30th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Bible Society
Last week, Pastor Ruslan and Serhiy attended a celebration of the Ukrainian Bible Society's 30th anniversary. It was both honoring and humbling to know that Music Mission Kiev has traveled with them for half of this journey (since 2006).
The Kyiv Symphony Chorus was invited to open the conference with The Lord's Prayer. After a short message and prayer of invocation, our singers performed “'Bless, the Lord O My Soul.'” You could tell everyone was deeply moved by their performance. As Gregory Komendant, President of Ukrainian Bible Society, said turning to the choir, “You represent Christian Ukraine so well.”
The speakers at the conference, who were heads of denominations and Bible Society leaders, highlighted great achievements in fulfilling the Ukrainian Bible Society’s triune mission: translation, printing, and distribution of the Word of God. In the course of 30 years, more than 13 million Bibles have been distributed in Ukraine. In addition, five different Ukrainian translations have been printed, including the modern version recently completed by the team led by Father Rafail Turkoniak. The Ukrainian Bible Society has also printed and distributed many Bibles in Russian, Crimean Tatar, and Roma languages.
Ezra 8:18, which was printed on the big banner in the conference hall, was a fitting theme in the speeches we heard, “The gracious hand of our God was on us.”
In connection with the 30th anniversary, the Bible Society printed a very informative brochure covering every area of the Ukrainian Bible Society’s ministries. In this brochure, representatives of 20 denominations and organizations (who are also official members of the Ukrainian Bible Society), were asked to provide short answers to one question: 'What does the Bible mean to you?'
Below, you will see the page with the answer provided by Serhiy:
For me the Bible is my daily bread. Without it a truly fulfilling life is impossible. My dream is that the reading of Holy Scriptures will be a source of daily nourishment for every Ukrainian family.
