Dallas deacons convert containers into housing in Ukraine

Four deacons from Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas recently spent two weeks in Ukraine, helping a Christian ministry there convert shipping containers into housing for displaced people.

Team leader Randall Harris and three other volunteers—James Barclay, John Reeves and Danny Parham—worked with New Life Christian Mission near Odesa to turn 40-foot shipping containers into basic living quarters. The ministry is providing simple housing for people displaced by the Russian war on Ukraine, as well as the local homeless population.

When it is completed, New Life’s “container city” will house about 160 people, Harris said. In addition to more than 40 containers that will be retrofitted as living quarters, other containers will be converted into shower, laundry and toilet facilities.

In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Harris and Barclay served in November 2022 with Texas Baptist Men—now Texans on Mission—at a distribution center for refugees in Chelm, Poland.

Of the 6 million refugees who fled from Ukraine to other countries after the Russian invasion, about 1 million relocated to Poland. TBM volunteers in Chelm helped unload truckloads of supplies, sort the items and then load them into vans that delivered hundreds of tons of food and other necessities to shelters across Poland and into Ukraine.

“When I first heard reports about how the Russians were launching attacks on soft targets, intentionally hurting civilians in Ukraine, it made me angry,” Harris said. “But instead of just being enraged and frustrated about it, I found out how we could do something positive about it.”

‘Looking for ways to help rebuild Ukraine’

So, after the rewarding experience of working in Poland, Harris responded affirmatively when Rand Jenkins at Texans on Mission told him about another opportunity to serve people in Ukraine through a ministry partner in the region.

“Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Texans on Mission volunteers have been providing help, hope and healing to those displaced. This recent trip to Ukraine with church members from Cliff Temple is a part of an ongoing effort to help rebuild the lives through local churches and ministries,” said Jenkins, chief strategy officer for Texans on Mission.

Cliff Temple provided the volunteers who served in Ukraine financial support, prayer and encouragement, Harris noted.

New Life Christian Mission—which also operates a home for 84 mothers and children—is “looking for ways to help rebuild Ukraine,” Harris said.

Working under the guidance of a Ukrainian foreman, the four Texas volunteers worked on four shipping containers during their two-week mission trip. So far, 10 containers have been turned into living quarters for displaced people.

Currently, those who live and work on the New Life Christian Mission compound gather beneath a large tent for worship, but the ministry plans to construct a permanent church building in the future, Harris noted.

‘The hands and feet of Christ in Ukraine’

While the volunteers’ labor was valuable, their ministry of presence was appreciated even more by the people they encountered, Harris said.

“They were so impressed that we were willing to come to Ukraine. Just being there—the fact that Americans came to be with them—meant so much. There was just an outpouring of appreciation,” he said.

“It was so fulfilling for us to be able to go and help any way we could. God put it on our hearts to help the people there.”

The Cliff Temple team’s trip to Ukraine was part of an ongoing effort by Texans on Mission to support the work of ministry partners in the region, Jenkins explained.

“We have several more trips to the area this year as we continue working and gathering leaders to garner information for an effective and unified Christian response. Our partners are doing great ministry from building homes, outfitting shipping containers as living quarters, feeding people, building wheelchair ramps, rebuilding churches, and constructing and distributing children’s jackets to villages and orphanages—all while demonstrating Christ’s love,” Jenkins said.

Texans on Mission volunteers currently are providing disaster relief at multiple sites throughout Texas—as well as internationally—as an expression of the group’s commitment to “meeting human needs wherever God leads,” he added.

“Our volunteers are the hands and feet of Christ in Ukraine, surrounding countries and dozens of nations worldwide—and especially in our home state, where we are actively serving in numerous cities after the spring storms,” Jenkins said.