Prayer focus

THANK YOU, GOD

• For protection over our CCI/Ukraine staff, especially last Thursday, when a lot of drone and missile attacks, along with intercepting activity, occurred above their heads.
• For the CCI/Armenia leadership team’s visit to Camp Emmanuel, which served 45 campers last week. Their purpose was to see the camp in operation, get to know the team, ask about their needs, and build relationships.
• For Camp Maranatha at the Kurdish-speaking church in Georgia, which hosted 70 campers with 25 staff, and for the Salvation Army camp, which hosted 80 campers with 30 staff.
• For Camp [Name Withheld] in Country X, which hosted 45 children and 20 staff members, exploring the theme “We are Christ’s Fragrance.”
• For the Camp Philadelphia volunteers in Ukraine, who came to prepare the church building and yard for camp, and for the support of church members and pastors.

ACTIVITIES 

• We are in the last week of summer camps. In Georgia, camps will continue until the middle of September. Two notable characteristics of this summer in Ukraine: even more church-based day camps ran than last year, and it was quite common for boys’ cabin groups to be counseled by women.
• The CCI/Georgia leadership team is visiting Camp Maranatha to get to know the team, encourage them, and learn how to better meet their needs, as this is only their second year running the camp.
• CCI/Country X is participating in a prayer meeting with 30 leaders from 8 different churches, thanking God for the growth and spread of Christian camping ministry throughout the country.
• Camp Philadelphia is running a two-day day camp for 58 campers this week, with outdoor games, Bible study sessions, worship times and a workshop where campers are creating trench candles for Ukrainian soldiers and praying for them.

INTERCESSION

• We at CCI/Ukraine ask for prayer as drone and missile attacks have increased again. Pray for God’s protection over Ukraine. Camps are still running, and many campers will be traveling back this week.
• Pray for the CCI/Armenia efforts to encourage this year’s campers who may become counsellors next summer—that they would hear God’s calling, respond to it, experience life-changing transformation, and be empowered as future leaders.
• Pray for all our campers across the countries where we serve, as we come to the close of this summer season. Ask the Lord to help them keep and apply the transformations that took place in their lives at camp, so that the seeds planted would take root, grow strong, and bear lasting fruit in their daily walk with Him.
• Thank God for protecting Oleg, Andriy, and Maxim—the husbands of our staff Oksana, Dasha, and Jenya—this past week as they serve near the war’s front line. Pray for their continued health and safety. 

FROM THE MISSION FIELD: 

Nestor, 11 — “Finding Family in God”
Camp The Fire of Friendship, Ukraine, 2025

Nestor is 11 years old and comes from Izium, a city that has endured severe attacks. His life has been marked by loss and hardship: his father was involved in crime and died in a shootout, and his mother passed away from cancer. He is raised by his grandmother, whose strict discipline left little room for warmth or tenderness. Nestor grew up surrounded by fear, anxiety, and loneliness.

This summer, everything began to change when Nestor attended a Christian camp. For the first time, he experienced genuine friendship and acceptance. “I was heard. I was hugged. I was accepted,” Nestor shared.

Most importantly, he began reading the Bible and discovering God, not as a distant figure, but as a loving Father who never abandons and is always near. Through camp, Nestor found a place of safety, community, and hope, where he could begin healing and growing in faith.