‘This year has changed everything’
In the northern Polish city of Sopot, a group of…
War in Ukraine: Links to The Christian Chronicle’s coverage
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The number of Churches of Christ in Ukraine once rivaled the number in the rest of Europe combined.
The nation of 38 million people, once part of the Soviet Union, was fertile soil for missionaries and church planters after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Since its independence in August of 1991, Ukraine has found itself increasingly at odds with its neighbor, Russia, and caught between the influences of East and West. In 2014 the tension turned violent as Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and pro-Russian separatists seized control of portions of eastern Ukraine.
Billboards along the road leading into Ivan-Frankivsk bear messages of support for Ukraine’s military and citizens.
The Christian Chronicle has covered the impact of the hostilities on Ukraine’s churches for more than a decade. When the first bombs fell on Feb. 24, 2022, the Chronicle published an explainer, “Why Ukraine matters to Churches of Christ,” detailing the history of the fellowship in this Eastern European nation.
Following are links to the Chronicle’s reports, filed from Ukraine, Europe and other parts of the globe. The most recent stories appear first.
Refugees stuck in limbo
Ukrainian refugees pose for a group photo after a Wednesday night Bible study at the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston.
At a Texas church, tears and talk of bombs underscore the precarious circumstances for thousands of Ukrainians losing their legal status.
Iranians serve Ukrainians
Somayeh, an Iranian Christian from the Pohlgasse Church of Christ in Vienna, gets snacks ready for Ukrainian refugees in Poysdorf.
Once refugees themselves, Christian converts from the Middle East feel a sense of kinship with those fleeing conflict in Eastern Europe.
Why go back to Ukraine?
Between the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin, badly damaged in the early days of the conflict, a Ukrainian man makes his way home.
After three years of rockets, explosions and lies, Ukrainian Christians who fled in the early days of the Russian conflict find reasons to return.
Betrayed by a nation, grateful to the church
A Ukrainian minister prays during a retreat in the battle-damaged city of Irpin in 2024.
Ukrainian Christians express a range of emotions as war enters its fourth year.
A protest of bears
Olga Tkachenko works with other Ukrainian and American Christians to place 600 bears in rows near the Washington Monument.
Christians from Ukraine and the U.S. march on Washington in memory of at least 600 children killed in Russia’s invasion.
Faith and friendship: Behind the scenes of a Ukrainian/American Thanksgiving
Christina Riggins enjoys the special Thanksgiving meal with her 19-month-old daughter, Milana.
‘Ultimately, I decided the story of the refugees’ heartfelt gesture needed to be told,’ Bobby Ross Jr. writes.
Ukrainian refugees prepare a special Thanksgiving feast to show gratitude to Texas Christians
Two little girls wore special Ukrainian dresses and enjoyed having their faces painted at the special Thanksgiving meal at the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston.
A Houston church’s thriving outreach to families fleeing the war inspires a heartfelt holiday gesture.
‘A little island of Ukrainians’ prays in the Tennessee woods
Ukrainian Christians circle their chairs for an evening of singing, study and prayer at the Greenbrier Ukrainian retreat.
A camp offers displaced Ukrainian believers in the U.S. a place for fellowship and solace from the trauma of war.
As Christians in the Baltics watch Russia’s war in Ukraine, they ponder: Are we next?
“Unbroken” is one of the statues that stand along the “Way of Sorrows” at the Salaspils Memorial Park near Riga, Latvia. A metronome broadcasts the sound of a slow, constant heartbeat across the memorial.
Believers in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia remember years of suffering under the Soviets, the Nazis and the Soviets again. They have no desire to go back.
‘God Bless Latvia’
The stark, obelisk-like Museum of the Occupation of Latvia stands among the historic buildings of Old Town Riga.
After decades of oppression, the people of this Baltic republic have a fierce, independent spirit — and a need for more workers from Churches of Christ.
Stay or go? Ukrainian Christians face an agonizing dilemma
Olga, a recently widowed preacher’s wife, “is now living in her third different flat (a very modest place) in her third different city,” said minister Jeff Abrams. “Have you ever seen a face so expressive— a face with so many layers of messages for us?”
Churches of Christ strive to be a lifeline on the frontlines as members ponder evacuation plans.
‘Every tribe and every nation’ gather in unity despite worldly conflicts
Children pray during the sixth Mediterranean Christian Conference in Marathon, Greece.
Christians attend a Mediterranean conference with the theme ‘Christ for the Nations.’
Sunday in Ukraine
Richard Baggett preaches while Inna Kuzmenko translates during the Irpin Church of Christ’s Sunday worship.
Worshipers in the battle-damaged city of Irpin share faith and sorrow as they celebrate new life.
Sending the light, even when it’s dark
Mary Lee Rogers, left, greets Larysa Dekhiarova during breakfast at a Christian retreat center in Irpin, Ukraine.
Despite two years of brutal war — and now, frequent blackouts — Ukrainian ministry students graduate and celebrate (from Irpin, Ukraine).
Where is God in a war zone?
Playground equipment stands in front of a battle-damaged apartment building in Irpin, Ukraine.
In besieged Ukraine, ministry leaders seek rest and inspiration amid ongoing grief and loss (from Irpin, Ukraine).
Insight: Why Ukraine still matters
Ukranian flags line Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), each honoring a Ukrainian who lost their life in the war with Russia.
After two years of war, we can’t forget our brothers and sisters in this war-torn nation (from Zosin, Poland).
Podcast: Reporting live from the streets of Ukraine
@christianchronicle Erik Tryggestad reports from Ukraine with translator Inna Kuzmenko in Episode 67 of the Christian Chronicle Podcast. #ccpodcast #churchofchrist #ukraine ♬ original sound – The Christian Chronicle
Erik Tryggestad, Inna Kuzmenko and Richard Baggett discuss their experiences after a three-day ministry retreat and Sunday worship with a Ukrainian congregation (from Irpin, Ukraine).
‘Oldest Christian in Ukraine’ dies at 100
Anna Ivanova
Anna Ivanova survived the Nazis and the Soviets. She said she would only leave Ukraine if her next stop was heaven.
Podcast: Author Philip Yancey on ‘What Went Wrong’ in Russia and the path to Ukraine
The Christian Chronicle interviews renowned author Philip Yancey, whose works include ‘The Jesus I Never Knew,’ about his experiences in Russia and Ukraine at the end of the Cold War and the book he co-wrote with John A. Bernbaum, ‘What Went Wrong? Russia’s Lost Opportunity and the Path to Ukraine.’
Two lives lost in Ukraine
Igor Kozlovsky, left, receives a hero’s welcome at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport after his Dec. 27, 2017, release from a prison in Donetsk, where he was held by pro-Russian separatists. Kozlovsky died Sept. 6. Artem Vinogradar, — with his wife, Valentina, at right — died in combat Aug. 15 while serving in Ukraine’s airborne assault unit.
A preacher-turned-soldier and a theologian who was tortured in captivity are mourned by Christians across the besieged nation.
Ukrainian Christians: Life in The Hague need not be a prison sentence
Sasha and Nastia Nikolaienko stand near a Ukrainian flag at the Gemeente van Christus Den Haag (Church of Christ in The Hague).
A Church of Christ in the Netherlands welcomes refugees as it celebrates Pentecost (from The Hague, Netherlands)
How a Russian immigrant came to serve Ukrainian refugees
Julia, right, holds her son Mark as she visits with Ukrainian refugee Aleksandra Hmyria and daughter Milana at the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston.
A Houston church develops a thriving outreach to families fleeing the war (from Houston).
Dam disaster adds to Ukrainians’ misery
It is very emotionally hard,’ say Christians, tired yet resolved as they deliver aid to flood victims.
Insight: Five prayers for Ukraine
Victoria Virkhovska prays for soldiers, including her son, In Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, in 2022.
One year after the first Russian bombs fell on the Eastern European nation, Ukrainian Christians don’t want to merely survive. They want to thrive through ministry training and church planting.
‘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.
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.
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. (from Košice, Slovakia).
‘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 (from Sopot, Poland).
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 (from Sopot, 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?’ (from Pabianice, 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 (from Warsaw, Poland).
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 (from Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
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 (from Siret, Romania).
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 (from Chernivtsi, 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 (from Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine).
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 (from Nashville, Tenn.).
Ukrainians count the days as they pray
A long line of Ukrainians walks toward the Polish border checkpoint, fleeing the war in their homeland.
Ukrainian-American family details their difficult journey from the Eastern European nation to the U.S. (from Oklahoma City).
Christians across U.S. find ways to support Ukraine
Members of the Grace Chapel Church of Christ in Cumming, Ga., hold signs at a prayer vigil for Ukraine.
Churches of Christ have strong connections to the Eastern European nation, now under assault from Russia.
Good news in Ukraine’s ‘real winter’
Bedding awaits Ukrainian refugees at the meeting place of the Sopot Church of Christ in Poland.
As Russian attacks intensify, Churches of Christ organize rescue missions, set up relief centers and experience baptisms.
Ukraine crisis: How to help
A separatist fighter carries a live artillery shell through the former meeting place of the Petrovsky Church of Christ in Donetsk, Ukraine. Militants seized the building in October 2014 and renamed the region the Donetsk People’s Republic.
A list of ministries associated with Churches of Christ and congregations collecting funds for Ukraine relief.
Why Ukraine matters to Churches of Christ
Members of the Church of Christ in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk, Ukraine, worship in 2003.
