Baptists in Ukraine offer compassionate aid at personal risk

Baptists are “at the forefront of responding with courage and compassion” to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine—often at great risk, Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Elijah Brown reported after his second trip in six weeks to Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian security officers urged Baptist leaders in the country to advise pastors of Baptist churches in some areas to evacuate, because they had “credible information” Russian troops planned to “intentionally target” them, Brown said in an April 12 online global briefing.

Currently, 196 of the 2,100 Baptist churches in Ukraine are in territories occupied by Russian troops, said Brown, who returned recently from a two-week trip to Ukraine, Poland, Moldova and Romania, where he met both with Baptist leaders and government officials.

“War remains a brutal failure of humanity to live as sisters and brothers,” he said.

‘Peace is possible … not inevitable’

Brown pointed not only to the ongoing destruction of communities and immediate loss of life, but also the “specter of famine” as crops remain unplanted, the threat of nuclear or biological annihilation, and the fear experienced by separated families and traumatized children.

“We must choose again the path to peace. We must search our hearts and root out the idolatry of hate and greed. We must turn from the voices of violence and destruction. We must turn from the narrative of Cain and Abel, and toward the Easter redemption that in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith,” he said.

“Peace is possible, but peace is not inevitable. We must choose courage and compassion—courage and compassion on a journey to peace.”

In Bucha, those who were gunned down and whose bodies were left on the streets included Vitaly Vinogradov, dean of an evangelical seminary, Brown noted.

In the port city of Mariupol, all six Baptist church buildings—which had served as shelters for internally displaced people—have been destroyed, and citizens have been subjected to “widespread and indiscriminate killing,” he said.

In the last 45 days, close to one-fourth of the population of Ukraine has been displaced—either as refugees to surrounding countries or as internally displaced people to somewhat safer regions within their own country, Brown said.

Church leaders and people who have sheltered in Baptist churches have been forcibly removed and relocated to Russian-occupied areas, he reported.

Some pastors have been killed in bomb blasts. Other Baptist volunteers have been shot at while driving vehicles transporting humanitarian aid.

Nevertheless, in the first 10 days following the invasion, 600 Baptist churches in Ukraine helped 45,000 people, Brown said.

‘Chosen to stay and to serve’

Baptists in Ukraine and neighboring nations are providing 51,000 beds every night to refugees and internally displaced people, and they have supplied aid to more than 650,000 people in 45 days, he reported.

“Every Baptist pastor in Kyiv has intentionally chosen to stay and to serve,” he said.

In Romania, the first volunteer at the border to direct refugees to places where they could receive shelter and aid was a Baptist pastor, Brown said. In the first 10 days after the invasion, 70 percent of all refugees to Moldova were welcomed by Baptist churches, he added.

In the countries that share borders with Ukraine, Baptist volunteers have devoted thousands of volunteer hours “cooking, cleaning and caring for those displaced by war,” he said.

The European Baptist Federation has served as the lead partner with BWA in coordinating and implementing humanitarian ministry in Eastern Europe, he reported.

Brown specifically mentioned Texas Baptist Men—who are working with Baptists in Poland to care for refugees—along with other international partners who are supporting ministries in the region.

Beyond Baptist ministry partners, BWA also is working in partnership with the Disciples of Christ and other Christian groups to care for refugees, he added.

Baptists in the region are shifting now from providing short-term emergency shelters in homes and churches to longer-term shelters in designated facilities, providing help for at least three to four weeks, he explained.

Brown called on global Baptists and other Christians not only to give generously to support ministries to people affected by the crisis in Ukraine, but also to pray for a just and lasting peace in the region that protects human rights and religious freedom for all people.

“Peace negotiations must specifically include provision for the full exercise of religion by all peoples of all faiths, including that of religious minorities,” Brown insisted.

To contribute to TBM relief for Ukrainian refugees and displaced people, click here. To donate directly to BWA, click here.