The War Continues...

An update from Michael, Pastor of our related church in Dnipro, Ukraine... (Full names concealed for security reasons)

On February 24, 2022, we woke up to explosions. The war had begun. In just a few days, the Russians occupied 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine and continuously launched rocket attacks on our city. We did not know how fast the Russian army would reach our city, all we could do was pray and constantly read news feeds about more and more destroyed cities in Ukraine. A food crisis began in the country, a transport collapse, huge queues at gas stations, and a failure of the banking system. I urged our church members to evacuate their wives and children to European countries or to the quieter western regions of Ukraine.

During the first few days of the war, 90 percent of church members left Dnipro. The remaining members of the church, as well as our friends and relatives, gathered together every day for prayer and mutual support. We wanted to be as effective as possible in helping our people, therefore, having assessed our capabilities, we converted the building of our church into a huge shelter, and on the third day of the war we received the first batch of refugees.

They were exhausted people, shell-shocked from explosions, pregnant women, children, old people, wounded. They came to us in cold trucks in the February frost, in personal cars, on which there were traces of bullets, some were brought by Christians who began to serve people and help with the evacuation. Very soon, all the free space in the church building was filled with mattresses. Hundreds and hundreds of refugees began to come to us around the clock.

Our small team of volunteers faced huge challenges to serve hundreds of people every day. Around the clock, we washed bedding, prepared hot meals, collected clothes, provided medical supplies, cared for the wounded, changed diapers for bedridden elderly, cared for children and pets, cleaned showers and toilets, and handled administrative matters. But there was the most important challenge thrown to us - to preach the gospel to the refugees. The war brought them a lot of suffering and pain, their houses were destroyed, their relatives were killed, they had no idea what to do next.

We felt powerless because we could not console their wounded hearts and we did not have optimistic forecasts for them about the outcome of the war, but we had the news of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins and the eternal hope that a merciful God gives people. We thought that because of the pain and broken hearts, no one would listen to us, but despite our scepticism, the refugees eagerly accepted the truth about Jesus and asked us to pray for them. Together with them we cried and rejoiced, prayed and thanked God for His grace.

We received seven and a half thousand refugees in our shelter during the first nine months of the war. Our greatest joy was that most of them heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and saw God's mercy towards them through our humble ministry. About a hundred thousand refugees have now settled in our city. Their situation is really distressing because rent prices have increased several times, there is little opportunity to find a job in the city and food prices have increased because of the war.

We continue to take care of the refugees and distribute 450 packages a week with basic food. Refugees come to our Sunday services and listen to sermons about Jesus. Most of them had never heard the Gospel before and have negative attitudes toward Protestants, but the Lord continues to open hearts and give them faith in Jesus Christ. After a year and a half of war, 30 people have now become new members of our church. In the middle of the week, most of the people at our prayer meetings, women's fellowship and children's club are immigrants from the destroyed cities of Ukraine.

Our modest efforts would be meaningless if we did not have the tremendous spiritual, prayerful and financial support of our partners in ministry from the Sovereign Grace family of churches. From the first days of the war until now, you have been supporting us. Your words of encouragement lift us out of discouragement and despair. Your generous donations allow us to feed thousands of the hungry and preach the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ to the war-torn people of Ukraine. We are eternally grateful to you for your faithfulness to the gospel and your evident love for Christ. We are not alone in our grief, you are with us, and this brings endless glory to our Savior Jesus Christ, who made us one spiritual family.

The war continues. As before, the Russians are bombing our cities, and civilians are still being killed. As before, Ukrainian soldiers are dying, and already 9 of my close friends have died defending our people. My parents were unable to evacuate and remain in occupied territory. Two months ago my father died and I couldn't be at his funeral. My mom had a heart attack, she's paralyzed, and there's no way I can help her. And we don't know when this war will end.

But one thing we know for sure is that God accompanies us with His grace in the darkest days of our lives. His grace shines brightly in our good Father's care for the eternal souls of suffering people.

Please note, if you’d like to directly give to this work in Ukraine you can do so via the European Development Fund. Please write ‘Help Ukraine’ in the note box, your contributions will be gladly received.