Fort Wayne family story unfolds into a church ministry

"We found the three areas of greatest need: help the children in the orphanages, find ways of providing jobs and start a church in Cherkassey."

On Mother's Day 1999, my family and I arrived home from a trip to Russia. With us, we brought a new member, a beautiful eleven-month-old girl. We had wanted to adopt for years. So much so, that one-year later we arrived home from the Ukraine with our second daughter.

While in the Ukraine, the adoption turned from a family story to the beginnings of a church ministry.

As we do any time we travel, we find a church to attend. While in the Ukranian city of Cherkassey, we discovered in this city of 300,000, only five Protestant churches. After visiting the largest of those, a Baptist church with about 200 members, we realized that there were less than 2,000 Christians in Cherkassey. In Fort Wayne, a city of similar size, there are 256 churches. The obvious need was so great that I couldn't even think of where to begin working.

After arriving home, I began to share my experience with my congregation at Taylor Chapel in Fort Wayne. Many understood the need, this was reinforced by the fact that we have a number of Ukrainian friends in Fort Wayne.

As the ministry began to grow, we found the three areas of greatest need: help the children living in the orphanages, find ways of providing jobs and start a church in Cherkassey.

With these goals in mind, I returned to the Ukraine this spring with Irina Samoyolovich (a Ukrainian friend) and Bill Wallace (a member of Taylor Chapel UMC). Our mission was to spend ten days on a fact-finding mission. Helping the orphanage was the easy part. We arrived with hundreds of diapers, clothes, medical supplies and toys for the children. After talking with the orphanage director, we learned of other ways to help on a regular basis. Taylor Chapel recently sent three boxes of snowsuits and shoes. Medical supplies and other items of need will be sent in the future.

"The obvious need was so great that I couldn't even think of where to begin working."

One of the other ministries we recently started was an adoption recourse center for persons who would like to adopt from the Ukraine. Working with friends from both Fort Wayne and the Ukraine, we have set up an adoption network. This will help lower the cost of the adoption process and find homes for children in need.

Taylor Chapel is working hard on the other two goals. The congregation is now researching small start-up businesses to create new employment opportunities. Our desire is to establish an investment company to garner the necessary recourses.

Contacts are being made with Ukrainian Christians who will help to plant new churches. God has begun to open doors. We hope to take an evangelism team from Taylor Chapel to Cherkassey in the summer of 2002 for a church-planting mission.

If you would like to learn more about ministry at Taylor Chapel, please contact the Rev. Mark Gough at 219/749-8597.

Last updated on 01/14/2004

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