The Events of History
The Acts of God
The Obedience of His Servants
A MESSAGE FROM JOSIAH VENTURE PRESIDENT DAVE PATTY
A MESSAGE FROM JOSIAH VENTURE PRESIDENT DAVE PATTY
Dear friends,

Unexpected crises are never a surprise to our sovereign God.

The global pandemic in Europe seemed to end on one particular day, February 24. When the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, all eyes and hearts forgot about other threats and fixated on one looming danger—the largest military crisis in Europe since World War II.

In the book of Acts, we find a key turning point in chapter eight, when a crisis that could have killed the fledgling church actually served to strengthen it. A CONVERGENCE of three streams sparked an advance of the gospel.

First, we see Saul killing Stephen and then fiercely persecuting the church. These are events of history that are difficult and out of our control.

Secondly, as the believers fled, they didn’t do so as defeated refugees but rather as kingdom ambassadors. Instead of being overwhelmed by tragedy, they preached the gospel wherever they went. In their response, we see the obedience of God’s servants.

Thirdly, in each new location, the message was received with much joy and was accompanied by miracles of redemption and healing from God. Their small efforts were joined by unmistakable power from on high. In the third stream are clear acts of God.

Looking back over this last year, we see this same convergence across the European region. The war in Ukraine is tragic and has produced so much suffering and loss. The persecution of this nation and the suffering of the church is very real. History has been cruel.

Yet in over 30 years of serving in the region, I have never seen such an up-swell of compassion and initiative on the part of God’s people. Believers have opened their homes and hearts in obedience, and the result is nothing less than astounding.

Our team is just a small part of this, but we were able to transport 5,500 people to safety, purchase and deliver 850 tons of food and medical supplies, and provide 2.2 million meals to displaced people. Many thousands heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and only in heaven will we know the number of souls that were saved because of the bold witness.

During the summer, we partnered with local churches to initiate 153 outreach camps and events for young people in Ukraine and 12 surrounding countries. Over 7,000 people were reached in these events, and many lives were changed. These are clear acts of God, as he does what only he can do to open blind eyes and draw lost people to himself.

God has used you to fuel this movement through your financial support and prayers. You are part of a CONVERGENCE that is advancing the gospel in the midst of unexpected crisis.
Your generosity made a huge difference in the lives of Ukrainians
2022 FINANCES
Total Donations by Year
+$6.7 Million
for Ukraine
+$6.7 Million
for Ukraine
2022
$14.45 Million (Unaudited) / $21.15 Million in Total
2021
$13.5 Million
2020
$12 Million
2019
$13.5 Million
2022 Expenses
2022 MINISTRY REPORT
Evangelism
  • Our sports ministry, Edge, has grown significantly this year. For example, in Romania alone, Edge increased from eight to 13 teams. They were able to organize an international soccer tournament with 150 players, most of whom were non-Christian, and shared the gospel at the event.
  • In Serbia, one of our staff members, Stojce, is doing daily
    5-minute messages on YouTube from the Bible and has 50,000 people following his feed.
  • This summer, we partnered with local churches to organize over 90 evangelistic camps. At these camps, 2,370 unbelieving young people heard the gospel, with 357 of those people professing faith in Jesus for the first time. There were also 289 reaffirmations of faith at these camps.
  • Our Exit ministry to schools had 20 events in which over 8,150 young people heard the gospel.
Discipleship
  • In 2022, we developed “Share,” a new program to equip young people to communicate their faith. This seven-week small group experience is accompanied by a mobile phone app to help youth pray for their lost friends and take the next steps in communicating the good news. Share has already been translated into 12 languages, and this innovative program has equipped almost 1,500 young people.
    josiahventure.com/share
  • The JV team is personally involved in regular small group or one on-one discipleship with over 1,000 students and young leaders.
  • We developed new online discipleship resources for youth leaders in Poland and Slovakia.
Training Centers
One of the special initiatives of this year has been to expand our training centers. In 2022, we were able to:
  • Purchase land for a training center in the Ukrainian city of Lviv—in the midst of war.
  • Begin renovation and expansion of our training
    center in Zilina, Slovakia.
  • Purchase adjoining land and a building for our H2O training center in Poland. This was immediately put to use for housing Ukrainian
    refugees.
  • Purchase a building in Vlore, Albania, for use as a training center.
  • Begin negotiations for land for a youth camp in southern Albania.
Key Opportunities in 2023

We have no idea what events of history await us in the year ahead, but we are planning on responding in obedience to three key opportunities:
  1. Bringing help and hope to those suffering from the war in Ukraine. This will involve a number of initiatives both in Ukraine and in the surrounding countries. Pray with us for God’s intervention to bring peace.
  2. Equipping young leaders to be messengers of hope and boldly share the gospel in these unstable times.
  3. Teaching youth group leaders to address the rapidly growing issues of depression, anxiety, insecurity, and hopelessness in the next generation, with resources from God and his Word.
Come pray with us for live requests from missionary teams on our interactive website or download our mobile app called the Josiah Venture Prayer Room, available now for iPhone and Android.
Give to a specific Josiah Venture project, intern, or missionary. We have almost 180 missionary staff who are from the countries in which they are serving.
Join a mission trip with Josiah Venture and share the gospel in English cross-culturally.
Contact (630) 221-9332   |  donors@josiahventure.com
Download the 2022 Report PDF
Contact (630) 221-9332   |  donors@josiahventure.com