FERGUSON – Puppets, Crafts, and games were used as tools for sharing the gospel, to the delight of children and families of a St. Louis Ukrainian refugee church plant, called Shelter Church.
The party was held at First Baptist Church of Ferguson (FBCF), but two other churches joined hands to assist Shelter Church and Pastor Volodymyr (Vova) Zolotov encourage the congregation and share the gospel with guests. Zolotov’s wife, Jenya, received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox when she was a young girl and the OCC volunteers from the three churches, FBC Ferguson; The Journey Tower Grove; and Fellowship of Wildwood met with the pastor and his wife to support the ministry.
Zolotov wanted to have a Christmas party for the Ukrainian children that the parents could also attend. “We want to share with Ukrainian families the true meaning of Christmas, who Jesus is and why he was born more than 2,000 years ago,” Zolotov said. “Second we want to invite the people to the new church planting project, Shelter, and to help the kids join Sunday School to grow in the knowledge of Jesus and be able to teach it in their native language.”
Brandon McCain, The Journey Tower Grove pastor of missions and mobilization, attended the Christmas party. “We are the sending church for Shelter” he said, “and we are working to make connections with other Ukrainians in the city. We want to support their fellowship as they connect with neighbors.”
Zolotov agreed with this purpose. “We are refugees who became God’s people through Jesus Christ,” he continued, “and now, we are messengers for the Kingdom.”
The party was primarily in Ukrainian, and even Heaven’s Handful, the FBC Ferguson puppet ministry, sang some of the songs in Ukrainian. Pastor Zolotov led the worship and message in Ukrainian.
Ferguson puppet master, Steve Davis, used several tricks and displays between the puppet songs to share the gospel. “We are all different,” he said to the children he had asked to help him. After each child put in a colored scarf, he pulled out a single scarf of many colors. “But we are unified in Christ.”
Zolotov referenced the Ukrainian War and explained the name of the church. “Our church is called Shelter because of Isaiah 25:4. God says He is the shelter from the storm and we as Ukrainians have experienced a storm in our lives.”
“The purpose, vision, and strategy,” he said, “is for our family to reveal to our nation who have taken refuge in the United States that, as we introduce them to Jesus Christ, that He is the real shelter.”
In addition, Shelter started a bilingual service on the first Sunday of the month. “We want to reach everyone,” Zolotov said. “Many of our congregation have friends and neighbors, so we want to reach lost people.”