Note: A missionary from missions organization SEND International reports on the evangelical church’s efforts to bring peace and care to the conflict.
By PR Web
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – For the past several weeks, the eyes of the world have turned to the bloody conflict in Ukraine between government special forces and citizens protesting rampant corruption. However, little attention has been given to the role that the evangelical church and Christians have played in offering relief and calling for peace.
SEND International’s Ukraine Area Director, Eric Oldenburg, has been a missionary in Ukraine for ten years. He put out a call to recognize and pray for the many believers who are living out the Gospel in this time of great conflict in Ukraine, and he shared the stories of just some of the people who have been involved.
He wrote about a Ukrainian sister who, from the very first days of Maidan (the square where the main protests took place), took money, food and supplies to the protest site. She distributed hot tea to the cold and sandwiches to the hungry. She reported that she’s never in her lifetime seen Ukrainians so united. It still drives her to pray for a positive outcome to this conflict so that the country can move forward politically and economically. But with even more fervency she prays that Ukrainians will grow in their receptivity to the Gospel.
Eric also mentioned a Ukrainian pastor who, from the pulpit of his local church, preached on how Christians are to behave themselves in a time of conflict with prayer, participation, good deeds, wise words and the sharing of the Gospel. He also lived out his message by spending significant time at Maidan doing the very things he preached. During one overnight shift in the prayer tent, he had personal conversations and times of prayer with over 50 people, at least 30 of them were unbelievers, politically passionate enough to be at Maidan, but spiritually open enough to ask a pastor for counsel and prayer.