Northern Ireland Christian group: God’s plan put us in Ukraine at this time

As Russia wages war in the east of the country, Donald Fleming, the founder of Faith In Action said his thoughts and prayers are with the Ukrainian people with whom he has formed a bond.

Speaking to the News Letter from his home in Newtownards, Donald said: “On Thursday I saw the Russian tanks going into Volchansk which is on the Russian border. We were there three weeks ago helping people and preaching the gospel to them.

“21 years of service in Ukraine is flashing before my eyes. We’ve got to accept that God is in control of it all and that some good may come out of it.

“I’m receiving photographs of people sleeping overnight in the Metro, of children down on their knees praying to God for help, of children taking shelter from the bombs.

“We are praying for them here in Northern Ireland.”

Donald, who came to live in Northern Ireland more than 20 years ago from Scotland, added: “We (Faith In Action) were in Belarus for a few years, but it became a very difficult place to work, then the Lord called us into Ukraine.

“We could go to many countries and spread ourselves thin or we could focus on one big needy area and that’s what we do.

“I believe that God intended us to be in Ukraine for this very moment.”

Donald, who is married to Jacqueline, said: “We’ve had a fantastic time working in Ukraine. It’s a great country to work in.

“There’s extremes in Ukraine – you’ve got the very rich and the very poor. We work wherever we’re needed.

“We are based mainly around a city called Kharkov in the north east of Ukraine.

“Kharkov was the old capital of Ukraine, almost two million people live there. It’s a sprawling city with thousands of villages running off it.

“It’s about a seven-hour drive from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. We’ve been able to drive to those regions to help families suffering through the separatist war.”

He said: “We work in the villages, with people who are very poor and very sick, we set up care homes, we work with people with addictions, people in prisons and help to set up rehabilitation centres for them when they come out, we work with churches – there’s a whole range.

“We’ve been in the east at the war zone, helping families who had lost everything. We have different funds over there to reach out to the people who have nothing.

“When we are not in the Ukraine the work continues to be carried out by Christians there.”

He added: “Even though the war is going on people are still doing all of the work I’ve talked about.

“We can’t get into the country so we’ve set a fund up to help the families. We’re seeking to raise £100,000, we’re at £60,000 at the moment – that’s just in a few days.

“There’s a lot we can do from here but nothing we can do over there at the minute.”

Donald said the ethos of Faith In Action was to help anyone in need: “It doesn’t matter who they are or what they are. We work with everyone in Ukraine – Muslims, Hindus, Christians, unsafe people – we work with them all. If they need help they get help.

“The important thing we can do is share the word of God with them. At the end of the day if there are more Christians in the world there will be less trouble in the world.”

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