What Is the Opportunity?

Ukrainian is the national language of Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe. Over 38 million people speak Ukrainian, with the majority residing in Ukraine.¹ Many people living in Ukraine are adopting Ukrainian as their everyday language in response to the Russian invasion of 2022.

Historically, the Eastern Orthodox church has been the dominant religious influence in this region of Europe, though decades of Communist rule in the twentieth century led to the widespread influence of atheism. Since Ukraine regained its independence in 1991, the government has allowed freedom for Christian evangelism. Protestant churches have been established across the country, and the World Christian Encyclopedia reports that about 2 percent of the population identified as Protestants in 2020.

Ligonier Ministries is seeking to build up the Ukrainian church and equip Ukrainian-speaking Christians with trustworthy discipleship resources and biblical teaching in both online and printed formats.

How Is Ligonier Meeting These Needs?

We strive to reach Ukrainian-speaking pastors, laypeople, and unbelievers from all walks of life through the following outreach efforts.

Web and Social Media

By God’s grace, the truth of the gospel is reaching Ukrainian-speaking people around the world. Ligonier’s dedicated Ukrainian website, together with our Facebook and Instagram pages, are providing ready access to trustworthy teaching in Ukrainian. Our dedicated-language website also contains several historic Christian creeds and confessions.

The Ligonier Statement on Christology

Confusion abounds regarding Christology—the doctrine of Christ—among Ukrainian-speaking people. As the church continues to grow, it is imperative that believers learn the truths of Scripture as summarized in the great confessions of faith. We produced The Word Made Flesh: The Ligonier Statement on Christology to help Christians know what the church has historically taught and to provide clarity on the person and work of Christ. Our goal is to distribute this statement worldwide, and it has already been translated into numerous languages, including Ukrainian.

The Reformation Study Bible

The Reformation Study Bible is designed to help Christians deepen their study of God’s Word. There is interest in making this trusted resource available in Ukrainian, and plans are already in development. As with the English edition, the Ukrainian translation of the Reformation Study Bible will contain more than 1.1 million words of verse-by-verse commentary and topical explanations, award-winning maps and visual aids, contributions from seventy-five distinguished scholars and theologians, theological summaries from Dr. R.C. Sproul, and nearly two thousand years of Christian creeds, confessions, and catechisms. As Dr. Sproul once said, “The light of the Reformation was the light of the Bible.” The same is true today as Ukrainian-speaking Christians seek to take a bold stand for God’s Word.

Books

Growing interest in Reformed theology has sparked an eagerness for more discipleship resources from Dr. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries. Our plans include translating and distributing the following titles from Dr. Sproul’s Crucial Questions booklet series:

• What Is the Church? by R.C. Sproul
• Who Is the Holy Spirit? by R.C. Sproul
• What Is Faith? by R.C. Sproul
• What Is the Gospel? by R.C. Sproul

Books Available:

• The Donkey Who Carried a King by R.C. Sproul
• Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul
• Surprised by Suffering by R.C. Sproul

What Is Needed?

• Translating, design, first print-run (800 copies), and distribution of the Ukrainian Reformation Study Bible — $212,330 USD
• Digital outreach — $13,219 USD (annually)

Funding needs reflect quoted estimates based on April 2024 foreign exchange rates and current translation fees.

How Do Your Gifts Help?

These are only a few of our many international outreach projects underway. We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting our efforts through your financial gifts and prayers for the Ukrainian-speaking and global church. You can donate here. Your generosity helps us translate, print, and distribute trustworthy resources, providing countless opportunities to reach people with the truth of God’s Word.

Our policy is to apply gifts given toward a specific program. If we receive more contributions than can be wisely used for a given project, we apply these funds to meet other pressing needs in our outreach efforts. We are committed to stewarding all gifts wisely toward the goal of proclaiming the holiness of God to as many people as possible. Ligonier Ministries is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

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¹ See https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ukr/ as at April 16, 2024