With a population of 1.5 million people, Kharkov is the second largest city in Ukraine. The Jewish population there numbers about 40,000, the majority of whom are atheists. Included in the Jewish community of Kharkov are many intelligentsia and also many elderly and needy people. Memories of communism are intense and there is much pride.

The response to the gospel is a very clear-cut "yes" or "no." Rarely do we find a neutral opinion. Many people particularly those who receive financial help from Jewish agencies are afraid to consider Jesus because of pressure from the synagogue. Yet many Jewish people are interested in the gospel and willing to risk learning more.

That interest was clearly demonstrated in 1997, during our Kharkov witnessing campaign, when we received more than 1,500 addresses from Jewish people willing to receive our publications. One Jewish believer in Jesus, Irina Rivkina, prayed fervently for the start of a branch in Kharkov. The answer to Irina's prayer came in 1998 and she became our first staff member in Kharkov. Next, Irina's sister, Yulia Sokol, joined our staff. In the summer of 1999, Irina and Yulia left Ukraine to serve in Essen, Germany, and Jewish believer Mikhail Vayshengolts came to lead the work in Kharkov. He was joined briefly by Leonid Dolganovsky, who also moved on to serve in Germany. Outreach workers Elvira Meyer, Yelena Gourtovaya and administrative worker Slavik Meyta joined Mikhail and Ira on the Kharkov staff since 2001 and they make up our full-time staff.

Because the staff is few in number, our Kharkov branch depends on regular volunteers.

Some unique aspects of our Kharkov branch:

• We have the lowest printing prices of all the branch cities of Ukraine, so all our Russian language publications are printed in Kharkov. The managers of the printing company are Jews and we pray that they will actually read some of the material they are printing!
• Mikhail has had opportunities to preach regularly through Trans World Radio. As a result, many more Christians are praying for the salvation of the Jewish people and for the ministry of Jews for Jesus.
• Elvira uses Jewish folk dances to reach Jewish hearts.