WILDWOOD – The war is still raging in the Ukraine and it is especially chilling for Believers. Yaroslav “Slavik” Pyzh, president of Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary (UBTS) in Lviv, Ukraine shared an update with Fellowship of Wildwood.
“My friend, Mykhailo Brytsyn, was pastor in the now occupied city of Melitopol,” Pyzh said. “The church was large with a membership of more than 600, but now it is gone. The Russians took the building and told the believers not to get together or they would be jailed.”
Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary President Yaroslav “Slavik” Pyzh
In an interview, Pyzh shared that Brytsyn wrote a report on the Mission Eurasia website (missioneurasia.org). Brytsyn described the treatment of congregations and religious figures. “In some religious communities, Russian intelligence operatives started visiting church services, sometimes showing up accompanied by armed soldiers,” Brytsyn wrote. “The practice of arbitrary arrests and kidnappings of religious figures, holding them in basements in horrific conditions and inflicting violent torture on them, was widespread in the occupied territories.”
The best news of the Ukrainian update came from UBTS. When Ryan Bowman, pastor of Fellowship, introduced Pyzh, he mentioned the 17 humanitarian WeCare Centers set up by the seminary. “These WeCare centers are providing food aid and other essential daily living supplies,” he said, “as well as medical care, workforce training, and spiritual care.”
According to Pyzh, all the directors of the WeCare centers have been trained through the UTBS Institute for Leadership and Coaching (ILC). The WeCare Center leaders receive the training to help them manage their local WeCare ministries with excellence and integrity. These centers are ministering to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens.
Pyzh added that some of the WeCare centers offer schools. “Most of the schools are not in operation,” he said, “unless they have a bomb shelter. One of our centers has a school with 600 students, ages 6-18.”
“People are tired,” he continued, “they are constantly required to go to bomb shelters because of the missiles.”
Pyzh reported a missile exploded two miles from his home only three weeks ago.
“Yet through these dark times,” Pyzh added, “we see strength. In spite of the hopelessness and darkness, we see a glimmer of light. Churches are being planted because of the need for hope. With bombs and danger in their face, they want to hold onto their faith.”
“We can’t do it alone,” he said. “When you pray for us, don’t look at Ukraine as a place far away. Don’t look at it through the lens of Ukrainian and American, look at us as children of God and your brothers and sisters in Christ. That is our identity.”
More information is available at upfmissions.org.