Kingdom’s work, that is an encouragement,” says Mike. “Seeing churches in our area that weren’t here 10 years ago, that is why we are here.”

The Rays want to see churches planted in the Ukraine because “the church is Christ’s body, and He will not abandon her.”

“When we focus our work on seeing a church planted and developed, that part of the body of Christ will be ministering in that community 10, 20, 30 years from now, long after we have gone,” he say. “Because it is His body, He will continue to work through it and take the gospel to people who have not yet been born.”

The Rays are thankful to Southern Baptists for their support through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. “These are affecting real lives on the field and are enabling people like us, serving here in Ukraine, to be able to live and eat and serve in the place He has called us to be in,” says Mike. “Please convey to Arkansas Baptists that their giving and praying truly, literally, make it possible for us to be here and do this.”

Visit the original article at Arkansas Baptist News here.

Posted by Lisa Watson, Arkansas Baptist News on Aug 31, 2010

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