About Us

We are David and Christine Detweiler a married couple from North east Ohio in the USA. How do we describe ourselves to you? This is what we often find difficult to do. What we really want to emphasize is how normal we really are. We are regular people who are on a journey toward what we believe God is calling us to. It is a walk of faith, full of challenges.

In the summer of 2001 we felt a call to go on a short-term missions trip to Ukraine. The trip was postponed because of 9/11 and we ended up going in February of 2002. When we were there God connected us with young couples who were in need of ministry to their marriages. We felt God calling us to go back to Ukraine for a longer period of time to minister to those we had built relationships with in the area of their marriages.

Our second time in Ukraine was in the fall of 2002 and we were there for one month. We had 2 different marriage groups of around 8-10 couples each, that met at our apartment twice a week for ministry. The Lord was slowly allowing us to see the huge need for marriage ministry there and His heart for His people. We realized we had only scratched the surface and a much longer and larger commitment would be needed.

On the first trip we felt like this was something maybe we could help with but the more time we spent the more the Lord revealed to us the need that was there. We felt He was also turning our hearts more toward the young people and their need for pre-marital ministry.

Our third trip to Ukraine occurred in the spring of 2003. We were there for 6 months starting in March and ending in August. We did a series of marriage seminars for the church we were connected with called "Father's House" in Kharkiv Ukraine. We also did pre-marital counseling with 5 couples who were engaged to get married. We realized while we were there that the Lord was turning our hearts more toward the youth. Trying to prepare them for marriage.

It has taken 3 long years for God to prepare us for what He is calling us to. We have sold all our belongings (or put them in storage:-) and we are ready for a long term commitment in Ukraine.

We have just come home from our 3rd trip to Ukraine from April to July 2006 to lay the groundwork for the ministry that will be almost entirely youth related. We feel called to intensive discipleship for college age youth. We also will be continuing the pre-marital ministry which will include the translation of material and training of Married couples to minister to their own youth in their churches that are engaged to be married. The marriage ministry that we went there to do on our first trips, is being carried on by a local pastor and his wife, and they are doing a great work there.

Please pray for us as we trust the Lord in faith for everything we need.
David&Christine Detweiler
ukrainecd@gmail.com