Prayer focus

THANK YOU, GOD

• For protecting CCI/Ukraine camps throughout the summer. By His grace, no camp was damaged by missile or drone attacks, and God’s Word was shared in every camp with children affected by the war, including displaced children, those who experienced occupation or attacks, and those whose parents serve in the army, have been killed, or are missing.
• For a follow-up one-day meeting for 31 children and their mothers in Armenia; for 98 campers in two residential camps last week in Georgia; and for 42 campers in a five-day residential camp in Country X, where Pastor O. described camp as “a piece of heaven that we bring down for our children.”
• For the five-day day Camp at Good News Church in Ukraine [church name changed; exact location withheld], serving 70 children and their families despite the church being partially destroyed by a Russian guided bomb earlier this year and now being rebuilt. 

ACTIVITIES

• CCI/Ukraine is registering leaders for the September Covenant Group gathering in Ukraine (exact date and location undisclosed). The Covenant Group brings together leaders from 30 camps that share our mission and vision and volunteer to support our staff in the ministry year-round. We are preparing training courses and practical steps to apply them across the ministry.
• CCI/Armenia is preparing a follow-up meeting for 15 campers. CCI/Georgia is visiting two camps and supporting their teams as sessions conclude (school starts Sept. 15); 20 leaders continue weekly prayer. CCI/Country X is gathering, repairing and storing the summer camp equipment that has been loaned out for camps to use, preparing it for continued use in upcoming follow-up programs and camps.
• Good News Church Camp is following up with parents through a special gathering last week and a Sunday service, and developing weekly boys’ and girls’ clubs to keep children connected to the church and growing in their interest in God and the Christian faith. 

INTERCESSION

• Please pray for CCI/Ukraine team safety as Russia intensifies attacks on Kyiv and central Ukraine, and for resources should evacuation become necessary. Pray for strength and wisdom to keep serving, and for peace, confidence, and safe travel for Covenant Group participants as they consider leaving their families amid ongoing missile and drone attacks.
• Intercede for lasting spiritual fruit among campers across Armenia and Georgia, and for God’s protection and work in the 2 churches running camps for 70 campers in Country X (school starts Sept. 15), that each child would respond to the Gospel.
• Ask God for the children and camp team amid ongoing attacks on the city where Good News Church Camp is located—for safety, wisdom, courage and peace; for the children to remain connected to the church and grow in faith; and for the mostly teenage camp team to grow in responsibility, teamwork and a heart to serve.
• Thank God for protecting Oleg, Andriy, and Maxim, the husbands of our CCI/Ukraine staff 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  

When you run a children’s camp in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine…

We at CCI/Ukraine received this picture last week from a Christian camp in Zaporizhzhia. In the foreground is a “Chuyka” drone detection device. The word comes from the Ukrainian verb meaning “to sense,” “to hear,” or “to perceive,” and carries the idea of an instinctive ability to detect something before it is visible.

A Chuyka detects the signal of an enemy FPV drone, even from a few kilometres away, giving people time to reach shelter before the drone arrives and brings destruction.

This picture describes something of the atmosphere in which Christian camps are being run in Ukraine.

And yet, while the Chuyka device is helpful, it is not what has primarily kept these camps safe this summer. First of all, it has been lots of prayers—including your prayers each week.

This summer, once again, your prayers have helped keep the camps safe.