Langham Live July 2026 with Dr Oleksandr Geychenko from Ukraine
In this Langham Live interview, Mark Armstrong speaks with Oleksandr Geychenko, principal of Odesa Theological Seminary, about his journey from a difficult upbringing in eastern Ukraine to a life devoted to theological education—and how the school and church have adapted since the full-scale invasion of 2022. Alex’s testimony is a powerful example of God’s transforming work amid hardship, and of how theological training can meet people’s deepest needs in times of conflict.
Event Transcript
Mark: So, Alex, thanks so much for being part of Langham Live. Could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself, tell us a little bit about your family, where you’re calling from at the moment, and where you serve.
Oleksandr: Thank you very much, Mark, for having me. And it’s a pleasure indeed to be part of this meeting. I was born and raised in the eastern part of Ukraine, exactly where the fierce fighting is going on right now. My home city, Konstantinivka, is now one of the centres where the Ukrainian army is defending against Russian attacks. Just a couple of days ago, I saw a video of the street where my house is. It is completely destroyed. All the buildings are destroyed down to the ground floor. So there is nothing left, actually.
I was born there, and for my first 23 years I lived there in Konstantinivka. My family was not a Christian family, actually. My mom was a communist. When I was 17 years old, the Soviet Union collapsed. Soon after that, my mother unfortunately passed away due to cancer.
By the time I was 20 years old, unfortunately, the place where I lived was a kind of criminal part of the city. Most of the boys were somehow involved in that, and of course my life was in the streets. By 20 years old, I already knew what drugs were, and I used them. I was an addict.
Exactly when I was 20 years old, I met a friend of mine, my former classmate, who had just been released from prison. He invited me and some of my friends to his apartment. During the meeting, he started sharing the gospel with us. As we learned later, while he was in prison, he had come to know Jesus as his Saviour and Lord.
He shared about that, and I recall feeling really envious because I understood that his life had changed completely. Soon after that meeting, when I came home, my mom was in an oncology clinic in Kyiv. Local Christians had brought her the New Testament, and she was reading it. I had that New Testament at home, and I started reading it.
Then I started meeting with my friend Ivan. After several meetings, he invited me to the Baptist church. After two or three visits, we were at his home sharing our experiences, and he asked me if I would like to commit myself to the Lord and say the sinner’s prayer. I did.
A few minutes after that, I experienced something very unusual. I experienced really deep joy and peace inside. The next day, I was released from my smoking habit, which I had had for about seven years, since I was 13 years old. Six months later, I was baptised in the local church.
Since that time, I have been part of the Baptist church. I started preaching and became involved in youth ministry. Three years after my baptism, which was in 1994, I decided to go to Odesa Theological Seminary and began my studies there.
At first, I thought about doing a one-year course, but during that year I realised that I probably needed to carry on. So I finished my bachelor’s degree there, and I met my wife, Tanya. She is a native of Odesa.
When I was finishing my course, I was invited by the seminary leadership to stay, and I became the senior librarian. I worked as senior librarian for six years. Then, a little later, I became the academic dean of the school and worked in that role for seven years. Then I continued my studies.
So that’s briefly about me. Of course, we have children. We have two grown-up daughters. The older one, Alice, has been married for two years already. The younger one is not yet married; her name is Taya. They are on holiday in Poland right now, so they are coming back in two days.
Mark: You know, it is a wonderful story of God’s grace breaking into your life. It’s just lovely to hear. I love hearing stories like that.
So, what led you into your ministry, and especially into theological education? It’s quite a journey from saying that you’re going to do one year in a Bible college to committing your working life to theological education. What led you on that journey?
Oleksandr: It’s an interesting question. I never intended to become involved in theological education. But when I finished my studies and started working at the seminary, I became involved in the work of the academic council. I had to understand what the programmes were about and how the library should assist the academic department, and so on.
It just happened that within the school there was a core of faculty members who were very serious about theological education, and they started involving me in different processes. First, we were involved in planning a couple of conferences, and we also discussed different publishing initiatives.
Our school published a theological journal called Thinking of God. It is more pastoral, so it is a kind of bridge between academia and the church. I was involved in editing this journal too.
It was a slow entrance, so to speak, into the field. I was especially helped by friends such as Sergey Sinikov, who is a Langham author and recently published his book on Baptist sacramentalism. He was the founder of the school, and he invited me to be part of several academic processes.
Slowly, I realised that this was actually my calling. I have been working in this field for almost 30 years now.
Mark: I just find it amazing. It shows the importance of investing in and encouraging people to come along. You are a fine example of the investment and time that was spent in you.
Somewhere along this journey, you came across Langham Partnership. Where did you first hear of Langham? What has been your connection with Langham Partnership?
Oleksandr: This is an interesting part of my life, so to speak. I was a student at the seminary, and I recall that one Friday the academic dean told us, “On Saturday we’re having a special guest, so be ready.”
We were not happy because Saturdays are normally days when students get to rest and relax a little bit. We were told that we had to wake up early because there would be a special guest.
Anyway, we came to the room and waited. Then an elderly gentleman and a younger fellow came in. Our academic dean introduced them, along with the founder of the school, and said, “This is Reverend John Stott.”
We had a whole day of lectures. He lectured on 1 Thessalonians and the ministry. That was quite exciting. I was really impressed by his humble spirit and his very sincere interest in our lives.
That was our first introduction to the founder of Langham. At that time, it was called John Stott Ministries.
A few months later, we received a box of books from John Stott, and I’m still using them. A little later, when I was the senior librarian, our school received an annual grant which we used to purchase fine theological books to equip our library.
Later, when I applied for my PhD studies, I also applied for a Langham scholarship. I was granted the scholarship and completed my studies at the University of St Andrews.
I’m really grateful for this investment and for the commitment of Langham Partnership to developing preaching ministries, investing in future scholars and developing local publishing initiatives. I think those three emphases are very important. They are crucial in order to build the church and make it really strong.
Mark: Absolutely. It’s wonderful to hear that story and how Langham continues to support and serve Odesa Theological Seminary through the library grants.
I know that you have come out of the other side of your PhD. What role do you serve now in Odesa?
Oleksandr: I am the principal of the school, which means I am responsible for running the school.
In general, my responsibility is predominantly administrative, but I am also involved in several academic processes. I’m trying to help my academic dean develop our school and several programmes.
Of course, my major responsibility is providing finances and developing the team. It’s a demanding job because, by nature, my gifts and my calling are more academic than administrative.
But the time when I returned to the school was really challenging. The board of trustees came to me and invited me to accept this role, and I’m still here.
I normally joke that my term has fallen during all the beautiful times. I came when the school had some financial difficulties, then COVID hit, and then the full-scale invasion hit.
Mark: That’s the blessing of being the leader of the school at such a time as this.
Oleksandr: Indeed.
Mark: In our weaknesses, we prove God’s strength.
Oleksandr: We do.
Mark: You’re certainly doing that. It’s lovely to talk about your spiritual walk, your progress at Odesa Theological Seminary and how Langham has been able to serve you.
But, of course, February 2022 changed life for all Ukrainians, and that has obviously affected the life of the school as well. What difference has the invasion of your country caused, both in terms of live classes and the whole running of the school?
Oleksandr: To say that the full-scale invasion disrupted the normal academic flow of matters is to say nothing.
I was trying to capture the feelings and experience in a chapter which I wrote for the book Light in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, sponsored and published by Langham Partnership.
The normal flow of academic life was disrupted. For the first six months, we were mostly in distance-learning mode. We were also trying to function partially as a support group for our students, almost like a therapeutic group.
At the same time, we were trying to reshape things. Most of the faculty had evacuated from Odesa because the city was on the line of the major attack from the Russian army. We only returned to Odesa after August 2022 because we saw that the Russian army had been pushed behind the Dnieper River, which meant that the city was more or less safe.
The full-scale invasion changed the way theological education is being done.
First of all, we see that not many people are committing themselves to longer courses of study, such as three- or four-year programmes. Most people commit themselves either to short courses of up to one year or to specific training programmes.
Secondly, we have lost some of our faculty. Some people evacuated with their families. Others were conscripted into the army, and some of our faculty members are serving in the army right now. Others, as I said, had to leave for other countries.
Of course, that weakened our ability to continue our normal academic activities.
But at the same time, we have seen significant opportunities because people suddenly realised that theology is about life. What we tried to do, with my colleagues and friends, was to use our ability to theologise about our experience.
For example, our academic journal, which I mentioned previously, decided to publish a special issue under the motto “God among the Ruins”. In that journal, we tried to reflect upon the experience of injustice, betrayal, pain, trauma and so on. We invited authors to reflect theologically on all of that.
That was the most successful issue of our journal historically. We sold up to 500 copies or something like that, and people were very grateful because, of course, all of us were involved to some extent in humanitarian aid and other activities, but nobody had done what we decided to do.
That is how we learned that theological education is important for people, especially for people who are under such harsh circumstances.
We were trying to bring biblical teaching, theological doctrine and experience together in order to help people see how these things answer their challenges and address their issues.
I should probably mention that one of the key challenges—and this is true not only for theological educational institutions but also for churches—is the scarcity of human resources.
As you may know, Ukraine experienced a wave of refugees. According to different estimates, there are up to five million people, which is a significant number. Of course, we also have a significant number of internally displaced people.
Those who lived in the eastern, northern and northeastern parts of the country fled their homes because those were the major areas where the fighting was taking place.
We experienced what you might call a reshaping of the church map. Of course, the average age of church members increased significantly.
Just a couple of days ago, I was reading a draft paper submitted by my colleague for another book project, which I can mention a little bit later. In that paper, he mentioned statistics showing that the average age of Ukrainian refugees in Germany is 28.
Before the full-scale invasion, the average age of Ukrainian citizens was over 40. You can imagine what happened. That means that the average age of Ukrainian citizens right now is significantly higher, perhaps over 50. That is also true of the churches.
Three weeks ago, my academic dean and I visited the city of Mykolaiv, which is further south and east and closer to the front lines. We were visiting a church because they wanted us to help them organise an educational programme for people who cannot leave the city.
We came to the church, and when we were preaching to encourage people, I saw that the average age of the members was probably about 60.
We had a conversation with the pastor, and he said, “A lot of young people have left the city and our church.”
But does that mean we need to wait for better times? No. We are working with those whom God has sent to us.
I was so encouraged by that because the pastor is not waiting for better times. We were planning to organise a part-time, informal educational programme there for those particular people, and we committed ourselves to that initiative.
Mark: Alex, what you’re saying out of your difficulties is really speaking to the heart of many congregations that are probably watching this. We can wait until better times or for a certain group of people, but we work with what God has given us now.
What has really challenged and encouraged me, as I’ve read through Light in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, is how you and your colleagues were able to process the invasion, adapt your minds and adapt your work, and encourage and support the church in a fresh way.
I know you probably thought it was a slow process, but even in times of conflict people can serve the Lord. Ministry is different. You’re in a place where you don’t want to be, but you’re still able to serve the Lord in whatever situation you find yourselves.
I think that’s a great lesson coming out of Ukraine at this time for the church.
Oleksandr: Indeed. It’s better to have things settled and carry on with what you’re used to. But we need to change constantly because the situation is changing dramatically every day.
Interestingly, the situation on the front line is changing too. The people who are there say that the tactics and the way the war is being fought change almost every three or four weeks.
Every three or four weeks, something new comes in, and the practices they used previously are no longer effective. They constantly need to find new ways.
Mark: Yes, that’s similar.
I’m having to draw things to a close. I could spend so much longer chatting to you.
Obviously, the reason why you can’t be on Langham Live is because you’re part of the Summer School of Theology, which is part of the work of the Eastern European Institute of Theology.
Your title for this Summer School of Theology is “Theological Imagination: Resisting Systems of Oppression, Injustice and Violence”.
What lesson can the church throughout the rest of the world learn? As the church in Ukraine has experienced oppression, injustice and violence, what are you teaching us as you experience hardship at this time?
Oleksandr: Mark, theological imagination may sound a little bit ethereal, so to speak—something that is not real. But in reality, we live out our imagination. We live out what we imagine daily.
For us here in Ukraine, we are trying to imagine a world where justice is done and where God is on the throne, where those who are unjust will be punished. To live according to this world means living as though this world is real—and it is real.
It’s not just a fantasy. Imagination means bringing something which you cannot see into your reality and allowing that imagination to reshape your reality and your activities.
That is why this Summer School of Theology is so important for us. We are trying to think about how theological understanding, the kingdom of God and God the Trinity can shape us as we deal with our challenges.
My personal experience—and I think I would like to emphasise this—is that, for us here throughout these four years, the deepest experience has been experiencing what the body of Christ is.
Ecclesiology is my topic of research. I knew what the body of Christ was—the mystical body and so on—but only when we started experiencing this connection through prayer, practical involvement, receiving help and so on did I really realise how deep and strong the connections between the members of the body are.
I really appreciate all those prayers which you in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK sent to the throne of Almighty God. I’m also really thankful for your assistance and involvement in the different projects which we are trying to accomplish here.
That is what the body of Christ is. I think the Lord’s Prayer—“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”—is the kingdom manifesto which we proclaim and try to live according to.
So keep proclaiming this manifesto together with us.
Mark: Amen. And we will see God’s kingdom come.
Oleksandr: Amen.
Mark: My dear brother, thank you so much for taking the time to be on Langham Live. We really do appreciate it, and we pray that you will know God’s blessing, not only in the Summer School of Theology but as you continue to serve Christ.
We look forward to that day when his kingdom does come, and we will live in peace and harmony because God will dwell with his people.
Thank you so much.
Oleksandr: Thank you, Mark. God bless.
Prayer Points
- Pray for the end of the war and just and permanent peace.
- Pray for resilience for churches and especially Christian leaders.
- Pray for Ukrainian theological institutions (Odesa Theological Seminary included) to be sensitive to and effective in their response to the needs of churches and society.
- Pray for the development of the team and financial stability of Odesa Theological Seminary.
- Thank God for partners who keep their focus on the needs of Ukrainian churches and society.