The Dream of Ukraine

By Dustin R. Jones, MA

Volody Nesteruk stood before his congregation at Linwood Adventist Church in Spokane, Washington, on February 26, 2022. As he explained the current situation in Ukraine, his voice started to crack and his eyes began to water. 

“Today is the winter. It is cold in Kyiv, just like here and it is Sabbath. Our people are there. But their hearts are warmed with God’s strength and protection and care. They are singing and they are praising God!” he said. “God is on the throne and He is overseeing this whole situation. He is in control and He defends the oppressed.”

The unprovoked aggression from Russia has hit Nesteruk especially hard. He was born in Rivne, Ukraine, in 1969 and grew up there under the Soviet Union. He was drafted for mandatory military service at the age of 18 and served in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republican army for two years. 

Nesteruk has a heart for sharing the love and Gospel of Jesus with those around him. This love led him to enter the seminary following his military service. 

After graduating from Zaoksky Adventist University, located near Moscow, in 1995, Nesteruk pastored in Ukraine for 9 years. The last two years that he was in Ukraine, he pastored a congregation of more than 600 members in a church located in central Kyiv. 

“Our church was meeting right in the heart of the city, if you see that downtown square on many of the news broadcasts, the building to the right is the building that we were worshipping in every Sabbath,” says Nesteruk. 

He was invited by Upper Columbia Conference to minister to the Slavic people here in the Pacific Northwest in 2004. Though Nesteruk and his wife, Natasha, now call Spokane their home, Ukraine will always hold a special place in his heart. He still has many family members and friends that live in Ukraine. 

“The Ukrainians are on the frontlines of democracy,” says Nesteruk. “We have chosen democracy. We don’t want to give it up. This isn’t just about Ukraine, this is about democracy in the rest of the world.”

According to Nesteruk, life in the Soviet Union was one of fear. There was so much fear involved that everyone kept to themselves and reported on each other. Now that Ukrainians have had a state of democracy, they want to live a Western kind of life. 

They would rather die than go back to fear.

“The Ukrainians are proving that they are a strong enough people that they can stand up to the military giant that most of the rest of the world was afraid of,” says Nesteruk. 

As the battle rages on, the Russians continue their attack on the heart of Ukraine. The world’s largest plane, named “the Dream” and built in Ukraine, was destroyed in their attack. 

“Though they destroyed the Dream plane,” says Nesteruk, “they will never destroy the dream of Ukraine — the dream of democracy.”

If you don’t know how to support the people Ukraine in this conflict, support them through prayer. The whole world is uniting in prayer. On March 5 Linwood Adventist Church hosted an event in support of Ukraine. To watch this moving event, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=55uv7dHK13c. 

All financial donations for Ukraine are being directed towards ADRA International at www.adra.org. To listen to Volody Nesteruk’s sermon, “How to Prepare for Final Crisis,” see youtu.be/n5emagQGRtM?t=1973.