Ukraine (MNN) — Four years ago today, the government of Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On this anniversary, Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association points to three things to understand: the loss, trauma, and dogged fight for freedom that Ukraine’s next generation is experiencing.
“One aspect is, depending on your estimate, over a million men and women that have been killed or seriously injured [on both sides of the war]. That translates to maybe millions of families that no longer have a father,” says Mock. “It’s brutal to look at what this war has done to so many young lives, leaving the families broken and fractured.”
Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association
Children and adults carry invisible scars, the war within the war.
“They’re going to be dealing with the horrifying sights and sounds that this war for four years has brought into their hearts and lives,” says Mock. “This trauma means that any political process for peace really is irrelevant when it comes to peace within the heart.”
Although the United States has tried to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Mock says the fundamental differences between the two nations are land, authority, and control.
“And also security guarantees,” he adds, “because they know an American president is a president for a limited time. So any peace agreement that they have may be transient or temporary.”
Please pray — but not only in the way you might think.
“I am not going to ask you to pray for peace in Ukraine,” says Mock. “I’m going to ask you to pray for peace in the hearts of many Ukrainian families and many Russian families.”
How the Ukrainian church is moving
As peace talks concerning Russia and Ukraine continue to flash across daily headlines, Mock says the real question is this: “Both on the Ukrainian side and on the Russian side, will people caught up in the torment of this war turn to Christ and His saving grace?”
Relief and pastoral training are two of the ways that SGA helps Ukrainian Christians serve in this spiritual battle. Mock says compassion ministry builds bridges.
“It is not about just having a warehouse full of compassion items that we’re distributing to people and feeling good about the distribution,” Mock explains.
“It is equipping local churches to reach the people in their own community, or people who are fleeing to their community, that people would find lasting peace through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
You can help support this work by giving to SGA’s Ukraine Relief fund. In the past four years, SGA has helped churches provide more than 27 million meals, at least 500 generators, and thousands of blankets, heaters, medicines, and more. They estimate over 2.6 million people have heard the gospel who wouldn’t have otherwise.
SGA church partners prepare meals for displaced people from the Kursk region. (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)
Pastoral training is another critical need, so that when Ukrainians connect with a church, they will hear true, biblical teaching that helps them grow their faith. Mock says many pastors have fled Ukraine. Others have been conscripted into the army.
“They forecast as many as the need of 1,000 pastors in the next 10 years,” he says. “So SGA, in 19 locations across Ukraine, we’re taking the training to them, working through pastors and teachers in Ukraine, as well as some Americans coming over to teach. We’re trying to train up as many young people as possible.”
Learn more about supporting pastoral training with SGA here at their website.
Header photo of Kyiv park (Photo courtesy of Nadiia Yahaha via Pexels).
