DCU President

Oleksii Melnychuk

Ukrainian religious leader, pastor of Baptist church, one of the founders of the Light of the Gospel Missionary Society, Rivne (Rovno), Ukraine.

Oleksii Melnychuk has a master's degree (MA, World Christianity) from Denver Seminary, USA (1996). He is a lecturer on Christian leadership and the history of Christian theology.

From 1989 he was an evangelist for "Bethany" Church in Dubno and was the vice-president of the Light of the Gospel Missionary Society in Ukraine. From 1991 until 2002, he was the first president of and professor at Donetsk Christian College, which was founded in the city of Donetsk by the Light of the Gospel mission in partnership with Denver Seminary. Later the college was transformed into a university and Oleksii Melnichuk remained its president until 2002.

In 1997-2003 he became the first president of the newly founded Euro-Asian Accrediting Association for Evangelical Educational Institutions (EAAA). In 2000 he also became the pastor of the Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Donetsk. In 2002-2003 he served as the president of Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries / Spiritual Renewal Association, Moscow, Russia, and in 2003-2004 as the president of the Fellowship of Independent Baptist Churches and Missions, Kiev, Ukraine.

Currently he is CEO of Connect International and (since 2009) president of Donetsk Christian University.