The gospel has sustained the people of this besieged nation throughout their history and now inspires them to practical works of aid and mercy during this time of war.
The gospel has sustained the people of this besieged nation throughout their history and now inspires them to practical works of aid and mercy during this time of war.
S hortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, Pastor Dmitry of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol, a city in southeastern Ukraine, woke up to Russian military SUVs parked outside his house. Soldiers rushed in and seized his computers, interrogated his family, and arrested him. They accused him of being a spy and held him for eight days. They threatened to kill him. He was later released, but his plight is an unfortunately common one in the Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine.
According to the Institute for Religious Freedom, a Ukrainian watchdog group, 640 religious sites in Ukraine, most of them Ukrainian Orthodox or Protestant, have been damaged by Russian attacks. Evangelical pastors have been jailed, beaten, and sometimes killed by Russian forces. Russia has become one of the hardest places to be an Evangelical Christian, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Anti-terror laws prevent preachers from preaching the Christian gospel, and the government’s collusion with the Russian Orthodox Church restricts worship. That has been exported to the territories Russia has seized since 2022.
I visited Ukraine recently and as part of a delegation of Christian conservatives met with religious leaders in Kyiv. We heard firsthand accounts of persecution, from pastors and Ukrainian public officials who believe that the Russian invasion is an attack not only on Ukraine but on the Christian work that has been underway in this “Bible belt” of Eastern Europe. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Evangelical presence has grown in Ukraine, sending missionaries and church plants across Europe. One institution, the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary in Lviv, boasts 2,000 students and alone has seen alumni plant almost 60 churches in Ukraine.
We met with the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which comprises leaders of the country’s largest denominations. They made a strong moral case not only for the survival of Ukraine but for their country as a moral and spiritual outpost across Europe. Despite Russian disinformation in which the country is portrayed as a bastion of left-wing social policy, Ukraine is very conservative. It bans pornography and is one of the few nations that does not allow same-sex marriage, despite resistance from their peer nations in the European Union.
Yet I found the church in Ukraine to be resilient in the midst of war. One pastor told me that the war is “harvest time” for Christians, as many Ukrainians are turning to the faith for hope where others might despair. And it is the church that is meeting the spiritual as well as physical needs of besieged Ukrainians.
One ministry we visited, Save Ukraine, has raised funds from around the world to build orphanages and care centers. Their mission is to provide shelter, education, and counseling for the nearly 12,000 children who have become orphaned because of the war. Save Ukraine is also active in rescuing the nearly 19,000 children who have been abducted by Russians in Putin’s attempt to “Russify” Ukraine. Russian law allows parents to “adopt” kidnapped Ukrainian minors even if the children have families back in Ukraine. Save Ukraine has managed to rescue some and help reunite them with their families and to care for those who have been orphaned. We heard harrowing tales of young boys forced to become Russian soldiers and of young girls who were trafficked for sexual exploitation. This Christian ministry helps such victims with a threefold strategy of rescue, restore, and reintegrate.
This is just one of many examples of ways Ukrainian Christians are serving their nation in a time of war. When the war began, the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary opened over a dozen care centers across the country, connecting students with on-the-ground ministry.
Christians in this country are understandably weary, waiting with guarded optimism for a possible settlement and a just and lasting peace. They are clear-eyed about the difficult task of rebuilding once the war is over. Over a million soldiers will return with significant trauma. Nearly 7 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and over 3 million are internally displaced. Putting the country back together will require leadership on the part of the Ukrainian government. In our meetings with members of Parliament, many of whom are professing Christians, this was a constant topic of conversation.
Yet despite the challenges, there is a steely resolve. The faith that has kept the church as the spiritual center of this plucky nation is the faith that will help them chart another chapter in Ukraine’s long and storied history. “We cannot endure without God” was the refrain at the Ukrainian Military Prayer Breakfast we attended on our last day in the country. And as we boarded the train to leave, a marching band played Christmas carols in the train station, as if in defiance of the enemy that wished to silence them. Maybe this kind of bold faith will be contagious, spreading even across the pond.