Since we’re having a fun lunch this Sunday around the theme of “How can you make a difference,” I’ve been thinking about how everyone is called and gifted to help—both individually and as a church. While pondering some of those different ways, I came across this article about the incredible things a church in Ukraine is doing.
The town of Irpin is outside the community of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv and the site of horrific destruction and killings. Irpin is sometimes called “the Evangelical Hub of Ukraine” because it has many churches as well as offices for the Ukraine Baptist Union. One of the churches there is Irpin Bible Church (IBC). As soon as Russian troops pulled out of the area, IBC volunteers immediately began delivering food to survivors, cleaning up destroyed buildings, and even removing land mines. (!!) Apparently when the Russians retreated, they left landmines behind to try and kill or maim the people there.
The very idea astounded me. We invite people to volunteer in many ways here—inside and outside the church. But all the good work we do seems so… low-risk, compared to removing landmines. That’s not an activity you’d expect to see on a church Sign-Up Shack.
The Coordination Center of Ukrainian Baptists asked all of us to pray for church volunteers clearing landmines: “prayers for their strength and safety.” That’s quite an understatement. Can you imagine that being on our list of prayer concerns? It’s hard to fathom.
As it turns out, Irpin Bible Church’s ministry center was badly damaged in a bombing raid when the Russians pulled out. (see photo) The congregation had just bought the building a year before; then spent eight months renovating it. I can’t imagine that either. I see everyday the awesome work that our church volunteers are doing on our hallways, ceilings, carpet, gardens, and more. So many work hours they’ve put in to help our church look beautiful, especially as we get ready for our 100th Anniversary this summer. But what if, once we finished, someone bombed our church? It would be heartbreaking.
Despite all of that horror, the pastor of Irpin Bible Church said, “We believe that the Lord will give us the opportunity to rebuild the church building…. But most importantly, we pray for our people in Irpin and try to serve them, so that they will see that in the most difficult times, the Lord is near.” Amazing. What a witness of endurance, service, and strength. (see photo of people sheltering in their church for safety) What an inspiration. And it really puts things in perspective.
The next time we think about the work there is that needs doing, and if our schedules allow it, we can think about the kind of work that church volunteers in Ukraine are doing. Hopefully it will make us all the more thankful for what we have, and the work that we get to do.
