When Ashley Ivey sees Ukraine in the news — the violence, the bombs, the downed aircraft — or overhears a conversation about it, she thinks of a place she almost called home for a while.
“My ears definitely perk up whenever I hear (the word) Ukraine,” she said. “I automatically tune in to that conversation or the news.
“Whenever you know the names and stories … it’s a new realization that there are people over there going through a really tough time.”
Ivey was within a week of moving to western Ukraine to serve in a missions position when everything changed. She had spent time studying about the country and the city of Rivney where she was supposed to live with a pastor’s family while she taught English as a Second Language (ESL) for a semester.
The fighting and unrest escalated in February, about the same time she had finally completed more than six months of paperwork and preparation to go. She had her ticket in hand, had transitioned out of her place of employment and had given up her apartment.
And then “we pulled the plug,” said Jim Bradley, chairman of the missions committee for First Baptist Church, Opp, the church that recruited Ivey, a member of South Coast Church, Mobile, for the ESL position.
“We felt we should not send her into that situation even though the western side of the country is not in turmoil,” Bradley said. “It was just too uncertain.”
A number of U.S. churches have postponed or canceled their plans to do ministry in Ukraine this year because of the unrest. But Christian workers in that region of the world say there is still much that churches “back home” can do.
Prayer needed
Tim Johnson, a Southern Baptist representative in Ukraine, said the U.S. Church has a “great role” in reaching out to Ukraine during these difficult times by creating awareness, continuing to pray and being a part of outreach efforts.
“Those are great ways for the Church to continue to support our Ukrainian brothers and sisters,” he said. Christians can pray for God to clear the way for the Spirit to move amid war, Johnson added.
“It’s just hard when you know that there’s church-planting efforts going on, there’s desire to see new work take place, but at the same time there’s that cloud of fear that hangs in the air,” he said. “So we pray for that to dissipate and that we could have a chance to move forward with clear skies.”
Bradley said that while First, Opp, has had to adapt its missions efforts in Ukraine this year, church members continue to stay informed about the country and stay in touch with their ministry partners in Rivney.
“We want to stay involved,” he said. “We have friends there and we don’t want to leave them. We want to continue supporting them.”
Noting he and other church leaders stay in touch with their contacts in Rivney through email, Bradley said, “They are very upbeat and are continuing to do the Lord’s work. They are keeping their wits about them and are going forward with their work.”
First, Opp, supports Rivney Baptist Association — which has 110 member churches — financially and by sending teams, Bradley said. “Our pastor Randy Breedlove is a big supporter of our missions efforts on all fronts and led our past two teams to Ukraine,” he noted.
The church launched its partnership efforts with Rivney Association around 2006 when the Alabama Baptist State Convention entered into a six-year partnership with national Baptists and Southern Baptist missionaries in Ukraine.
Larry Cummings, then director of missions (DOM) for Covington Baptist Association, encouraged the churches in the association to get involved, and First, Opp, was among the churches that found ministry opportunities there.
“When Otis Corbitt came as director of missions, he continued the partnership with Ukraine and is a big supporter of the missions work in the association, but the official partnership agreement has now expired,” Bradley said. Still a few churches in Covington Association and across the state have continued their partnership efforts.
“Mostly what we do is support church plants and provide monthly stipends for church planters,” Bradley explained. “We also send teams … sometimes to teach classes, sometimes to help with summer camps.”
One of the church plants First, Opp, members have invested in, Transformation Church, has grown to more than 50 members. “They held the summer camp we financially supported this year,” Bradley said. “We were supposed to send a team over, but we canceled that trip because of the unrest.”
Transformation Church uses the summer camp as an outreach tool, Bradley said, noting more than half of the 100-plus children in attendance are typically unchurched.
Reports also came to Bradley that some of the children impacted by the fighting in eastern Ukraine were sent to the camp.
While pleased with the results of the summer camp, Bradley noted there have been moments church members in Opp have “felt a bit guilty” for not being present in Ukraine.
“Some of us were willing to go, but it makes better sense not to,” he said.
So they continue to pray, watch the news with anticipation and eagerly await their next email update.
And the same thing is happening at the opposite end and corner of the state in Colbert-Lauderdale Baptist Association.
DOM Eddy Garner said, “The unrest in Ukraine has definitely adjusted our plans. … We were supposed to be in Ukraine about this time to work with Southern Baptist missionaries from Alabama Tim and Donna Akers.
“We adopted the Akerses through the Alabama Acts 1:8 Connections partnership and have sent teams the past two years, but with the unrest we decided to wait until things got a little more settled,” Garner said.
“We’ve been working with them to plant churches and send teams to help with Vacation Bible Schools and do medical missions,” he said. “We stay connected through email and Skype and are praying with them through the unrest.”
For more information on partnering with missionaries in Ukraine from Alabama, contact Reggie Quimby at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions at 1-800-264-1225, ext. 239, or email rquimby@alsbom.org.
To contribute to the work of Southern Baptist representatives who are helping repair homes and broken lives in Ukraine, email rebirtheasternukraine@gmail.com.
(IMB contributed)
Share with others: