Speaking to colleagues at InterVarsity’s National Service Center, Bob Grahmann said, “What you do invests in students, who come to Christ and change the world.” Grahmann is the Director of the IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) Eurasia Institute for Staff Development and Training in Kiev, Ukraine. He’s had a front row seat for the electoral campaign that ended in protest and upheaval. And he’s observed that students are leading the political transformation, just as they did during the collapse of the Berlin Wall 15 years ago.
Students involved in CCX (the Ukrainian IFES affiliate) Bible studies and other chapter activities have given out hot tea, fresh socks, and warm clothes to the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered in Independence Square in Kiev. Ukrainian students also set up a prayer tent to pray with those involved in the protest.
“There were many opportunities to share the Gospel,” Bob said. “There was a real freedom [during the protest].” He added that one of the lawyers who took the protesters’ case before the Ukrainian Supreme Court shared that he was a CCX grad and requested prayer for the arguments that overturned the disputed election and won a new vote for the Ukrainian people.
InterVarsity Link is InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA’s staff connection to the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). Bob Grahmann is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church. He has previously served as director of Bible and Life for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He is the author of Transforming Bible Study (InterVarsity Press) and shares more about the students of Ukraine on InterVarsity’s Link website.
Christian students in Egypt have also been involved in recent protests. Details on InterVarsity’s International Student Ministries website.
