At the end of February, Gethsemane church held a massive outreach for children and their parents, associated with the holiday of Candlemas. There were over 200 children who received special gift packages “Samaritan Purse” and Gospel was preached to over 300 people. Gethsemane worship group began the holiday with singing Christmas worship songs.

Special guests from the local authorities visited the event with a greeting word on behalf of the Regional and City administration -Volodymyr Lys, Regional Service in Children’s Affairs and Oksana Rubai, a city mayor’s advisor and a deputy of the city council.

Prayer in Unity

Both Gethsemane Pastor Valeriy Marchenko and a Roman Catholic priest Gregory Draus shared short Christian greetings and prayed together for God’s blessing on the event and led the church in the “Our Father ” prayer. The church sanctuary seats were all taken by families of an underprivileged background, invited through our local district administration. Plus, there were 15 teenagers invited from the city boarding school.

The outreach featured not only Christmas songs, but also Christian videos of the Superbook series with the story of Jesus birth and the moment of Simeon seeing Jesus (the Jesus film). Children from Lviv School #9 presented their own illustration of the reason for Candlemas holiday— Simeon meeting the holy family and baby Jesus.

They also performed a Christmas song at the end of their performance. It was great to see children praising God in His church. Sister Myroslava Plakhtyna translated a famous song “Mary, Did you know? ” and performed it herself.

Deacon Slavic Vorovchenko spoke a Gospel message to both children and their families on the gift of God—Jesus Christ—that we need to “open it” by praying to Jesus asking for forgiveness of sins. And then came the… TIME FOR GIFTS and GOSPELS!