As early as the mid-19th century, a Reformed congregation stood in Odesa. However, with WWI and the Russian revolution, many pastors and priests were executed and the congregation fled; and their building became a Soviet Puppet Theater before falling into disrepair.
In 1996, American MTW missionaries organized a Presbyterian congregation and succeeded in having the ownership of the building returned to the church. I moved with my family from Western Ukraine to Odesa in 2001 and I served the church as an associate pastor until 2014 when I became the senior pastor. We have three children, Lyudmila, Valeria, a son Ostap, son-in-law Valentine, and a grandson Luka. Valentine serves in the Armed Forces. With the start of the full-scale invasion, many church members fled. Currently, our church has many elderly members and internally displaced persons from Kherson and other regions who have joined the church. There are also local people who have come to God during the war.
