A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship foster family ministry serving street children has been bombed by the Russian military, according to CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley.
Located outside Kyiv, the Village of Hope is a ministry supported by CBF Global Missions and CBF field personnel Gennady and Mina Podgaisky, who happened to be on leave in the United States when the Russian invasion began.
In happier years past, Mina Podgaisky with children at the Village of Hope.
“For nearly 20 years, our Fellowship family has joined with Gennady and Mina Podgaisky and partners in Ukraine to establish and grow this beautiful ministry,” Baxley said. “We are heartbroken to know of this devastating damage in a senseless act of violence.
“We are relieved to know that no one was in the property at the time of the attack and that most of those served by Village of Hope are now out of Kyiv. But we know fleeing home to seek safety is also a devastating consequence of this war. So, we pray for families on the run, and we pray for wisdom for leaders around the world who are seeking ways to bring this war to an end.”
Baxley issued this call to prayer: “I ask all Cooperative Baptists to join me in praying for all who suffer at the hands of Russian aggression. Pray for those who have been served and strengthened in love by Village of Hope. Pray for and with our friends Gennady and Mina. Pray that in these days Baptists in Ukraine can join with other believers in offering a witness to a hope even in the face of violence and death.”
Meanwhile, across Ukraine, Baptist pastors and churches continue to minister to their neighbors.
In the port city of Mariupol, 300 hundred people are reportedly taking shelter in the basement of Mariupol Central Church, with another 300 people in another city center church.
The Ukrainian Baptist Union passed along this report from one Baptist in Mariupol: “There are terrible ruins in our city, factories are on fire, stores are closed. Russian forces are destroying houses, apartment buildings and complexes, there are lots of tanks, they are ruining everything. You can’t get out of the city, they surrounded it with tanks. Many people lost their loved ones and relatives. There is no connection, no roads, the disaster is everywhere.”
In Lviv, Baptist volunteers have been helping erect two mobile hospitals, where local Baptist pastors are providing spiritual and psychological support to patients and staff, as well as offering training to others.
“Churches in every region are running as centers of refuge, serving those in transit as well as with overnight care,” the European Baptist Federation reported in its March 11 situation report. “More than 600 churches are actively responding to the needs inside of those fleeing, including one small church in Yaltushkiv that feeds nearly 800 people every day.”
As of Friday, March 11, Ukrainian Baptists were receiving government aid through humanitarian corridors, but there were delays at the Polish border. “The Baptists have a number of logistics centers ready to receive and distribute aid. Supplies are beginning to run out in shops, water is becoming harder to access in some cities. As some areas are lost, communication lines are cut to the rest of the country. The needs are direr in the eastern regions of the country. In response, the Coordination Center of the Ukrainian Baptists is working from Lviv to establish aid distribution warehouses in Eastern and Central Ukraine.”
Baptists in neighboring countries also are working night and day to help Ukrainians fleeing the war.
The Romanian Baptist Union has prepared churches to take 4,000 refugees while also sending food and aid across the border. “It has been snowing at the border into Suceava all week as more and more refugees cross into Romania, including hundreds of stranded Indian students,” the report stated. “All refugees are being fed as soon as they arrive and are then offered free transport and accommodation.”
Although Bulgaria does not share a direct border with Ukraine, the Baptist Union in Bulgaria has established a network to collect Ukrainian refugees from the Romanian and Moldovan borders.
Although Bulgaria does not share a direct border with Ukraine, the Baptist Union in Bulgaria has established a network to collect Ukrainian refugees from the Romanian and Moldovan borders.
The Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia has offered accommodation for about 100 people in a retreat center in Manglisi, which is located about 50 km away from Tbilisi.
The European Baptist Federation will host its next prayer gathering for Ukraine this Wednesday, March 16, at 18:00 GMT. Register here to participate.
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