Donetsk Christian University was founded in 1991 by the Ukrainian missionary organization “Light of the Gospel” through the help of Denver Seminary. The school was first known as Donetsk Bible College. The initial process of obtaining the territory and refurbishing the buildings for the school was led by Leonid Kartavenko, the director for the Donetsk branch of Light of the Gospel (which is now the mission, “Light of the Resurrection”).

In its first stage, the Bible college offered a one-year program to prepare missionaries that was created by professor Ray Prigodich of Denver Seminary together with the Light of the Gospel missionary organization. The program was created for a wide variety of missionary work, from preparing a student to start a new church to helping it develop through the first stages of growth. In the fall of 1991, Donetsk Bible College opened with 56 students from different regions across the Soviet Union. The first leader of the school was Alexei Melnichuk. He continued as president until 2002.

During the first two years of the school’s existence, students received an intensive training for missionary work. In 1993, a three-year “Bachelor of Theology” program was opened. That year, Donetsk Bible College was registered as a public organization called Donetsk Christian University.

In 1997, DCU was reregistered as a religious organization, founded by two church unions: the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians Baptists and the Brotherhood of Autonomous Evangelical Christians Baptists. DCU is independent from these church unions and is governed by a Board of Trustees.

In 1997, the Bachelor of Theology program was changed to four years and the “Bachelor of Missiology” three-year program was started.

In the spring of 2002, the DCU Board of Trustees offered the position of president to Sergey Rybikov, who continues to be president today.

In 2003, the “Bachelor of Church Ministry” program was opened for part-time students.

In 2006, in order to better serve local churches, two certificate programs were opened: “School for Preachers” and “In Step with the Master Teacher” (a program for Sunday school teachers).

In September 2006, DCU opened a satellite campus in the city of Balakleya (Kharkov oblast), working together with the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church “Light of the Gospel.” DCU began to offer the part-time program “Foundations for Theology and Mission” to students in Balakleya. In May 2008, the first group of this program graduated.

In 2007, DCU combined its Bachelor of Theology, Missiology and Church Ministry programs into one “Bachelor Degree” program with specializations in the above mentioned areas.

In 2008, DCU plans to open a new specialization of “Social Ministry” for its Bachelor Degree and a separate one-year program called “Foundations of Christian Worldview”.

At the present time, DCU is continuing its ministry and is making plans for future development. DCU is working on a strategic plan for the next 13 years, “Strategy – 2020.”

In addition to this, a working group has been created to help develop a humanities department that would eventually receive government licensing and accreditation.