Ukraine (MNN) — “The life message is being spoken and proclaimed.” That’s the message from Larysa (la-REE- suh) Ploskonis (PLOHSS-ko- NEESE), LIFE International’s regional director for Eastern Europe. “God is a giver of life, and pastors and church leaders embrace it and during the counseling of abortion minded clients also.” It’s embraced, in part, not because it’s a political or social issue. Ploskonis says, “In many places this issue’s not raised at all, but as it is being raised it is being raised in the context of the church.”
A map of the 2014 pro-Russian protests and unrest in Ukraine, by oblast. Severity of the unrest, at its peak, is indicated by the coloring.
(Map cred: RGloucester via WikimediaCommons)
As God stirs the hearts of pastors and church leaders, He’s also moving in other ways, “The last revolution in Ukraine is actually titled the revolution of dignity and it was to signify that every man is significant, proclaiming the dignity of man. When we were grieving the lives that were lost one of the leaders of society actually said that yes we will forever remember those hundred but we should remember the millions of children that are being aborted.“
LIFE International provides resources and training to convey the message of life and the gospel, and lives are changed through the spoken word and through the personal testimony of those who’ve received Christ. Says Ploskonis, “In the world that still doesn’t have much reason to hope, those people who are volunteer counselors, they have their personal testimony as to how God has entered their life and how they got to know the living Christ and how their lives were restore and healed. They bring this message everywhere they are, anywhere they meet people.”
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Ploskonis concludes, “It’s truly revolutionary in changing the mindset in the way how they see life and themselves and everything around.”
