Europe’s other refugee crisis

Europe’s other refugee crisis
With so much attention on all the refugees who have arrived from the Middle East and Africa, let’s not forget the situation further east caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.  We talked to friends to find out the latest situation. Ukraine has 1.2 million internally displaced people.  For two years now, Christians have been reaching out providing food, clothing, medicine, counselling, accommodation and, where possible, jobs. It has been a strain – two years is a long while. Host families or churches who gave up facilities to provide shelters are getting tired, the refugees themselves are not settled and happy. But the Church has never been more united. In or near the war zone, Christians have been supporting the repairs of homes as well as providing psychological support, food, clothing, medical care, vegetable seeds and many other things. And they are providing chaplaincy care for soldiers and returning soldiers, many of whom suffer post- traumatic stress disorder. In all the sadness and difficulty, people seek the peace of God. Churches are busy responding to this hunger. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Poland, 10 000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived, along with more than 1.5 million Ukrainian migrants. One of these refugees, arriving two years ago, is Maksym Sliazin. His own integration journey and a passion for his compatriots led him to a ministry of helping Polish Christians to reach out to welcome Ukrainians, to care for them practically, to help them integrate, to share Jesus with them and to welcome them into the local church, often in Russian speaking communities. A first group of missionaries have been trained and a book “Gdansk Project of Integration” has been published.  The “Slavic Centre of Mission and Integration” (SCMII) has started under the Polish Baptist Union. There has been a first Ukrainian Mission conference in Warsaw. If you would like to provide support of people, training, equipment or finances for the work in Poland or in Ukraine, our friends would love to hear from you. But most of all, we need to pray and to keep praying. In Poland, Evangelicals are excited by the blessing of many new Ukrainian believers and of the harvest field around them. Let’s pray for God’s provision of all that they need and that the harvest will be gathered. In Ukraine, let’s pray for peace, hope, provision and encouragement. Three years of conflict, fear, worry and deprivation have taken their toll. Let’s also pray that God want grant wisdom to the government to lead Ukraine well and to help build the best relationship possible with Russia. And we pray for the hope of Jesus to transform many more lives.  

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