Ukraine Update 3/23/22
by Kurt Barnes
Thank you for all of your prayers I am home safely. I’ve struggled the last few days to know what to say about this trip.
My teams assignment was to connect and build long-term relationships with local churches who are serving on the front lines by caring for refugees and sending supplies to the people still in Ukraine.
Instead of a bunch of selfies or political commentary I’d like to share the stories of a few of the amazing churches and people I met:
At the time of writing this update the UN estimates that more than 3 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their country. 2.5 million of those have crossed through or are in Poland. Another 8-10 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes and are still spread out throughout western Ukraine.
In Poland I met churches that have transitioned their entire facilities to become refugee staging areas like Chelm Baptist (pronounced Helm), only 16 miles from the Ukrainian border, who has already served over 3500 refugees. Even before the Russian invasion, lead by God, Chelm Baptist pastor Henryk Skrzypkowski and his church began purchasing beds, blankets, and other supplies for the impending influx of refugees. Pastor Henrik said he is “learning exactly what it means to trust God as with the loaves and fish,” They have bought four washers and five dryers, and have setup a commercial kitchen to feed the crowds that arrive at their building daily. The church receives about 200 refugees per day to spend the night. Another hundred may pass through daily, stopping for meals, showers and clothes. Church volunteers, with help from a local restaurant, serve about 350 meals twice a day. Local nurses stop in to attend to medical needs.
The people of Poland have taken more than a million of the refugees that have arrived into their own homes. My primary contact church, Christian Fellowship North in Warsaw has already placed 300 refugee families into the homes of their members. Christian Fellowship North is next door to the Expo Center where 10,000 refugees are being housed and have started many new programs and initiatives to help meet peoples immediate and long term needs. I met Valeria, the Ukrainian teacher, who after fleeing to Warsaw immediately started an improvised school for refugee kids with Zibi, a successful business man who put his job on pause to manage refugee logistics for Christian Fellowship North full-time.
At Zelow, we met Pastor Greg Skobal, whose 25-member congregation was working hard installing showers and an additional bathroom to prepare the church for more refugees. The church had been updating its 126-year-old facilities for over a year and had made changes that seemed unnecessary at the time but that they felt lead by God to make. Now they know why.
I met churches that are gathering food, medicine, sanitary items, and warming items by the truck load. These items are loaded into trucks and vans and driven deep into the besieged areas of Ukraine. Once the van or truck is empty of supplies they stuff them full of people and drive them back to safety. One of the vans had been shot as it sped away from Kharkiv. They returned again in the following days to help even more.
Another church sent a large relief convoy to rescue hundreds of Ukrainians from the Kyiv area, evacuating them to safer areas. At times their route was blocked by active fighting and sniper fire, and many roads and bridges were impassable. But the convoy made it out and rescued many, and returned again after resupplying.
For people who have been forced to leave everything behind and have been thrust into a strange country with strangers, imagine the impact of a friendly smile that overflows with the love of Jesus.
Imagine being invited into the fellowship, and family of God’s people – of being loved, provided for, listened to, given advice and helped; of having people you can turn to.
This is the impact you are providing to our local church partners with resources so they can help as many refugees as possible.
I have many more stories to tell but if you would like to support some of these local churches go to https://scf.tv/ukraine-relief/
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. -James 1:27 (NLT)
