All for God’s Glory, Pre – and Mid – War
Dan Gollan of Soli Deo Gloria never thought he would be a pastor. Although his dad was a pastor, Dan desired a “dangerous, yet helpful” path as he grew up reading about war and people risking their lives for a bigger cause. Moreover, his dad would invite missionaries to share their stories which further fanned the flame in young Dan’s heart. At nine years old, he felt a great attraction towards being a missionary.
Dan quickly set his sights for the most dangerous place he could think of: the Soviet Union. While some people tried to discourage him from the notion, mentioning the country was closed to missionaries, Dan held fast. When invited to start schools in Africa at nineteen, paradoxically, he jumped at the chance. Dan subtly wondered if this opportunity would lead to him ending up in the USSR.
After serving for a year in Nigeria, Dan got connected to a job in England. There, he met Abe and Diane Bible who were training ministry leaders in Ukraine and had helped start several Christian schools. Ultimately, this path of surprising turns was God’s hand leading Dan to the dream of his childhood. Shortly after his time in England, Dan moved to a former republic of the Soviet Union, Ukraine.
A year later, Dan just so happened to meet the daughter of Abe and Diane, Priscilla. He had, by God’s grace, managed to notice her twice before in two different countries! A couple years later, Dan and Priscilla married. Together, they launched into ministry and got involved in a church plant in Kyiv. Though pastoring is not what he anticipated in his youth, he found the desire kind of grew in him as God led him more and more into evangelism and discipling people.
Ministry in Ukraine
Dan states it is not that hard to plant a church if you are willing to be faithful, invest in others, and release the desire to have a big church! Once the first area in Kyiv filled with obviously flourishing congregations, the Gollans moved and started their second church about twelve miles away. The Gollans served there for four years before finally moving to Rzhyshchiv, where they now reside and run their ministries.
For seventeen years, the church in Rzhyshchiv met in the Gollan's home along with Bible studies and focus groups throughout the week. Eventually, the congregation grew into what is now called Rzhyshchiv Evangelical Church. The assembly has its own building and many different methods of outreach. The Gollans have found that life and serving God do not often look like what one expects. For Priscilla, making coffee, cleaning up after events, and homeschooling her kids marked those seventeen years of house church. Years later, God unexpectedly brought Dan into the world of rehab, even after his initial rejection of the proposition!
No matter what form ministry takes on, it always points back to the Gollan's ultimate vision of serving God and being a light to the world through discipling and introducing people to Him. Their banner is “To God Alone Be the Glory”, or in Latin, “Soli Deo Gloria”. Today, the Gollans oversee the church and its ministries: Sunday school programs, discipleship groups, rehab homes, youth outreach events, and in the last two years, war relief efforts and re-homing refugees.
Wartime Changes
Almost all of Ukrainians say they are God-fearing, but their lives rarely express a relationship with Christ. Since the Russia-Ukraine war, people have found their usual sources of peace and security completely dismantled. Now desperate, many Ukrainians are acknowledging a deep hunger for God and desire for personal faith. For example, according to Priscilla, the ministry to children from families in crisis has had little to no fruit until recently. In the last six months, nine kids have repented and received Christ!
Another example is the testimony of Andrei who went through the ministry’s rehab program receiving an intense infusion of the Word of God. During his time there, he made the decision to follow Jesus. Today, Andrei is fighting on the front lines alongside many soldiers gripped by fear. Though he has been close to death time and time again, he relies on his faith and foundation in truth regarding the gospel of Jesus to dictate his actions. He feels the emotion of fear, but consciously chooses not to allow it to control him. As a result, his testimony there is strong. Andrei hands out dog tags inscribed with the Lord’s prayer and tells the men to recite these true words to reach out to God. He then uses this foothold to engage in further conversation about Jesus.
God’s Redemptive Work
Through His nature of redemption, God is using the war to reach the lost and solidify faith. To His glory, churches all throughout the country have risen up to care for those in need. Regarding the local body of believers, Dan testifies that Rzhyshchiv Evangelical Church has experienced deeper and more meaningful relationships than it ever has in the past as people cling to fellowship and the Word. While the truths from Scripture are unchanging, the dependency upon them has grown. In the same way, let us cling to God’s unchanging hand and continue to pray for Eastern Europe- that God would be magnified and many more would come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.