Prayer focus

THANK YOU, GOD

• For CCI/Ukraine’s Oksana, our Director of Education, whom God protected through two weeks of Russian attacks on her small hometown. Last Wednesday, she drove to a friend’s home in a safer city, leaving her home behind. This week, she is teaching a course for medical workers at a camp (see ACTIVITIES below), then traveling across Ukraine to teach and help lead the Covenant Group Gathering while awaiting God’s provision for winter housing.
• For 48 campers at the second session of Camp New Generation in Georgia, and 23 children reached with the Gospel at a five-day residential Camp [Name Withheld]in Country X.
• For 56 young people at the five-day, Bible-centred Camp StartUP 2026 in Ukraine in July, and for the follow-up hike in August with campers and youth from the local church to reconnect after camp and continue building relationships. 

ACTIVITIES

• CCI/Ukraine is running a training seminar for camp medical workers on “Emotional Burnout During Wartime” including art-therapy sessions for attendees (dates and location withheld). We are also preparing for the Covenant Group Gathering, where 40 leaders from 25 camps will explore church-camp planting and growth. These leaders share CCI/Ukraine’s mission and help us reach 2,500 leaders from 450 camps through 30+ annual training events.
• CCI/Armenia Steering Committee is praying and planning for the autumn ministry season.
• CCI/Georgia is hosting a three-day camper follow-up seminar for camp and youth ministry leaders, delivered by a training team from Ukraine, Moldova, and the United States.
• CCI/Country X is leading a two-day Camp and children’s ministry seminar for 12 participants on reaching and discipling children and strengthening children’s ministries in local churches.
• Camp StartUP 2026 is reopening regular youth meetings for 20+ youth, continuing summer relationships and discipleship and creating a place where young people can grow in faith and serve together throughout the year.  

INTERCESSION

• Please, pray for CCI/Ukraine families facing growing danger as Russia attacks Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Pray for protection, wisdom, and financial resources to evacuate families to safer places when needed. Pray that God will preserve lives, provide for our staff and their families, and grant Ukraine a just and lasting peace.
• Please pray for wisdom as we teach church leaders in Georgia and Country X, and that they will reach and disciple children and youth and strengthen camp and children’s ministry in their churches.
• Please ask God to strengthen the Camp StartUP 2026 youth’s faith, give them a desire to serve, and give them courage to share the Gospel in the city centre and lead worship. Pray that God would use their passion to reach more young people for Christ, minister in the local community, and grow them into new leaders for Christian camping and youth ministry throughout Ukraine.
• Thank God for protecting Oleg, Andriy, and Maxim, the husbands of our CCI/Ukrainestaff Oksana, Dasha, and Jenya, as well as Oksana’s older son, Ilya, this past week as they serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Pray for their continued health and safety. Pray for Andriy’s recovery and for the restoration of his leg function after he was wounded at the front line in January.
• With the sharp increase in Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding area and Kryvyi Rih, with many civilian infrastructure sites and homes destroyed, please pray for God’s protection over our staff Pavlo, Oksana, and Dasha, their families and homes, and the CCI/Ukraine office in a residential area of Kyiv.

FROM THE MISSION FIELD  

Barbara, 15, Georgia: “The Barbara who came to camp is not the same Barbara who is going home.”

At 15, Barbara was struggling at home and increasingly drawn into unhealthy habits and influences. She hesitated when a friend invited her to camp, but came. There, Joseph’s story spoke to her: rejected by his brothers, tested by hardship, and uncertain about his future, yet never abandoned by God. Barbara began to see her own story differently, and believe she, too, could choose a new direction.

Through Bible teaching and caring relationships, Barbara began opening her heart, learning about communication, love, forgiveness, and healthy relationships. Instead of hiding, she began connecting with others and facing the choices that had been pulling her in the wrong direction.

At the end of camp, Barbara summed up her experience: “The Barbara who came to camp is not the same Barbara who is going home.” She returned determined to leave harmful habits behind, rebuild relationships, and grow in her faith, grateful that God had never let go of her.