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War in Ukraine: Links to The Christian Chronicle’s coverage
Since the first bombs fell on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, The Christian Chronicle has covered the conflict and its impact on Churches of Christ worldwide.
Following are links to the Chronicle’s reports, filed from Ukraine, Eastern Europe and other parts of the globe:
Background: Why Ukraine matters to Churches of Christ
Members of the Church of Christ in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk, Ukraine, worship in 2003.
The Eastern European nation, now under siege by its Russian neighbors, has been fertile soil for the fellowship. As one young Ukrainian put it, ‘Christianity is the greatest treasure we have.’
This piece, reported on the first day of the war, provides background gleaned from four reporting trips to Ukraine by Chronicle staffers and dozens of interviews with Ukrainian believers during the past two decades.
From Ukraine: A band of brothers drives Ukraine
Dima Grischuk, left, and fellow drivers with the Let’s Love ministry prepare for a journey to eastern Ukraine to distribute aid and to ferry back the displaced.
Christians who escaped the horrors of war journey back to the front lines to aid the hurting and share Jesus (reported from Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine).
From Ukraine: Weary travelers find rest, refuge
In Chernivtsi, Adi Voicu of Romania and Dennis Zolotaryov of Ukraine load Ukrainian- and Russian-language Bibles from Eastern European Mission for transport to Romania. The Bibles will be given to Ukrainian refugees.
A border town church in Ukraine becomes a hub of relocation and relief (reported from Chernivtsi, Ukraine).
Insight: In Europe, border crossings and blessings abound
Multiple modes of transport can be seen at Ukraine’s border with Romania.
Erik Tryggestad reflects on The Christian Chronicle’s trip across the Romanian border into war-torn Ukraine (reported from Siret, Romania).
From Romania: Serving a church in exile
Yulian Parfenenko, 6, helps his mother, Alyona, with grocery shopping at the free resource center run by the Cluj-Napoca Church of Christ in Romania. The Parfenenko family fled Odessa, Ukraine, at the beginning of March.
Across the border from war-torn Ukraine, a Romanian congregation becomes family for traumatized souls (reported from Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
From Poland: On a long, uncertain journey, a hotel of hope
As they get ready to watch a movie in the hotel, Ukrainian children make shadow puppets on a projected computer screen that reads “Pray for Ukraine!”
Polish and American Christians provide a place for Ukrainians to ponder a difficult question: ‘What next?’ (reported from Pabianice, Poland).
From Poland: ‘This is our Exodus’
The Kościoł Chrystusowy w Warszawie (Warsaw Church of Christ) meets in a rented facility in the Polish capital. Most of its members are refugees from Ukraine.
In Poland’s capital, Ukrainian refugees are ‘in each other’s faces, at each other’s throats’ — and are redefining what it means to be a church (reported from Warsaw, Poland).
The siege of Mariupol: ‘We would sing louder than the shelling’
Only a few images from the church members’ seven-week ordeal remain, including this picture of one of the countless times they took refuge in their building’s hallway. As an evacuation corridor opened, most of the members deleted photos and videos of the siege from their phones, fearing that Russian soldiers would confiscate them.
Members of the Mariupol Church of Christ recall the 51 days they spent in ‘the valley of the shadow of death,’ huddled in their church building as Russian forces obliterated the eastern Ukrainian city (reported from Sopot, Poland).
Devotional: A psalm of ‘our dwelling place’
Sasha Chekalenko takes notes during Sunday worship with the Sopot Church of Christ in Poland.
After surviving the siege of Mariupol, Ukrainian Christian shares a Psalm with a congregation of fellow refugees and their Polish hosts (reported from Sopot, Poland).
From Slovakia: Where to next?
Viktoria Oshurko works as a translator in a Košice relief center. In the early days of the war, 2,000 Ukrainians per day came through the center. A native of western Ukraine, Oshuko came to Slovakia to study public administration at a university. “Mentally, it’s hard,” she said of the weight of the war.
It’s a difficult question for Ukrainian Christians as they find temporary shelter, and challenges, in the overstressed countries of Europe and the U.S. (reported from Košice, Slovakia).
Feature: Does God love Russians?
After Russia’s retreat, hungry Ukrainians in the city of Izium take loaves of bread delivered by Volunteer Brothers.
It’s a hurtful question but an understandable one, say Christians in Russia. Along with their Ukrainian brethren, they face an increasingly challenging task: loving their neighbor.
Interview: ‘I won’t leave them, too’
Andrii Bilokonnyi shares a message of hope and prayer for workers and refugees at a former boarding school in eastern Ukraine.
Despite the missiles that fall on a daily basis in eastern Ukraine, a Christian family keeps serving at-risk children — and adults.
U.S. response: Christians in U.S. check off ‘bucket lists’ for Ukraine
Paul Nance, coordinating minister for the Hillsboro Church of Christ, speaks on the Kelley Clarkson Show.
Churches across the nation gather supplies to help refugees in war-torn Eastern Europe — and get a $10,000 boost from TV host Kelly Clarkson.
Ukraine crisis: How to help
A long line of Ukrainians walks toward the Polish border checkpoint, fleeing the war in their homeland.
A list of ministries associated with Churches of Christ and congregations collecting funds for Ukraine relief.
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