Viktoriia Grytsenko is a University researcher in England and is passionate about anti-Islamic apologetics.
When did you trust Christ?
I was born in the Soviet Union in a non-Christian family with divorced parents and tragic deaths on my mom's side of the family. Searching for peace, my mom started visiting an Orthodox church and took us with her. I was not too fond of it because I did not understand the language. I wanted to understand the God I believed in. Somehow, I always knew that God existed. One day, we visited a Christian crusade, and my mom bought a book by Billy Graham and a Bible. By reading these books, I realised I was a sinner, and I confessed my sins, accepting Jesus as my Saviour. I was about 13 years old.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
A few defining moments are when I learned about Evangelical churches and started attending one, meeting our missionary friends from England who would come to our church, and meeting a pastor of an Arabic church in Kyiv. He helped organise seminars on Islam and outreach among Muslims in Dnipro. Lastly, participating in ELF and meeting people like Jay Smith, Hatun Tash, and Emil Shehadeh has been very impactful for me.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
My participation in the Forum has significantly helped and inspired me to work and minister in my expertise to organise and hold several seminars each year to help equip Christian leaders in my country. This year, I hope to meet more brothers and sisters from Muslim backgrounds--their testimonies were hugely encouraging to me at ELF 2024!
What is your ministry?
Apart from being a devoted Christian in my part-time job at a hostile secular university environment, my current ministry is in translation and editing Christian books, mostly apologetic arguments against Islam.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
I used to lead a home group ministry and Alpha courses and helped my husband lead youth ministry at our church.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
I see my role as equipping the church in Ukraine to be ready to challenge Islam and Muslims in Ukraine. You should invest in my ministry so I can continue learning about the topic of anti-Islamic apologetics. Your investment will also help me to continue investing in students at my secular university.
