Ukraine is going through ongoing dark and worrying times. With the outbreak of war, fear and uncertainty are filling the whole nation. Every day brings more alarming news, with continued shelling and growing numbers of casualties. Yet in the midst of this evil and carnage, there are pastors and their churches in the Ukraine that are labouring hard to care for people, and to offer hope that can only be found in Jesus.
We are eager to pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, what an important gift that is to them, and we’re also eager to support them financially in anyways that we can.
To that end, we’ve been working closely with our partner Church in Germany - Arche Church, in Hamburg, throughout this difficult time. A few years ago, Arche Church planted a church in Ukraine with one of the PC graduates, a Ukrainian pastor. His Church is located in a place in Ukraine where people are fleeing from some of the Southern cities, port cities that are being heavily bombed. They’re making their way through his city on the way to the West, trying to find refuge and safety. They’ve set up 90 beds in their church, but typically on a given night, they’ll have over 150 people that arrive with the need for food and a place to sleep.
To help partner with them in this, through the generous giving of personal donors and churches, we’ve been able to send out over $60,000 in support of this church’s relief efforts, money that we’ve been able to send over to them on a weekly basis. They are so very grateful for this gospel partnership, so much so that our contact on the ground (Pastors name name not included for his protection) wrote this to us just yesterday by way of an update:
‘Dear brothers and sisters. I just received the money. We thank the Lord for your commitment to the gospel, for the brotherhood of the cross, for your practical love. You point us to Christ. We spend your donations to receive refugees from the destroyed cities, we offer them hot meals, lodging, showers and administration for further movement to the West. Also, we make food packages for migrants, for all those who have lost their jobs and livelihoods. We purchased a washer and dryer for the refugees. We refuel the cars of volunteers who transport people from the war zone in their cars. In addition, we help financially single mothers with children. We purchase the necessary medicines for patients with chronic diseases. We have not done this before on such a scale, but now, we are already "professionals" in social assistance to people and their accommodation. Of course, we want to show them Christ in us, and we are therefore looking for every opportunity to speak the gospel to suffering people. May the Lord Jesus be glorified in our ministry together with you.’
What a privilege we have to partner with these dear brothers and sisters in this way. Please pray that God would work to put a stop to the war in Ukraine, and that He would protect pastors and their churches as they labour for the gospel in the midst of very difficult circumstances.
In addition, if you or your church would like to give financially to support these relief efforts in Ukraine, then please give directly to the European Development Fund here (last one on the list), and your monies will then be sent directly to the church and pastor we’re working with. Right now, we’re able to get money over to Ukraine on a weekly basis, however, given the fluid circumstances there’s a chance our way of getting money over to Ukraine may close. If they do, we will look for a ‘plan b’, and do all we can to continue to get all financial gifts over to the Ukraine, and to where it’s needed most.
What a privilege we have to partner with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine in this way, as they seek to shine the light of the gospel, even in their darkest of the days. We’re so much better together. Soli Deo Gloria.
