Who Will Turn Up the Heat – and Hope – in Ukraine this Winter?

ANALYSIS

In America, we’re nervous about our winter heating bills. Ukrainians, meanwhile, worry if they’ll have any heating at all.

Iryna, who lives 90 miles north of Kyiv, has been stockpiling as much firewood as she can afford. “We got the cheapest they had at the sawmill,” she says. “Good firewood costs at least ($165) per carload.” That’s 3 weeks’ wages for many Ukrainians.

Some of her neighbors are chopping up their furniture or dismantling outbuildings so they have wood to burn. Others are hastily making wood-burning stoves out of scrap metal.

“We’ll stay warm, somehow,” Iryna says, resolutely.

As president of Slavic Gospel Association, I’ve been to Ukraine many times. The resolve and grit of the Ukrainian people is nothing new to me. But I’ve never before seen such a desperate situation there.

Drone attacks and missiles have wiped out 40% of Ukraine’s power grid, causing rolling blackouts and cutting off electricity to more than one million households.

As the brutally cold winter weather approaches, the situation is likely to get even worse.

“The need is huge, and the crisis is upon us,” acknowledges Pastor Igor Bandura, who represents more than 2,000 evangelical churches across the nation. “The spirit of Ukrainians is still strong. Our people are not in panic, but thousands are struggling.”

Europe’s Biggest Crisis Since World War II

Pastor Bandura is right. Ukrainians face probably the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. Millions are about to face freezing temperatures, and without help they’ve no way to keep warm. The most vulnerable could die.

To survive the winter, Ukrainians need two things right now.

Heat -- and hope.

That’s why SGA is partnering with hundreds of local churches across Ukraine to turn their facilities into centers of heat and hope, where families can shelter and stay warm when the bitter cold rolls in.

This month, we’re shipping power generators, thermal blankets, firewood, coal and emergency aid to local churches on the frontlines, in villages, towns and cities where thousands have been displaced, their homes sometimes reduced to burned-out shells.

Local pastors and their congregations view this as an opportunity to show their neighbors that the Christian faith is living and active, and that Jesus Christ offers hope when all hope seems lost.

For decades under communism, Ukrainians were taught there is no God. Many grew up in a spiritual vacuum. Now, pastors tell us their churches are bursting at the seams.

Why?

The electricity may be off. But the light and warmth of the Gospel glows all the brighter in the darkness.

Only the local churches have the people and facilities in place across Ukraine to provide safe refuge, winter warmth, and real hope through the Gospel message. That’s why we’ve launched the Winter Heat and Hope Project to save lives.

Two Simple Words, Powerful Impact

The worst of winter is coming to Ukraine, and local churches cannot do this alone.

“We need every believer in America who stands with us to help us minister to the most vulnerable this winter,” says Pastor Bandura.

Heat and hope. In Ukrainian, teplo and nadiya. Two simple words.

For Ukrainians right now, they’re perhaps the most powerful words in their language.

Who will turn up the heat – and hope – in Ukraine this winter? Will you pray for Ukraine’s suffering people and the churches on the frontlines? More than ever, they need the assuring hope – nadiya – that Christ alone can give.

--- Michael Johnson is president of Slavic Gospel Association (SGA, www.sga.org), an Illinois-based Christian mission that partners with local evangelical churches across the former Soviet Union. To support SGA’s Ukraine Winter project, go to www.sga.org/ukrainewinterheat.