On Easter morning, the crowd began arriving early at Central Baptist Church in Kiev, Ukraine. By the time the service started, the cavernous auditorium was full. Every chair was taken. Worshipers leaned against the far wall and sat in windowsills.
Across the back of the church auditorium they stood two deep, and near the main entrance, people were packed so tightly one would have thought they were on a crowded subway.
Still the crowd overflowed into the foyer and any room where the service could be heard over the speaker system. It was like that for almost three hours.
Inside the auditorium a large choir sang as the organ and piano accompanied it. Two interpreters signed for the deaf. Worshipers, young and old, declared many times, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.”
Ukraine has its large churches. There are several in Kiev and many of the capital cities of the nation’s 25 oblasts (states). But to judge Baptist work here by these churches would not provide an accurate picture.
Statistics indicate that more than 1,000 of the Baptist Union of Ukraine’s 2,800-plus churches have less than 30 members.
Many pastors serve multiple churches, scrambling to make sure the Lord’s Supper is served in each church on a monthly basis. That is a necessity in Ukraine.
In one oblast, there are 63 reported churches but only 27 ordained pastors in the entire area.
A lack of male leadership and ordained leaders makes life hard for many churches, observers say. In Ukraine, ordination is done by the union, not churches, and seminary training is a requirement for all pastors.
Some national leaders ask how they can be expected to start new churches when the needs of existing churches are so desperate.
How quickly the picture changes. Following the fall of communism, the number of evangelical believers grew quickly in Ukraine. The number of churches doubled. In Poltava oblast, for example, there were 34 churches in 2000. Six years later, there were 74. But that kind of growth stopped abruptly about two years ago.
Mike Ray, a Baptist representative working in the eastern part of the country, said people are less open today than they were 10 years ago.
“Freedom was new and fresh. Now they are getting used to it,” he said. “What we shared was new and fresh as well. Now most have heard it before. Instead of praying to receive Christ on the street, the usual response is, ‘I will take this home and think about what you have said.’”
Ray also said Ukraine’s economic progress has made many people feel self-sufficient and less in need of God.
Adding to the challenge is the fact that the easier places to start churches have been covered and the leadership confined during communist times has been put into service.
“We do not have the leadership resources we had 10 years ago for starting churches,” he added.
Still, in early 2008, the union embarked on an ambitious goal of starting 125 churches. Generally speaking, that would be five new churches for each oblast. A primary focus was to be regional cities (county seats) without an evangelistic witness, but cities are difficult places to start churches, observed Shannon Ford, a Baptist representative serving in Ukraine.
“Cities are ‘colder’ places than towns and villages,” he said. “The people are more closed. Space is not readily available. You do not have the natural connections in the cities because people are more isolated.”
Ford said in many villages, believers can be found who would like to have the church back they lost during the Soviet era. “People invite you into their homes in villages. In cities, you have to have a pass code to get in a building,” he explained.
Conclusion? Starting churches in villages would be an easier assignment.
But regional cities are where people go for commerce, education, transportation and jobs. Villages continue to decline in population and the population is aging, studies show.
Union leaders have made church planting in regional cities a priority. Working alongside them are Baptist representatives across Ukraine. Alabama Baptists also have joined the effort, helping to provide financial support for about 10 full-time church planters. The support declines over time and has an agreed-upon stop date.
“To start a church, you need relationships,” Ray explained. “I have groups that are evolving in about 15 places. How long it will take, no one knows. Generally it takes a long time, and that means it takes more resources — more time, more money, more people.”
He said relationships need to be in place before volunteer teams are brought in. “You should remember that in Slavic culture, things are done slowly.”
When volunteer teams come, they add credibility, Baptist representatives agreed. It also helps the work move forward. “Remember every time you share a gospel witness, it is a positive thing,” Ray said.
Several Baptist representatives commended Alabama Baptist volunteers.
“They really came in support of what we are here to do,” Ford said. “They have not come to sightsee or to do their own thing.”
He praised the teams’ great ministry gifts, flexibility and willingness to adjust to changing circumstances. “The teams have been terrific,” Ford said.
While the Alabama Baptist State Convention is partnering with the Baptist Union, Covington Baptist Association is one Alabama association partnering with a Ukrainian oblast — Rivne.
“That oblast has a model starshee (similar to a state convention executive director) who supports church planting,” Ford said. “And Covington has been a model partner. They have sent teams again and again.”
He said given the economy, that is a great sacrifice.
And the church-planting challenge continues all over Ukraine. It is a priority for national Christians and Baptist representatives alike.
And the need for Alabama Baptist volunteers continues.
For information on opportunities to serve in Ukraine, contact Reggie Quimby at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239, or rquimby@alsbom.org.
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