Three Years On: Reflections on the War in Ukraine

It has been three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After decades of relative peace on the European continent, Russia invaded Ukraine without provocation. Below are the reflections of Europe and Middle East Regional Coordinators, Nate and Stacy Tatman.  

Full-Scale Invasion

Three years ago today, after weeks of Russian troops accumulating at the border between Ukraine and Belarus (Moscow claimed this was for training purposes), Ukrainians experienced the unthinkable – a full-scale invasion on their country without provocation. 

Taken by a pastor who was delivering supplies.

Two weeks before the invasion, we held a Zoom call with the Ukrainian national leader for the Church of God, Pastor Stepan, his wife Lyuda, and the church’s youth pastor Valentina. This was our first conversation with Pastor Stepan since starting as regional coordinators for Europe and the Middle East.  

While the threat of war loomed over their country, Stepan spoke about all the great things happening in the eleven Church of God congregations throughout Ukraine. Not only were these churches impacting their local communities, but they were also connected to the Church of God movement throughout Eastern Europe. In fact, pastors from Russia, Ukraine, and a few other countries were planning a conference in Georgia to take place in June of that year.  

In Russia, members of our 3W Team were working with the pastors and elders of one Church of God congregation. The congregation had gone through some turbulent years as they navigated leadership changes and then had to downsize from three campuses to one during COVID. Our team was working with this group to help them establish a new vision for the church and we had made plans to visit in March to hold a weekend conference. Our flights were purchased, visas were being prepared at the embassy, and the logistics of the weekend were being finalized. 

These stories illustrate the fact that leading up to February 24, 2022, the Church of God in Ukraine and Russia were on the move. God was doing some spectacular things through these churches. But much of this came to a screeching halt when Russian armies attacked.  

Of course, no one expected the war would last three years. Everyone hoped it would end within six months, but certainly did not believe it would extend beyond a year. Yet here we are, mourning on the third anniversary of the invasion and seeing continued daily reports of death and destruction in Ukraine at the hands of the Russian military.

Loss 

We mourn the many losses over the past three years:

• The loss of countless lives, families, communities, and cities that have been destroyed or occupied.  

• The loss of the homes and churches of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in the far eastern part of the country, which is now occupied by Russia. Seven Church of God churches have closed.  

• The loss of a homeland and culture. Many Church of God pastors, elders, and believers were forced to flee from their homes in Ukraine and resettle elsewhere in Europe or the United States.  

• The loss of connection between the Church of God in Russia and the rest of Europe. For the safety of all involved, communication has been limited.

Destruction from shelling makes it difficult to get supplies to people.

Despite all the loss and destruction, the Ukrainian Church of God has chosen to use this tragedy as an opportunity to shine the light of Jesus Christ in a very dark place.  

Moving Forward 

The Church of God in Ukraine has not ceased to be the Church in these difficult times. And Church of God congregations in many countries around the world – the United States, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and others – have continued to walk alongside our Ukrainian brothers and sisters over the past three years.  

Loading up supplies to be delivered to Ukraine.

• From the beginning and still today, basic life-sustaining goods are being delivered throughout Ukraine from Hungary and Germany.

• Some churches in Ukraine have not only continued to keep their doors open for weekly services and programming, but they are also caring for their communities by providing for basic needs and housing internally displaced people (IDPs).  

• Funds have been given to help renovate and winterize church buildings in Ukraine, as they are often left without electricity.  

• Vehicles have been purchased to help deliver goods.  

• Property has been purchased to house IDPs with a plan for providing trauma care when the war is over.  

• In Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the church is providing its space for Ukrainian refugees to receive counseling. In addition, one of the leaders (originally from Ukraine) gives Bulgarian language classes to refugees to help them integrate into Bulgarian society.  

• In Calw, Germany, a new church was started by Pastor Stepan and others to reach the Ukrainian refugee population. The church continues to grow and experience people come to faith in Jesus Christ.  

• Ukrainians have received scholarships to attend our 3WLN events in 2022, 2024, and again in 2025, giving them a time of respite and encouragement.  

Ukrainian Church of God serving Ukrainian refugees in Germany.

While we have had minimal contact with the church in Russia, we know they have navigated the complex challenge of staying on mission during this time as well, and they have continued with a new vision and strategy for the church, shining the light of Jesus Christ in their community.

Our Hope 

As talks of the war coming to an end are taking place at the highest levels, we are left wondering when and how this will come to pass. While politicians will likely determine that outcome, we are praying for the day when the attacks on Ukraine as a sovereign nation will cease and Ukrainians will have the opportunity to rebuild their lives in Ukraine.  

Many people/families have been displaced and so have many faith communities in Ukraine. When travel opens again, undoubtedly many who still have homes will return. Restoration of homes, offices, stores, and churches will be necessary for Ukrainians to begin again.

As the trauma caused by what has transpired is processed, the Church will be well-positioned to provide trauma care, a strong sense of community, and a message of hope and healing that is so desperately needed in dark times.

We have already been looking ahead at ways we can continue to walk alongside the Ukrainian Church of God as we all pray for this war to end. There will be many difficulties and challenges to navigate when Ukrainians make their way back home and/or welcome back those who left during the war. We pray they have this opportunity.

Our mission for disaster relief & restoration

Disaster Relief proclaims and demonstrates the Good News of Jesus by empowering the people of God to collectively respond to human suffering and faithfully pursue the restoration of all that is broken in order to bring the Kingdom to life on earth as it is in heaven.

We continue to need your support – first through prayers, and secondly through finances.

If you would like to help financially support ongoing relief and restoration efforts in Ukraine, we continue to receive gifts through the Disaster Relief and Restoration fund of Church of God Ministries. Be sure to type “Ukraine” in the space for gift description. 100% of your donation will go towards the relief and restoration of the Ukrainian Church of God.  

Thank you for standing with the Ukrainian Church of God through these last three years. It has been an exhausting three years for them. Our team will continue to walk alongside the Church in Ukraine, and we are so grateful for those who are partnering with us in that effort.

Further reading:

A Lament for Ukraine  from the European Evangelical Alliance.  

Cedar Home Lebanon

Since 1912, there has been a Church of God presence in Lebanon, beginning with missionaries sent by the Missionary Board to start a school in South Beirut. Twenty-four years later the Church of God registered with the government. Over the decades the church has grown to eleven congregations with 500 believers.

In 1957, Church of God leaders in Lebanon were approached with the idea of running a shelter for children who had been separated from their families while immigrating from nearby countries. Out of this, Cedar Home for Girls emerged and was registered with the government in 1961. Since that time, Cedar Home has provided “a Christian community and residence located just outside of Beirut, Lebanon, that cares for orphaned and disadvantaged girls, building them up to become independent individuals.” (https://www.cedarhomelebanon.org/)

In addition to housing girls, Cedar Home also supports 260 families with basic necessities with the goal of keeping families together. This support also gives Cedar Home staff the opportunity to stay connected and build relationships with families, ultimately sharing the love of Jesus Christ with them through not only words, but action.

Most recently, due to sociopolitical unrest and economic challenges, many boys in Lebanon have experienced an elevated risk of unjust labor trafficking. Seeing this reality in his local communities, Cedar Home’s Executive Direct Karim Anayssi knew something more could be done. As he prayed and processed next steps, he recognized the opportunity that could be given through vocational training, allowing young men an alternative to help provide for their families.

As Karim began walking out this vision, he became convinced that a non-residential academy to train students in a marketable trade could be a viable solution. The additional benefit would be the opportunity to offer connection and discipleship to these young men through a local Church of God congregation.

When faced with the challenge of finding a location for this training to happen, Karim realized he knew just the place. Cedar Home already owned a building – the original Cedar Home for Girls – located near a Church of God conference center in Lebanon. Unfortunately, the girls living in the original home had been displaced from this location by the Syrian army, who occupied the building for several years during the war. The building had been vacated for decades since that time, but Karim knew there was an opportunity to breathe new life into it and began drawing up plans to renovate the war-torn facility.

Today, Cedar Home is steadily moving towards the goal of opening its Vocational Center for Boys. As funds are available, they are making strides to complete necessary building renovations and to begin filling it with the necessary furniture and equipment.

We continue to be inspired by Karim others at Cedar Home who are thinking innovatively to address the needs of those in their communities and sharing the love and message of Jesus Christ.

The Vocational Center for Boys can only be completed as funds are received. Please click on this link to learn a little more about the work being done: https://chogglobal.org/mission-projects/projects-europe-middle-east/cho/

Snapshot in Time- Fall 2024 En Mi Lugar

Grab a cup of tea or some Cuban coffee and take a moment to catch up with our colleagues and Church of God church planters, Alejandro and Carmen DeFrancisco, as they fill us in on this season of ministry in Madrid!

3W: Before you moved to Madrid in the Spring of 2018, you were Church of God pastors in America, right? What did your ministry there look like?

Alejandro and Carmen:  Yes, we spent the previous 17 years in ministry, with some very talented teams of people, planting 17 churches in 15 cities in the US! Much of our time was spent in Florida. With our past 6 years in Spain, we’ve been serving in ministry for 23 years! I can’t emphasize enough that ministry and church planting is a team effort! We have been blessed over the years to serve with committed people, working and using their gifts, to make a healthy discipleship/church planting network. And we are thrilled to be serving alongside amazing people now in Spain.

3W: What does your current ministry in Spain look like?

Alejandro and Carmen:  We continue to witness all the ways God is strengthening and expanding the church in Madrid. En Mi Lugar meets for its regular service on Sunday morning, followed by a meal and time of fellowship. The members of the church body carry the mission and vision of the church as they step into leadership roles, create and share devotionals, and host church meetings in their homes.

As the church expands, we are still searching for a new place to gather. We host church services in the basement of our home. With 62 members in the church, we are past full capacity. We trust that God will meet our needs and provide a new location that allows our church to continue to grow and flourish.

3W: How does En Mi Lugar gather together during the week?

Alejandro and Carmen: In the last few months, we have focused on developing programs for the church. Because church members come from a long distance, we discovered new ways to minister to them over technology throughout the week. We stay connected through the online discipleship program, daily men's and women's devotionals, and recorded sermons.

3W: What’s a way that you have seen God move recently?

Alejandro and Carmen: This month, we celebrated six baptisms at En Mi Lugar! We have watched God move in mighty ways through the testimonies of these six people, and we are excited to walk alongside them as they take this new step of faith. We hoped to host the baptism service at the pool in our housing edition, but we were unable to do so. This is one of the challenges we face as a small church in a cultural context where Christianity is not widely accepted. God still provided the perfect place for a baptism service at the backyard pool of a local nonprofit. It was a beautiful day of celebration for everyone involved!

This month, we celebrated six baptisms at En Mi Lugar!

3W: What is something that you are looking forward to in the coming months?

Alejandro and Carmen: We have a vision to create a coffee house/café in our neighborhood that will serve as a gathering place, and place to build community amongst diverse groups of people, and a place of hospitality for anyone who visits. We are excited to see how God will use this place and how people will experience God through this café!

You can follow and support En Mi Lugar, the Multiply Madrid Network project, and the DeFranciscos through these links and also social media. Thank you for connecting with the Church of God in Spain!

Bulgaria holds the key to healing our broken world.

IN PLOVDIV, BULGARIA, THERE IS A MINISTRY CALLED “AGAPE FAITH UNITED.”

Agape exists to provide an English-language worship community for foreign-born medical students at a local university.

These students come from all corners of the world, but from primarily English-speaking backgrounds. MOST of them hold British passports, but their families originate in various African nations or virtually all of the islands of the Caribbean.

In recent years, though, numbers have also increased from South Asia and even Western Europe.

Each story is different, of course. But each student has chosen to reside in Plovdiv for 4-5 years of study.

After their time in Bulgaria, they will return home, be that to the place they grew up, or the place their parents grew up. They will literally cover the earth…

From a street sign in Plovdiv.

As Global Strategy’s Project Advocate (Agape Student & Refugee Ministries), I think this ministry is one of the Church of God’s best-kept secrets. What other ministry has the potential to literally impact all corners of the world?!?

The way I see it, we have a repeating 4-5 year window of time to impact these students’ lives:

-To introduce them to the Loving God made known through Jesus Christ;

-To encourage them to grow into a deeper relationship with God;

-To give them opportunities to grow in leadership and service;

-To help them integrate their faith with their daily practices;

-To remind them there is a Divine Healer who can work miracles even when modern medicine reaches its limits;

-To instill in them Judeo-Christian virtues and values;

-To help them create a fellowship of colleagues and mentors they can depend on for the rest of their lives and careers;

Agape was created to meet a felt and expressed need. There was no English-language ministry  in Plovdiv. Certainly there was none that was intentional about connecting with medical students. Agape began as a Bible Study in the apartment of retired missionaries Dave & Kathy Simpson (see picture below). From its humble beginnings, it has blossomed into something much larger.

Would you help further the work of Agape Faith United with a one-time gift or with sustained monthly giving of any amount?

This is an opportunity for your gift to literally impact the entire world. And for your gift to literally help bring healing (in body and mind) to the very broken world we live in.

ARCHIVAL clipping from December 2014 “Plovdiv Perspectives,” newsletter of Dave & Kathy Simpson

Link for more information and for giving: https://chogglobal.org/mission-projects/projects-europe-middle-east/agapeministries/

Why We Give… Ukraine Stories 7/7

Why We Give…

Over two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, things remain bleak for so many people. There are several Church of God congregations in Ukraine. All of their lives have been massively affected. Read one person’s account HERE.

From the beginning, you have given generously to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund (earmarked ‘Ukraine’). Those gifts have been life-giving, literally. THANK YOU.

Those gifts have helped make it possible for many of us to respond to the increasing needs all around us. Because of those gifts, the Hungarian Church of God continues to make regular delivery of supplies into Ukraine to our church partners.

While we certainly wish circumstances were quite different, we rejoice at the opportunity to help our brothers and sisters in their time of need.

Many in the Ukrainian Church of God have fled west as “refugees” to other countries in Europe and even the USA.

Many have become “internally-displaced persons” now residing elsewhere in Ukraine, where it is currently thought to be “safer.”

Many continue serving in ministry in their new locations, sharing the Gospel with other Ukrainian/Russian-speaking refugees.

Many continue serving in ministry in Ukraine, even though their ministry looks quite different today than it did three years ago. They work tirelessly to continue their ministerial service, as well as respond to constantly-evolving new needs and opportunities around them.

Just last week I was in western Ukraine and we were told that Kharkiv is BAD, and people are fleeing again. Kharkiv has been bad for over two years now, but recent attacks have rendered it even worse. Thus, a new wave of IDPs and/or Refugees are fleeing that city looking for safety.

Our church partners said that we are the ONLY source of help they receive, and they are deeply grateful for our faithful love and support. Our prayers and financial gifts have helped them see God in their daily lives, despite the pain and suffering all around them.

There are literally untold numbers of Ukrainians whose lives have been ripped apart by the horrors of war.

Many of our Church contacts are directly involved in caring for their immediate needs, be that food, medicine, shelter, as well as offering them spiritual help and support. In addition to caring for those who have fled their homes, many of our people routinely make trips to the east of Ukraine, to villages that are bombed daily. Yes, daily.

WE GIVE to keep them giving.

WE GIVE so they can have food to offer starving people in war-torn villages.

WE GIVE so they can have medicine to offer wounded people.

WE GIVE so they can have clothes to comfort people with nothing left.

WE GIVE so they can bring a smile to a small child’s face with a new toy.

WE GIVE so they can help provide shelter to people whose homes have been destroyed.

WE GIVE so they can share the Gospel … in ways that none of us ever could.

WE GIVE to literally keep people alive.

WE GIVE to literally keep the Church alive.

WE GIVE to literally keep HOPE alive.

Will you join us in GIVING??

https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/

A Tale of a Mother’s Love. Ukraine Stories 6/7

“We are Russians. We are trying to get back to Russia. My father is a soldier. And he said that it is safer to go west through Ukraine in order to avoid the war area.”

The lies of a five year-old child.

Lies that the mother had trained all her children to repeat so that they could get to safety.

I will never forget sitting in an apartment in western Ukraine. It was summer 2022. We sat in a room that had been a small clothing store only a few weeks earlier. Once the life of all Ukrainians got turned upside-down, this store closed so that its space could be converted into living quarters for the many displaced families in need of a place to stay.

It was in that room that I met a mother and her five children, emphasis on the word children. The two oldest were barely 15 or 16, and the youngest was no older than 4 years old.

This family fled their home in the far east of Ukraine and traveled westward, seeking safety. Like so many others, though, they hesitated at the very beginning of the invasion.

Instead of jumping in a vehicle at the first sounds of warfare, they stayed, hoping that things would calm down and return to normal.

Nobody wants to believe the worst. And nobody wants to literally abandon their home and possessions in pursuit of the truly unknown.

That little multi-day hesitation could have cost them their lives, though. By the time they wanted to flee, it was much more dangerous and difficult to do so.

Where they were once surrounded by quiet streets, schools and homes, now they were surrounded by obvious signs of war. Destroyed buildings. Dead bodies. Roads rendered impassable. Military checkpoints on the only remaining routes in or out of the city. Foreign soldiers, too. Russian soldiers.

In between the beginning of the invasion and the time this family was able to flee their home, they endured many unimaginable things. Sights. Sounds. Feelings. Thoughts. Even if their bodies remain intact, their souls undoubtedly bear much scarring.

And so there we sat as they told their stories. I sat in absolute disbelief as these children recounted stories that no child should ever be familiar with. Here are some excerpts from that conversation. If you read nothing else, please read this…

Listen to their description of being trapped in their home town and then their eventual escape. These are their own words, translated to English. These are direct quotes, transcribed from an audio recording. This is not an imagined conversation.

ON BEING TRAPPED IN THEIR WAR-TORN TOWN:

They didn’t have any water and like they said we survived only because of rains and snows. When it was snow, we melted the snow, for example, to flush the toilet and when it rained it was very good. Because out of the roof it dropped and we could just get some jars or something and catch some water from the roof, because no water was [there] at that time.

There was some kind of like schedule of the shooting. They knew of the bombings or missiles. They knew when, for example. Yulia told me that from 9 am to 12am, they were doing these shootings and the missiles, and then they stopped and it was quiet hours, but not normal quiet.

The only place for connections, where you can call to your friends or relatives was the nearby hill. But that hill was mostly bombed, like mostly shooted to that hill. So they had this one month, like one month opportunity to go to the hill, and you never know whether you will be back to call your relatives and just says that ‘oh I am alive,’ and then you go back and you never know if you will be back alive or not.

All of the stores were robbed. No food, no kitchen, nothing, no medicine, no drug stores. And the first two months, no humanitarian aid even came to the city, like nothing, no help, the first months.

Dead people were everywhere, like in the parks, in the squares. So people were buried just in the streets, like in the local square or park. Some people buried in their gardens of their homes.

To have shower, we needed to heat up the water on the fire, in the yard for example. And then someone is just pouring the water into you so you can have some shower.

Kids never slept at home, they always slept in the cellar, they said because it was so scary to stay overnight, upper of the ground. And they were not allowed to use any light, like flashlight for example, because Russians said that whoever will do that, like any light, we will shoot.

They had snipers, is that the word, on the high houses. So the highest ones, they had snipers all over the city to shoot everybody who is going at nighttime with light. Any light they see, they shoot.

These things are relayed to me by children, none of whom would be legally allowed to drive a car in most places in the world. Their mother sat in their midst and it was obvious that they drew great strength from this brave woman, this woman who kept her children safe and alive during these times, this woman who found a way to deliver her children to safety.

Hear more of their story:

ON THEIR ESCAPE TO THE WEST:

The last part of the story, they will share how they get out of the city. We found the person who was doing rides, just giving rides to people. People are doing that, like a work, a job. They offer the service of taking people out of the city, but they are very expensive now, like extremely expensive. Four thousand hrivnas per one person (March 2024 rate: $105. So two years earlier, at least that amount, if not much more...).

[Note: Keep in mind, basically those with financial means to leave Ukraine had already done so…]

Finally the Red Cross agreed the ‘Green Corridor’ at that time. So we left that Sunday night and we didn’t use any highways or any roads, we just went through the fields. Because any road was where just everybody was shooted at. So we escaped only through the fields, and we had eighteen blockposts to go through.  And one of those first blockposts, the youngest daughter was asked by a very rude solider, Rusisan military guy, lots of questions.

He asked her questions like ‘who are we, who’s with you in the car, where’s your mama?’ The main question they needed to know the answer is ‘where is your dad??’ And they said, ‘like mama said. We are divorced.’

And they asked the young girl, they said ‘little girl, is he military? Is he in the service, in the army??’

And she said ‘no.’ And they pretended, the whole family pretended that they are going to Russia, because to escape the city they needed to go, seems to Ukraine first, but they told the army that they are going to Russia, that’s how they allowed them to escape.

So when they were going through the blockposts, one of the posts that they passed, was the place where the cassette was just two minutes before bombed or however you say, and there were people who were dead on the left side, and people who were injured on the right side from Russian army, because Ukrainian army got to their point.

And she says like we tried to close the eyes to the youngest daughter so she couldn’t see that,

but it was very scary to go through this corridor of dead and injured people,

but they were all Russian military.

They went through these 18 Russian blockposts. And one of these blockposts was the serious one before they left. They checked everything, even cellphones, every picture you have so you won’t have any information about the army, the military or something.

As we didn’t have any boys who were over 16 years old, we were faster going through these blockposts. And then for four kiliometers (2.5 miles) we needed to walk, just by our foot.

Even though it was Green Corridor, the Russians still shooted in this corridor. And then the Red Cross organization took us after we walked, and they took us to the Ukrainian blockpost. And then they were set in a school and it was Ukrainian territory. So there it was pretty good, they were just registered and it was really good because it was our army who registered.

Through this entire visit, my eyes are continuously drawn to the mother, sitting across the room surrounded by her children. As is typical for moms, she’s busy wrangling the small ones, while the older ones tell these stories, with her chiming in every now and then to add additional details herself.

This is the image of a Mother.

This is the testament of a Mother’s Love.

You can tell she would do it all again (and so much more) to care for her children.

If you would like to give towards the Church of God Disaster Relief fund, earmarked for ‘Ukraine,’ please use this LINK.

As always, for security purposes, all names and locations have been intentionally withheld or altered.

A Tale of SANCTUARY. Ukraine Stories 5/7

According to tradition, in medieval times, endangered persons could claim ‘Sanctuary’ by finding a church building, also known as ‘a sanctuary.’ The idea was that this is a sacred place, a holy place, a place where God is thought to dwell (or at least visit…). Thus, this is a safe place where harm could not (in good conscience and without incurring divine wrath) be brought upon one person by another person. In the modern world, this is all but a thing of the past. In its place are legal rights for asylum, refugee status, and immigration.

However, in the last two years, we have seen first-hand how THE CHURCH still provides places of ‘sanctuary’ for those in need.

In Matthew 25, Jesus famously talks about ‘the End times,’ when all people stand before the Lord and he separates them like sheep from goats.

According to Jesus, the basis for the judgment is not their beliefs, but their actions, specifically their actions towards those in need. For it is when serving the one in need that we actually are serving Jesus.

As Ukrainian men, women and children have fled their homes seeking nothing more than safe skies above them, THE CHURCH has risen up and provided care.

This has varied in appearance or method, largely depending on geography, financial means, and connections.

Here in Europe, and limiting my reference to the Church of God, I can proudly boast that we have seen the Church of God provide in these primary ways:

1.) Finances/Possessions

2.) Storehouses/Connecting Points

3.) “Homes” away from home

I want to briefly unpack each of these categories with specific examples:

1.) Finances/Possessions

Within the Church of God in this region, people and congregations have given towards Ukraine relief at least from these countries: Ukraine (duh), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lebanon, England, France, Italy, Austria, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. We can personally cite numerous examples of how Church of God people or congregations from each of these locations have in one way or another given towards helping Ukrainian refugees and/or internally-displaced people still in Ukraine.

In many of these locations, people have given towards caring for newcomers to their land (refugees). In many of these locations, people have given towards other countries’ ways of caring for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. In some of these instances, like with Austria, we do not even have a Church of God presence. And yet, through Church of God connections in Germany, I spoke with one man whose non-denominational Austrian congregation wanted to help, but didn’t know how. So, they transferred funds to our Hungarian Church of God to help with the purchase of generators.

In the past two years, the Church of God has provided food and clothing to the least among them.

2.) Storehouses/Connecting Points

This one brings a large smile to my face, as I can show a scene from one of our local worship services here in Budapest (pictured below). :-)

Many sanctuaries have been temporarily (or in ongoing ways) turned into storehouses or places that can receive donated (or purchased) items before they are sent on to assist in caring for others. To me, this is such a beautiful illustration of God’s design for the Church. As the body of Christ, the Church is designed to be the very hands and feet of Jesus in our world. Of course, physical sanctuaries are wonderful locations to sit in silence and meditate on the words of Jesus. Of course, sanctuaries are wonderful locations for pastors to deliver sermons. Of course, sanctuaries are wonderful locations for voices to raise to the heavens in choruses (or hymns) of praise. And yet, I believe our Holy God loves it immensely when He sees our sanctuaries also being used as locations to help those in need.

This picture illustrates our congregation gathered for worship while the back of the sanctuary was chock-full of items waiting to be delivered to our church partners in Ukraine.

3.) “Homes” away from home

We know entirely too many people whose lives were massively disrupted on the 24th of February 2022. People who got phone calls or messages or saw on their screens the unthinkable. Their homeland, sometimes their very city/town, was being overrun with Russian tanks and soldiers. So many people did what I would probably do as well: Grab a bag with ‘critical’ goods and flee towards safety. For some, they assumed they would return home in a matter of days/weeks, once things went back to normal. For others, they had a more realistic view towards things.

But still when faced with a life/death decision, what is more important:

a.) To gather a collection of all-weather garments, and to put together a plan of action in terms of where to go and how to spend the ensuing months; or

b.) Simply jump in the car and put some miles between your loved ones and all the explosions…?

As a result, so many sanctuaries in western Ukraine have been turned into homes. Really, people have slept in these church sanctuaries for some nights or for many, many months. In other countries, this has been the case, too. I know of one German Church of God sanctuary that provided sleeping quarters for 35 Ukrainian men, women and children. Not for one night, but until the local government could get their paperwork processed and they could locate other nearby places for them to live. Now, before you go and imagine this being a ‘mega-Church,’ know that this congregation is probably smaller than your own: Roughly 50-80 people. Their building is nice, but not massive in size. And yet, they did what they needed to do. They did what they could do. They did what they believed God wanted them to do.

We have heard and seen so many examples of this! People and congregations who have been willing to invite strangers into ‘their space,’ providing for basic needs (food and shelter) while a more permanent solution could be reached.

In the past two years, the Church of God has time and again welcomed the stranger in their midst.

If you would like to help those in need, I invite you to give through this LINK to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund. Money given there, earmarked ‘Ukraine’ will go towards providing food and medicine to people in more need than hopefully any of us reading this ever will be.

Link: https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/

A Tale From the Border: Reflections on Uncertain Border Crossings. Ukraine Stories 4/7

“Since the war started, I have crossed the border more than 70 times. It’s part of the Church of God’s efforts to deliver much-needed supplies, food and even toys to our Church of God friends in Ukraine. There are many things I have learned. The first being that delivering supplies, like the war itself, is complex.”

In the spring and summer of 2022, a single border crossing took between 2 and 5 hours (each way). Often the Ukrainian border was slammed with heavy queues of civilians trying to get out of Ukraine. And on the Hungarian side of things, it was slammed with heavy queues of humanitarian aid workers delivering food and other supplies into Ukraine.

Two years in, I count on a border crossing taking place in about 1 hour. Often it’s a bit longer, but no more than 2 hours. And very rarely it’s 40 minutes or so. The reality is that most Ukrainians who wanted to (and were legally able to) leave Ukraine…have done so. As with any border, there are numerable ‘locals’ who cross in one direction or the other regularly, to buy certain products, to visit family, etc. But regarding humanitarian aid delivery, I’m not saying we are the only organization still making deliveries…but it sure seems that way. At least at the border crossing we go to. New guards (on both sides) are always shocked when we tell them we are delivering humanitarian aid. And old guards (by which I mean ones who have been working that post for atleast several months) always recognize us upon arrival. I would not say that we have become friends, but they remember us. Recently one yelled in Ukrainian ‘The American is back!’

Even with such lighter traffic crossing the border, though, the variables remain.

Will they simply look at the papers, take a glance inside the vehicle and then give all the necessary stamps?

Will they ask a question about some particular product we are carrying? And will that question be because they are personally interested in walking away with that product?

Will they require some or all of the products to be physically unloaded from the van?

If so, will they simply take pictures? Or will they want to cut open sealed boxes and carefully examine what’s inside?

Will they be friendly and favorable towards us?

Or for one reason or another, will they scowl at us and (presumably) look for ways to make things more difficult for us?

Even when the van is empty, will a quick glance and examination with their security devices be sufficient?

Or will they require the van to park in a special place (picture the subterranean lairs of an oil change shop) for them to more thoroughly look at the undercarriage?

Will they require us to physically leave the van so that they can unleash a drug/bomb dog inside of it to sniff all its nooks and crannies?

Will the border itself be closed? And if so, will there be other borders to try to cross through? Sometimes this has happened because nation-wide (in Ukraine), the power has been down, or the cellular/wifi service has been down, or the border has simply been closed temporarily as every agent/guard is taking cover from potential/real missile strikes.

As you can imagine, even though we do nothing illegal, of course, each of these variables carries with it some measure of stress. Additionally each of these variables lengthens the time spent at the border, and thus, adds to the already long schedule for the day. And yes, each of the above scenarios have played out on numerous occasions.

Once in the spring of 2022, I was standing inside a customs office in Ukraine, waiting for our time with the officers to process our paperwork. There was a man standing nearby in the line, clearly a fellow American. We struck up a conversation. He was delivering supplies for some NGO that he was connected with. But for both of us, the process was the same. We heard loud stamps of documents on the other side of the closed door and we both perked up. That was a beautiful sound, as it meant things were moving along bureucratically and OUR TIME was getting closer. We laughed and drew a comparison to a popular meme that’s been around, for really all the jobs.

For us (delivering humanitarian aid), it would look like this:

WHAT MY MOM THINKS I DO:

A person driving a van through a literal warzone, with the vehicle’s glass broken out and fires to the left and right, and also we are bleeding a little.

WHAT MY FRIENDS THINK I DO:

Similar situation, but not quite as extreme. Maybe less fires…

WHAT I ACTUALLY DO:

Standing in an office, waiting for the sounds of papers being bureaucratically stamped. ;-)

During the spring and summer of 2022, I was driving vans for the Church of God, as well as a separate missions agency that was in need of drivers to deliver humanitarian aid to their partners. I would cross the border at least two times a week, sometimes more. At that time, it was necessary to constantly check the clock. Each day was a race against time. You never knew how long a border crossing would take. Each way (leaving Hungary and entering Ukraine, or leaving Ukraine and re-entering Hungary) would take 2-5 hours. So it was quite difficult to plan your day as there was a large window of time that was truly uncertain! If the border crossing went quicker than normal, that left time to get back to the store (before they closed for the day) and re-load the vans so that you could make a second delivery early the folllowing morning.

If the border crossing took longer than normal, that meant some down time that evening to have a sit-down meal, which was nice. BUT…it also meant the next day would be much longer as you would first have to drive to the store to re-load the van and then turn around and drive back to the border. This also, obviously, affected our return time to Budapest. So, family life was up in the air. Will we have dinner together, or will I return home quite late, long after Sofie’s bedtime?

On the 29th of July 2022, I was not driving. I was home. In Budapest. I don’t remember the details of that day entirely, but I took a nap in the afternoon. In my own bed. I awoke after a short time sleeping, and panicked. I instantly reached for my phone and saw that it read 15:06 local time (just after 3 pm). My heart started racing and I quickly sat up. “OMG!!! It’s 1506….okay…what time does Metro (like a European Costco) close today? Or no, did we already go there? I can’t remember… Okay, if we leave right now, what time will we get to the border? And then…?

Mind you, I was in my own bed. In my own home. I was not in a strange place. BUT my mind was so consumed with managing the details of these deliveries that I really panicked!!!

Even though we are generally far from the ‘war zone,’ and not in imminent danger, the stress and exhaustion of making deliveries can be overwhelming at times.

So what does a ‘a typical delivery’ look like? Well, there is no typical delivery, but generally it looks like this:

In the days before the trip, LOTS of messages, planning and coordinating the logistics of what we will deliver, preparing the customs documents, giving the van atleast a look-over to make sure there are no glaring issues, and arranging everything for the actual trip.

Then, the delivery day begins with departure from my home no later than 6 A.M. and drive to meet up with whoever from the Hungarian Church of God that will be accompanying me. [There are at least 10 people from our Hungarian Church of God who have accompanied me, 2 have been on dozens of trips each, 2 have been on 3-5 trips each; Beyond Hungary, there are about 15 regional Church of God people who have accompanied me on a trip].

After picking up the other passenger(s), we drive several hours to the border (about 3.5 hour drive, if all goes well with the vehicle and traffic). Along the way, we stop at a large warehouse to pick up whatever supplies we do not already have loaded into the van.

Then we continue to the border, where we pray for favor!!

EVERY border crossing is totally different.

Then we drive a few hours in Ukraine to our church partner.

After greeting them, we unload the van. Then we (usually) have coffee/tea or a meal while we have conversations. Our Ukrainian friends are incredibly hospitable!!!

Then we drive the few hours back to the border, once again pray for favor, and then drive the several hours home to Budapest. If I arrive to my home before 10 PM, I am overjoyed!!!

EVEN IF all goes well, it makes for quite an exhausting day.

Oh, at the border, we must also remember to scan the stamped customs form, for accountability and record-keeping, should the physical document be destroyed or lost.

There are many variables that affect the delivery. Here are some examples of the difficult variables to manage:

TIME. You are always monitoring the clock. People are waiting for you, and you try your very best to arrive close to the window of time you’ve indicated. Oftentimes, cellular service or wi-fi is unavailable or sporadic at best. So you try to be close enough to your time that the people will either not worry or will not wait unnecessarily.

LANGUAGE. You are trying to stay cognizant of any and all Hungarian words and phrases you know, as well as any and all Ukrainian words and phrases! At the border, on both sides, it’s a rarity if you interact with a border guard that (atleast voluntarily) speaks English. Sometimes you know that they understand more than they are letting on, but you may not hear any English spoken on either side. So, you are going through even just basic words, terms and greetings to both understand what you are hearing, as well as communicate in ways that they understand.

ROAD & VEHICLE. The nature of these deliveries of humanitarian aid require vehicles to be driven hard, for long periods of times, on roads of varying quality, by drivers with different driving styles, half the time hauling basically maximum weight. THIS puts great wear and tear on the vehicle. So, you are constantly monitoring the vehicle. Are there any lights on the dashboard that should ‘not’ be there? Is the engine temperature in the good range? Are there any strange sounds or feelings with driving the vehicle? What are the tire pressures? Are there ANY concerns that require addressing immediately, or at least before the next trip? Then, what is the fuel level like? And will there be reliable fuel down the road, or do you need to top off the fuel sooner rather than later? Additionally, once in Ukraine, GPS don’t work, so you drive by memory, or landmarks. Or reading the street signs (written in Ukrainian). If a road/bridge is closed or destroyed, you have to navigate a new way either by feel (this road seems like it could connect us to that road…) or by following the verbal instructions given (in Ukrainian) by a nice border guard.

RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNICATION. No matter the time of day, there are some people with whom you need to communicate. You need to give them an updated ETA, or let them know that all is well, or that the payment they sent went through. There are names and faces of people that you only see when making these deliveries. You try your very best to remember their name (sometimes this is NOT a normal name for an English speaker), and to remember details of their life situation. Was it their daughter that had been so terribly ill, or was that a prayer request they sent on behalf of someone else?? Additionally, you need to communicate with your church community in Budapest (and beyond) who are praying for the day’s events.

As you can surely imagine, there are many tales that I could share that carry some level of humor, or some level of divine favor/protection.

To close, I will simply tell this one.

In December 2022, a comedy of errors occurred. EVERYTHING that could go wrong, went wrong. This resulted in us not arriving to the border until 7 PM (despite leaving Budapest at 9 AM). The van was loaded to capacity with supplies, including szaloncukors (traditional Hungarian Christmas Candies). These are individually-wrapped gummy candies, coated in chocolate. A normal-sized adult hand could probably hold three of them in the palm. To bless our Ukrainian friends, we were bringing 20 kilograms (about 45 pounds) of these candies, in two unsealed cardboard boxes.

As we drove, one of them slid on top of the other supplies and shifted towards the back door. Of course, we did not realize this…

AT THE BORDER, the old Hungarian guard greeted us and was speaking to the Hungarian Church of God person with me. He apparently asked them to open the back doors, which they did. And as I got to the back of the van, holding the passports to give him, I heard a truly unusual sound. I had no idea what I was hearing, until I saw a waterfall of candies pouring out of the van onto the pavement below. There were so many of them, it literally took 30 seconds for them to finish cascading to the ground. In absolute shock at this sight, I looked at the speechless guard. Then I conjured up my very best Hungarian to say to him “Boldog Karácsonyt” (Merry Christmas). In slap-happy laughter, we got down on the ground and picked up these hundreds of (wrapped) candies, while he processed our passports and probably prayed for us to leave quickly, before anything else fell out of the van.

If you would like to give towards the Humanitarian Aid relief work, please click on this LINK and give to the Church of God Disaster Relief project, earmarked ‘Ukraine.’

As with all these stories, names and specific locations are altered or withheld for security purposes.

A Tale from the West: One Pastor’s Life in Chaotic Times. Ukraine Stories 3/7

Trigger Warning: While not very descriptive, this blog contains references to: Air Raid Sirens, War, Rape

“Sometimes we can look at what’s happening and only describe it with one sentence: It seems that the Devil’s arms are untied.” -Martin

Martin is a man I’ve gotten to know quite well over the past two years. A Baptist minister, he is a father to two sweet little kids (5 and under). Martin has been instrumental in spreading the Gospel in word and deed, despite the war that has raged on.

I’ve sat with Martin over many meals or cups of tea/coffee, where he’s updated us on the harsh realities that he and ‘his people’ endure. In contrast, when I bid him adieu, I return to my home in Budapest where life is normal in all its ways (reliable wifi, consistent electric, take-out/delivery food services, you know, ‘normal life’ in the modern world).

What Martin shares, though, stays with me.

How do you make sense of it all? So many things that are not propaganda, that are not exaggerations, but are the lived reality of so many people. I pray that these are things that nobody in my family ever has to endure.

Most recently, Martin shared what he heard from a military chaplain, someone on the front lines, ministering to wounded people of all types (soldiers and civilians).

I know that Chaplaincy work is gritty and raw, providing access to real people and real situations. As a ‘man/woman of God,’ you are invited/welcomed into their lives when their lives may be hanging in the balance. You are given the opportunity to hear their unfiltered thoughts/longings (sometimes spoken on a deathbed, almost always spoken through palpable levels of pain). And you are given the opportunity to encourage them towards Hope in a Loving God, no matter their situation.

Martin shared what his chaplain friend told him: how he has offered counseling for so many men, women and children. People who have experienced all manner of torture and rape…

Let me ask you something. Do you believe the victims?

“Sometimes we can look at what’s happening and only describe it with one sentence: It seems that the Devil’s arms are untied.”

This was what Martin said after a moment of silence, and before many more moments of silence.

When you attempt to realize the destruction that has occurred and is still occurring, words fail you.

So much devastation has occurred in the previous two years. Really, so much!

I saw recently a two-year anniversary post (on 02 April 2024) about the liberation of Bucha (a town near Kyiv). When Bucha was liberated a little over a month after the invasion began, 9,000 cases of war crimes were documented. Nine thousand!! In one town. Which had been occupied for only one month…

Multiply that across a nation about as large as the state of Texas. Multiply that over two years time (and counting).

It is unimaginable the pain and trauma that has been endured. Even for ones geographically distant from the routine bombings and invasion… Even for ones physically sheltered (so far) from the loss of life and limb…

…There is the incessant psychological trauma.

What does it do to a person to hear air-raid sirens every day?

What does it do to a person to hear regular accounts of destroyed towns?

What does it do to a person to discover names every day of people you’ll never see again?

Video LINK of Air Raid Siren from a recent delivery of humanitarian aid.

Martin wrestles with the psychological trauma of his nation. He wonders how they will ever recover, once the war comes to an end.

There is so much that so many have experienced that so many of the rest of us truly cannot fathom (thankfully!!).

One way we can all offer hope is through helping to provide humanitarian aid. Here is a link to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund. Money given there, earmarked ‘Ukraine’ will go towards providing food and medicine to people in more need than hopefully any of us reading this ever will be. I will personally load the products into our church van and deliver them to Martin in Ukraine. Martin has proven himself to be a man of deep integrity, a man of deep humility, and a man of intense unshakeable faith.

Link: https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/

Martin is in a position similar to mine. He is far removed from the daily bombardments. However, he is much more closely involved in providing help than we are. He is the next link in the chain. He receives the humanitarian aid sent by the Church of God. And he sends it on to places where it is needed. For reference, check out THIS LINK TO AN EARLIER BLOG.

Further, though, Martin is much more closely involved in that he is Ukrainian. He speaks the Ukrainain language, as well as Russian. He has personal connections and relationships with so many men and women that I’ll never know.

In contrast, I have a personal connection and relationship only with Martin. What little information and few stories I receive is filtered through him.

Meanwhile, he has heard an infinite number of stories. I cannot imagine how he stays sane, as the few stories I hear are overwhelming and exhausting enough.

Additionally, through all the stress and tension, Martin has his own personal stress and tension.

See, Martin is a prime candidate for military conscription.

He’s a young able-bodied Ukrainian man. Until now, Martin has been exempt from military service on the basis of his work delivering Humanitarian Aid, passing along what we deliver to him!

Even with this exemption, Martin does not leave his home without his children being in the car with him. He knows that even with exemptions, desperate times call for desperate measures and he could be stopped at one of the multiple military checkpoints that spring up all over the place. His children don’t necessarily prevent him from being conscripted, but they do prevent him from being immediately conscripted (If he were alone in the car, the car could be taken off the road, or left on the side of the road. But not with small children.).

Recently, Martin told me that they don’t make plans anymore beyond the next day or two. ‘We don’t make plans because we don’t have any idea what the situation will be. Will we be alive still? Will we have more people living with us that we need to care for? Will our town be reeling from missile strikes?’

As the war continues, please pray for PEACE.

Please pray for an end to all this suffering and destruction.

Please pray for all who have lost a loved one.

Please pray for all families separated because of fleeing and/or military conscription.

Please pray for all who are forced to live day-to-day, not knowing what tomorrow may hold.

Please join us in praying for Martin and so many like him, who tirelessly work to bring help and HOPE, despite all the incessant stress and uncertainty.

Also, please consider making a donation to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund, earmarked ‘Ukraine.’ Here is the link:

https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/