KAHARLYK, UKRAINE (ANS) -- The pastor of Calvary Chapel Kaharlyk, just south of Kiev in Ukraine, is thanking God for His protection, after their church building, where his family lives, was hit by a firebomb attack by suspected nationalists.

In the early hours of Wednesday October 14th the attackers sprayed painted on the church wall: “Out with Sects” “ОУН” an abbreviated name for a Ukrainian Nationalist movement.

Pastor Wayne Zschech recalls the horrifying turn of events in his blog: “At around 4 or 5am, after smashing the window with a rock, arsonists threw a molotov cocktail into the children’s ministry room of our church/home.

Fire damage.

“The attack went unnoticed until about 7am when my wife Olya was woken up by the smell of smoke.” 

Wayne says it was only after the local fire-brigade arrived in just a matter of minutes that they discovered the location of the fire itself.

“After the fire was extinguished we spent considerable time with militia inspectors responsible for investigating the crime answering questions and writing statements.  Later in the day the Head of Police for the Kaharlyk region came in person to get a better handling on the situation.  He said that this sort of thing had never happened in our town before and in particular to a religious group.

Fire-bombed window.

“Praise be to God for His protection.  The fire and water damage turned out to be minor. Good thing we hadn’t bought new furniture that we’ve been praying about for the children ministry for the last few years.  There was some water damage in the basement where the computer class is.  We haven’t determined the extent of the damage to the computers yet.

“God is so gracious. Things could have been so much worse. Previous attacks had been limited to breaking windows.  This act however is a much more serious statement. It was act designed to destroy (our building is valued at maybe $500,000).  Worse still six people were asleep in the building at the time of the attack. 

“Our three week-old son, Nikita, was sleeping next to a window, whose protection shield has been jammed open for the last couple weeks.  (I fixed that roller today!).
The crime may also be assessed as attempted murder if the room floor boards had ignited instead of slowly smouldering. We may have all died from smoke inhalation.”

Pastor Wayne Zschech  is asking people around to world to pray that God would be glorified through all of this: “We pray that the Lord would call people to salvation and that He would build up His body.  We rejoice in being chosen worthy to suffer for the sake of our Lord and His Gospel. We do also pray for safety but hold this prayer out with open hands.”

For more details go to: http://wayne.calvarychapelkaharlyk.org

Peter Wooding is a TV, radio and print journalist and media consultant having spent 10 years as news editor with UCB Radio in the UK. He has traveled extensively reporting from countries including Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Dubai, South Korea, Zambia, Gambia, Mozambique, Croatia, Israel and India. He reports regularly for CBN News, KCBI radio, ASSIST News and Sorted Magazine. Peter and wife Sharon live in North Wales, UK with their three children. Passionate to see God’s Justice and Mercy impact lives, Peter is director of a new UK ministry Mercy Project International (www.mercyproject.org.uk) to help at-risk young people in Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Kosovo, the Middle East and beyond. Contact Peter for consultation at woodingpeter@hotmail.com or tel. +44 1244 549167/+44 7500 903067.