Around the World
INSTE in Ukraine
By Tammy Swailes
Having served more than twenty years living in Ukraine and working with INSTE in the churches, I’ve gotten to know many of the several thousand INSTE students. (INSTE is an affordable distance-education discipleship and leadership development course.) Although their church backgrounds and locations are diverse, one thing these students all have in common now is that their lives were forever changed on February 24, 2022, the day the war began in Ukraine.
Behind each news headline chronicling the daily developments of the war are hundreds, thousands, even millions of other stories behind the headline. Some among our Open Bible family have inquired about the INSTE students there. Many never left their homes and are either serving their country as volunteers delivering humanitarian aid to the needy in their neighborhoods and across the country or protecting the citizens of their cities. Many students are scattered throughout Europe living as refugees, waiting until it is safe to return. Others are attempting to shelter in their homes, which have become part of occupied territories they no longer can flee. Others have escaped with little more than their lives from bombings that have laid waste their homes and cities, making them refugees as well.
Each have stories, but not all are ready to tell their stories. For many it is not yet safe or appropriate (under martial law) to give details. Here are the experiences of a couple of our INSTE friends:
One mother from Ukraine wrote this account:
War is death; it is fear! Not only for yourself – fear for your children, family, parents, and friends. Fear of losing everything and everyone. And of course, fear for your life, realizing that we have but one life here on earth. These are not just words; these are experienced feelings.
I never thought that all this would happen to my family and me. My grandfather went through World War II. He won that war. History is repeating itself now with his granddaughter. The only difference is that “our brothers” went to war against us. It’s horrible. It is impossible to understand or accept.
Our former life stopped on February 24 at half past four in the morning. I was awakened by a strong explosion as the whole house shook. My son ran into the room shouting, “Mom, get up. We are being bombed!”
He was trembling with fear. I thought, “It can’t be. No, it’s not real. People cannot do this. We live in the 21st century. How?!”
I jumped up. Outside the window everything was aglow. The airfield and other places were on fire. I cannot describe specifics further because we live in a military town. I couldn’t believe this was war. I didn’t want to accept it. We quickly grabbed our clothes and documents and ran to my parents’ home. Although I am 40 years old, I found myself calmer next to them.
My husband was on a business trip at the time. I didn’t know what to do or how to continue to live. I was sobbing as I began to close up my house. I thought, “This is my life, a house built with our own hands, animals that we love very much…. But the life of our children is more important. Should we run? Where? How? How can we leave it all? This is mine, beloved and dear to my heart. I can’t give it up. I don’t want to.”
It was like tearing out your heart and forcing yourself to move on. It was very scary and painful. Prayer was soothing. My boys supported me, and in the end, we decided not to leave our home. We will endure and persevere here! This is our land, our homes, our families. We will not give them away to anyone. Our life will never be the same again. I ask God for victory! I know He will help.
The second response came from a student in central Ukraine:
I’m very happy tonight because my nephew and his entire frontline unit received things that we lovingly collected for them. We were able to raise the necessary money to buy them 19 new uniforms, berets, T-shirts, sweaters, caps, underwear, and socks. Additionally, we provided them with a thermal imager, night vision equipment, gun silencers, tactical knives, and a machine gun stand. Some people donated sleeping bags, backpacks, food, and medicine. Also, a local mission donated the use of their bus, gasoline, and a brave driver who delivered it all directly to the front.
What do I want to say? Together we are strong! I have always known that wonderful people live around me, but I didn’t know how many! This time of trouble has united us. Within ten minutes of making our desire to help our soldiers known, we started to receive responses. Someone I had never met handed me 19 sleeping bags, moving me to tears!
We are a great nation! We are defending our land and this war is personal, so we must not be defeated. The soldiers fighting on the frontlines are not other people’s children; they are all our children. And you must know that the Ukrainian mother will break the whole world for them.
These are just two short stories from our INSTE students. There are many more stories to be heard. Over time we will sit and listen to them retell their stories. They must be heard.
Until then we must pray. Use the news headlines as fodder for your prayer, knowing that real people with real families with real lives behind the headlines depend on your prayers.
(Above) Some beautiful scenes of Ukraine before the war.
About the Author
Tammy Swailes, is the European Director for INSTE. She lives with a Ukrainian family in Ukraine but gets to work on various projects with INSTE around the world. Currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Intercultural Studies, Tammy loves black and white photography, languages, and meeting people from different cultures. Her life’s passion is to help the Church more effectively fulfill the Great Commission.
Ask Open Bible pastors in Africa what the biggest problem in their church is and most reply with one word: REVIVAL! Just as Saul once ravaged the early church in Acts 8, our African brothers today face similar conditions: harassment, arrest, and even death for following Christ. But in the face of persecution, our churches are experiencing rapid growth in thirteen African nations. They’re calling for our help, not to alleviate the suffering, but to build new church facilities to serve their expanding congregations and communities.
The Global Harvest Offering of 2026 is “Building Hope in Africa,” and it is our opportunity to participate in this revival. In this initiative, we will partner with our missionaries and national directors to fund thirteen new church building projects across the continent. God is using faithful missionaries and nationals to plant churches, raise leaders, and reach communities with the hope only found in Jesus!
… in the face of persecution, our churches are experiencing rapid growth in thirteen African nations.
Our missionary partners are many: the Godwins, the Kopps, the Parkers, Okon Obot, Peter Mahoye, the Moores, the Welches, and our brothers and sisters throughout the Antioch Network.
Thirteen churches.
Thirteen countries.
One goal:
to raise the $200,000 needed to
cover the costs for all thirteen projects.
With over 230 Open Bible churches in the United States, we can meet the financial goal of the Global Harvest Offering if each church gives $875. Alternatively, just 2,000 people giving $100 this year would meet the goal. Your support in this effort helps build more than walls; it builds hope, community and the Kingdom of God. Look for the QR code or this link to give to Building Hope in Africa today. Thank you for your partnership to build hope for Africa.
On October 31 – November 5, 2025, Japan Open Bible Churches celebrated their seventieth anniversary. Global Missions Director Vince and Lois McCarty, Open Bible President Michael and Julie Nortune and I were honored to join them for this celebratory occasion.
My own connection with Japan goes back to my twenty-third birthday when I boarded a plane to Kobe with two suitcases, only five words in my Japanese vocabulary, and a heart full of missionary zeal. During my six years there, the Japanese church shaped me deeply as both a missionary and a person. When I left Japan thirty-six years ago, I left a piece of my heart. Joining them again to celebrate seventy years brought me real joy!
When I left Japan thirty-six years ago, I left a piece of my heart.
Japan Open Bible has become a true partner in ministry with Open Bible Churches globally, a partnership especially visible across Asia. The anniversary celebration honored the legacy of Japan Open Bible missionaries and the heritage of churches they planted while also affirming the importance of today’s smaller, community-based congregations. We visited, preached in, and celebrated with churches and pastors in both eastern and western Japan.
Japan’s geographical isolation and a 250-year ban on Christian missions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gave Japan a reputation as “the missionaries’ graveyard.” Yet, after World War II some US veterans, having seen the spiritual vacuum in Japan, returned as carriers of the hope of the Gospel. The Jake Collins, Eddie Carnes, and Phil Rounds families were among the first in the 1950s era to be sent by Open Bible Churches.
From a handful of missionaries and new believers in the early years to a network of Open Bible Churches across Japan today, God’s presence has been a steady flame of hope in the darkness.
From a handful of missionaries and new believers in the early years to a network of Open Bible Churches across Japan today, God’s presence has been a steady flame of hope in the darkness. Even though fewer than one percent of Japanese identify as Christian, today across Japan we see our churches, large and small, alive with joy and power of the Holy Spirit.
One of the early converts, now ninety-year-old Yaeko Yoshinaga, is likely the oldest surviving member of those first Japan Open Bible congregations. As an eighteen-year-old, she lived with the Rounds family helping in the home. She loved their children and learned to love potatoes (more than rice) as they did, but even more, came to faith in Jesus Christ.
Yaeko says, “I would not have believed in Jesus if I had not met Mr. Rounds, the missionary.“ She and her husband later pastored for 45 years, and today her son and wife pastor the flourishing church. Decades later, the flame of God’s love still burns brightly in Yaeko sensei. Her love, joy, humility, and faith impact every generation in the church. She remains a powerful reminder of how one relationship can change the direction of an entire life.
Pastor Yoshio Ishikawa told me the story of how he came to Jesus as a young boy. In the late 1960s, ten-year-old Yoshio’s family lived near an Open Bible Church in the Sumida neighborhood of Tokyo. He recalls, “When I was ten, I saw a TV drama about an incurable disease. It scared me, and without really knowing why, I walked into the church in my neighborhood that I had passed by many times. That church was Sumida Open Bible – the church I now pastor.”
Today, Pastor Ishikawa uses his talent as a skilled musician to reach people in new, non-traditional ways. He teaches a group ukulele class as a bridge to the gospel. Students learn to play the ukulele, then hear a teaching from the Bible and join in prayer. Other approaches, like book clubs, English lessons, and choirs, give churches relational ways to connect and open doors for evangelism.
In fact, many “unconventional” forms of evangelism are used to touch lives in churches in Japan. Often, churches and Christians invest years building trust and relationships before someone decides to follow Jesus. In my own experience, I saw that converts under my ministry were often a result of groundwork laid by others before me.
Looking ahead, Japan Open Bible embraces a bold vision: to plant ten new churches throughout the country in the next decade. I, for one, believe it can happen! God has not abandoned Japan. The hope of the Gospel that the missionaries brought with them back in the 1950s continues to burn brightly in our brothers and sisters of Japan Open Bible. May God fan that flame as they carry His hope across the country in ways we have not yet imagined!
As I leave Japan once again, I reflect and am grateful to have shared in the celebrations of what God has done, excitedly anticipating what He will do next!
Listen to Yaeko Yoshinaga’s testimony:
About the Author
Tammy Swailes is passionate about cross-cultural Christian education, so working with INSTE Bible College to disciple and equip leaders throughout Europe and beyond is a great fit! Tammy has lived in Europe since 1999 – first in Hungary and now Ukraine. Before that, she was in Japan, as well as Spokane, Washington. She now serves as INSTE regional director in Europe, assisting INSTE programs in five languages. Tammy has her undergraduate degrees in both Missions and Christian Education and a MA in Intercultural Studies. Photography, good coffee, multi-cultural experiences, and the family’s Yorkie are some of Tammy’s favorite things.
Around the World
Hope Rising in Venezuela: How Open Bible Churches are Transforming a Nation Through Faith and Compassion
Despite Venezuela’s fifteen-year ongoing humanitarian crisis, with nearly seventy percent of the population enduring multi-tiered poverty and almost half facing severe humanitarian needs, a movement of hope has unfolded in Open Bible Churches. Across the country, Open Bible is not only responding to urgent physical needs but is also nurturing a generation of believers in faith and service to stabilize Venezuela’s future.
Open Bible is not only responding to urgent physical needs but is also nurturing a generation of believers in faith and service to stabilize Venezuela’s future.
Church soup kitchens have long ministered beyond their walls to ensure that vulnerable children receive a hot meal. They also see that families receive food supplies, clothing, and shoes, bringing tangible relief to their neighborhoods. The Church has also stepped in where public services falter through medical outreaches – with eye exams, vaccinations, and even free haircuts. Through these initiatives, a vibrant children and youth ministry has emerged. The youth are not just recipients of aid but have become leaders, actively involved in church life – in worship, evangelism, and home groups.
Often, children and youth have no Christian family support and are the only believers in their homes. Many were left with relatives when their parents went to nearby countries in search of a better life. So, the church teaches and empowers youth to grow spiritually and practically. These “little-big giants” are proving to be a wave of hope as they grow “in wisdom and stature, and favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).
Venezuela’s church is resilient, reinventing itself to meet the social, spiritual, and familial challenges with creativity
Over the years, events like the “Good News Festival” have sparked revival, resulting in Open Bible church plants. This festival, focused on children, reflects God’s heart for the youngest and most vulnerable, and brings new life and whole communities into faith. It is not unusual for entire families to be brought to Christ through their children.
Despite the widespread emigration of many adults, Venezuela’s church is resilient, reinventing itself to meet the social, spiritual, and familial challenges with creativity and, above all, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Open Bible brothers and sisters in Venezuela demonstrate how the Church can thrive despite adversity by living out Jesus’ command to love our neighbors, serve the least, and disciple this generation. Through continued partnership and prayer, we look forward to seeing Venezuela transformed by the hope, faith, and love found in Jesus. If you’d like to support our Open Bible family in Venezuela as they share Christ’s love and serve those in greatest need, please send a check to:
| Open Bible Churches 2020 Bell Ave. Des Moines, IA 50315 | Make checks payable to Global Missions of Open Bible Churches and write “Venezuela humanitarian aid” in the memo line. |
Thank you for partnering with us to extend Christ’s love and mercy in Venezuela.
About the Author
Tammy Swailes is passionate about cross-cultural Christian education, so working with INSTE Bible College to disciple and equip leaders throughout Europe and beyond is a great fit! Tammy has lived in Europe since 1999 – first in Hungary and now Ukraine. Before that, she was in Japan, as well as Spokane, Washington. She now serves as INSTE regional director in Europe, assisting INSTE programs in five languages. Tammy has her undergraduate degrees in both Missions and Christian Education and a MA in Intercultural Studies. Photography, good coffee, multi-cultural experiences, and the family’s Yorkie are some of Tammy’s favorite things.
