About Pavel Petihachny
My name is Pavel Petihacinai. I grew up in a non-Christian communist family during the Soviet Union occupation of Ukraine. However, when I went to high school there were students, classmates who were believers, and they had good influence over me. Shortly after finishing school I accepted the Lord as my Savior, and went on to medical school.
After I became a believer I was shunned by my family, as my father was a member in good standing with the communist party. At that time I was a medical student, and because of my new faith I was terminated, unable to go on with my medical education.
In 1977 I married Larisa, a pastor’s daughter and mature believer, and together we have five children, and all of which are involved in the work of the Lord, helping me in my ministry.
About the Ministry:
I graduated from a four year Theological Institute that was taught by a school in Florida, and in 1980 after I graduated I became a professor at the Theological Institute in Chernivtsi, where I also got involved as a missionary pastor in the church in the village of Nesfoia, as well as church planting in the villages: Criva, Balcauti, Stalinesti, and Podvirna. To this day I have a heart to reach out to the people in the Chernivtsi region and planting of new churches. All these villages where I worked to plant new churches are thriving and are enlarging the kingdom of God.
From 2002 to present time I have been coordinating the PIEI mission organization in Ukraine as well as serving the local church with other pastors and workers.
Our Vision:
· To take the Gospel fo Jesus from Chernivtsi region to the ends of the earth. Mark 16:15-16 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
· Locally: Our city Chernivtsi has a population of 260,000. Around the city there are six districts with many towns and villages. We pray that we can reach all of them with the Gospel and also equip them with a pastor to evangelize, disciple and grow them. For that we focus on training missionaries and pastors to further the gospel in the whole country of Ukraine.
· Internationally: we have developed partnerships with churches in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan giving them a helping hand in evangelism, as we are all fluent in Russian language in all the former Soviet countries.
Our Mission: to fulfill the greatest need of humanity, to be saved through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. We appropriate the great commission.
Our Strategy:
· we seek devoted persons and train missionaries at the Bible Institute to serve the Lord Jesus in Ukraine, to reach the unbelievers and disciple and equip the believers
· we develop projects that fit the needs that lead to the fulfilment of our mission and vision
· we develop partnerships with churches and mission organizations
· we develop projects to impact the schools and the orphans with social work and material needs as well as teaching them to study the Bible.
· we have also developed strategies to work with the refugees from the Southeast Ukraine, where there is an active conflict with Russia, by providing social help and engaging them in studying the Word of God.