Kyiv: Beauty and Brokenness

Last night I slept soundly, home after a 5 day trip to Kyiv.  While in Kyiv I had also slept safely and soundly in my hotel beds each night. I went jogging in the morning around the city. There were no air-raid alerts to disturb my sleep or cause me to go scurrying down to the bunker. However, with the departure of the many international diplomats, country leaders and delegations, Kyiv is under attack once more, and many people have lost their lives once more as the enemy strikes from the safety of their homes upon the civilian population of the capital and the cities near the frontline.

This visit was strangely “marked by celebration,” a comment made by our Ukrainian host. The Baptist family in Ukraine, Europe and across the globe was honoured by President Zelenskyy during the Independence Day ceremony, when the whole nation gave thanks for the humanitarian response of the Baptist family as they also gave thanks for their own freedom and independence. The recognition of our work followed the acknowledgement of acts of bravery of frontline troops and other Ukrainian heroes, including the fallen. It was an unexpected honour which gave me the opportunity to promise President Zelenskyy that we will pray for him to have wisdom in every conversation.

The following day we participated in the National Prayer Breakfast, where again we met President Zelenskyy: he encouraged us to continue to pray for the nation. As a gathering attended by 1200 people from 50 nations of the world, we celebrated the independence of Ukraine while hearing stories of torture, deliberate destruction of places of worship, systemic violence against civilians and civilian infrastructure, and the refusal of Putin to enter dialogue for peace. Together we cried out in prayer, with tears openly flowing as we remembered those children who have been abducted, the children who have lost parents, those whose lives and bodies have been changed by war, and those who live within the sound of the frontline.

General Kellogg, the United States special envoy to Ukraine, encouraged all the Prayer Breakfast participants to call out to God for peace. He reminded us of the words of Psalm 46: ^“He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.” He went on to remind us that man’s efforts alone cannot achieve peace, that God has intervened between nations before and can do it again.

The Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Stør, was present at the gathering where President Zelenskyy told us that he was grateful for the spiritual support in this fight for life. He continued “we need faith to defend us, an armour for our spirit.” He continued that in the struggle between light and darkness, “we know when we feel the manifestation of the presence of God.”

The greatest privilege of the trip was to begin the Independence Day celebrations with such a manifestation of the presence of God. Elijah Brown, Baptist World Alliance General Secretary, and I were invited to attend the private service of prayer in the 800-year-old St Sophia church. The 12 leaders of the All-Ukrainian Council of churches, with 12 guests, met to pray with President Zelenskyy and his wife. Standing for the duration of the simple service, 7 prayers were spoken and two were sung. It was a profound moment where Christian leaders prayed from their hearts and not from their scripts. Where they upheld the nation, its leader and those suffering within and outside of Ukraine.

We did not tour the sites of war in Bucha and Irpin this time; rather, we spent time with a pastoral family, minus their pastor father, recently rescued from the occupied territories. The pastor’s wife shared stories of oppression, religious freedom violations and the murder of their church deacon and his son. She recalled attempts to conscript her young son to the Russian army to fight against Ukraine and how she had to smuggle him over the border before returning for her daughters. Please pray for her husband, who has remained to serve the needs of their local community. For security reasons, they cannot contact each other using normal means, and the Russian security services are blocking encrypted messaging. She does not know when she will be able to speak or message her husband again.

The final purpose of the trip was to meet with the council of the Ukrainian Baptist Union. We met in the room where they planned their response to a pending invasion. The same room where they meet to pray and plan humanitarian responses to the war, as well as the ministry challenges of finding chaplains who will go to the frontline and pastors who will replace those killed, conscripted or evacuated. They continue to be filled with hope in Christ. We spoke together of preparing for the day when war ceases, despite there being little hope in the nation that the current peace talks would lead to anything. However, there was great concern that peace for some parts of Ukraine may mean the loss of peace forever for those who have already been occupied. The fear for those in occupied territories, that their children will be indoctrinated or abducted, that the freedom they knew as Ukrainians will be lost.

This morning, we woke to news that Kyiv had been attacked by drones and missiles once more. The second-largest attack of the war. It has been reported that 23 people have lost their lives in Kyiv, children and young people are included among the dead. I ran in the park close to that street just a few days ago. People were walking to and from the metro and train station, they were exercising in the botanical gardens, they were drinking coffee and eating pastry. Today, it is the scene of destruction and devastating loss. This is the reality of the world inhabited by Ukrainians as they wait for peace.

At EBF, we are continuing to financially support the local church ministry in the evacuation of civilians from Kherson, Sumy and Kharkiv. We continue to gather for prayer each month and to pass on up-to-date information directly from Ukrainians to those who pray. We have also promised the Ukrainian families, pastors and church leaders whom we have met that we will advocate on their behalf in our home nations. Their needs are overwhelming, and the opportunity to live in flourishing freedom is diminishing every day. 

On the two brief occasions I had the opportunity to speak to President Zelenskyy, I simply promised to pray for wisdom for him in every conversation that he has. Please join me in that prayer. Let us seek to play our part in seeking peace for all Ukrainian people.

Photos: Private collection & Official website of the President of Ukraine