Agape's 10th Anniversary

The time has come for Agape as an organization to pause, and looking back, evaluate the results of our ministry. It’s been 10 years already – 10 years since the day Alexander Fedorchuk moved to Ukraine with his wife and baby daughter. They moved to Kherson to start an orphan ministry, to serve children living in the orphanages of the Kherson region.

 “2004 was a hard year. I knew in my heart that God had called me, a US citizen, to serve the orphans of Ukraine - but what first, where to start, how to start and with whom? These and similar questions were all I could think about. I started looking for answers.

 I thank God that He encouraged and strengthened me through my wife Vera, who was ready to take our little daughter and cross the ocean with me. As we made this transition, there were many difficulties, but these challenges did not stop us in pursuing the God-given desire burning in our hearts: to minister to orphan children. We are very grateful for those who supported us during that time, encouraging us, giving needed counsel, and helping in many different ways.

We came to Ukraine... and settled on the city of Kherson as the place we were to live and minister from. Now the question was how to find others who were called of God to minister to orphans, people we could work with. We began the search for answers anew, again there was uncertainty, and there were many questions and doubts. However, we knew that God’s timing is always right. If He has truly given a vision for ministry, nothing can hinder it because His will is perfect. I would be the last to say that there were no difficulties establishing Agape Ministries, but praise God, that’s all behind us now!

Today, Agape is growing, maturing, and expanding into new areas of ministry. We are seeing not only the young, green shoots of spiritual growth, but there is real fruit maturing in the lives of the children we have ministered to. Our young orphanage graduates have not only come to faith in Christ as their Savior, but have decided to commit their lives to serving Him. Some of them have become missionaries themselves, ministering in Kenya, India, Nepal, and Kirghizstan. This is a great encouragement and gives us assurance that we are faithfully pursuing the will of God as we minister to the orphans of Ukraine. May God receive the glory and honor He deserves for His work in these young lives!”

Alexander Fedorchuk,

President, Agape Ministries International

Agape Ministries has been growing and expanding more and more with each passing year. New directions in orphan ministry are being taken; new outreach projects are taking shape all the time. So what results of the last 10 years of ministry can be seen today?

 1.  32 staff teachers and 176 volunteers conduct weekly Bible lessons in 48 orphanages across 7 regions (states) of Ukraine and 5 orphanages in Belorus. Through the work of these people, 4000 children are reached with the Word of God every week. More than 15, 500 Bible lessons are taught in the course of a year. 

 2. Agape’s curriculum developers have designed three different sets of Bible curriculum,                                     covering each year a child lives in the orphanage system ( 1st-9th  grade).

3. 10 classes have graduated from Agape’s Ministry School, organized to prepare and equip local believers who desire to commit themselves to orphan ministry. The graduating classes in total were made up of 299 students from Ukraine, 4 from Russia and 5 from Belarus.

  4.  Agape conducts training seminars on a yearly basis for local Christians called to orphan ministry. Over the past 10 years, we have held 9 seminars in Ukraine, 6 in Russia, 1 in Moldova and 1 in Belorus.  These seminars were attended by a total of more than 400 people.

 5. At the present, Agape (along with its ministry partners) is operating 10 Adaptation Centers, with 40 orphanage graduates currently in residence.  

This number changes yearly, as new graduates move in and others move out. After having become family, they leave the centers to begin their own adult life; supporting themselves, starting their own families, and even becoming full time missionaries. (11 of our former residents have gone on on to get married and 6 of them are ministering as missionaries in foreign countries.)        

The teenage residents of the Adaptation centers attend local Evangelical churches, taking an active part in church life and ministry. The gladly share their testimonies of how God has changed their lives, and this produces an even greater desire for local believers to keep the orphans of Ukraine constantly in their prayers.  

6. Over the Christmas and Easter holidays, Agape Ministries organises holiday programs that reach more than 100 orphanages. This outreach effort is made in partnership with the local churches closest to each orphanage, with more than 200 volunteers being mobilized for this project. More than 12,000 children receive gifts yearly in this way.

 7. In 2012, Agape started a new outreach project called “My Photo-History.” This project is aimed at raising the self-esteem of orphans, attempting to convince them that they are a wonderful creation of a loving God. More than 1500 children are given studio pictures of themselves yearly. For most of them, these are the only pictures of themselves that they have.

 8. For the 5th year now, Agape has organized a celebration of International Child Protection Day. More than 300 children from 10 orphanages all over the Kherson region travel to Kherson yearly for this holiday. There is a full, fun-packed, day-long program for the kids with songs, puppets, competitions and games (and boat rides!) that the orphanage children joyfully take part in. Not only that, but each child goes home with their own gift.

 9. Each year, Agape Ministries holds 10 or more  summer camps for orphans. These camps take place either on orphanage property or at camp facilities, with more than 1500 children attending. Around 250 Christian volunteers work to make these camps possible.

 10. For past several years, Agape has been focused particularly on ministering to orphanage graduates. We have been setting up special meetings to spend a little more time with them right before their actual graduation. We discuss their thoughts about or plans for the future. We leave them with a duffle bag containing a kit with a Bible, toiletries, towel, sheets, etc. In 2013, 550 orphanage graduates from 27 orphanages in 8 regions of Ukraine received these graduation gifts.

 11. In 2013, another ministry project was started with Agape’s help. 18 mature believers from different churches in Kherson expressed their desire to become mentors for orphanage children. We have helped train them and coordinate their efforts to make this desire a reality, a prolonged investment in the life of an orphan. A mentor is an attentive and caring adult friend who in time becomes as close as family, whom the teen can trust, someone to whom they can approach at any time for help, someone who will genuinely love them and share their sorrows and joys.

So, what results can we see today from ministering to orphans over the past 10 years?

Orphan children are not only coming to know their loving Creator God, but are accepting Him into their hearts at summer camps, during teen ‘Friends Clubs,’ Bible lessons, and just in one on one conversations.

 Who is it that helps them to come to know Christ as their Savior? It’s you! Christians -  from different countries and all walks of life.

 We are so thankful to each and every one of you who is touched by the needs of orphan children, who care about the lives of these children, giving of your money and time, supporting them in your prayers. “How blessed is he who considers the helpless” Ps 41:1  Your good works in ministering to orphans do not go unnoticed. Even though when it comes down to it you know that the works you do are between you and God, your love through these works is like a lighthouse shining hope to those who are in need. As you give your best to others, you will find that you can never give too much. May God bless you as you bless others. He sees your heart and sees how you are truly blessing those around you as well as the orphans of Ukraine.  Dear friend, May God supply your every need!

*Note: Agape Ministries is growing, and the Fedorchuk family is growing as well. They have 5 children now: Anya, Pasha, Marika, Veronika and Alexander. Praise the Lord!

*Pictures here & here from the 10th Anniversary celebration & graduation ceremony of the 10th Ministry School.