People aren’t lining up to be missionaries in Ukraine right now, as Lamar Schubert has discovered. He and his wife Aubrey work with Slavic people and Eastern European churches, but they had to evacuate Ukraine when war began in February 2022.
As cluster leader of International Mission Board missionaries, Schubert helped missionaries transfer to other areas where they could still serve Slavic people, but Schubert’s passion for the war-torn country continues.
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“We were devastated because a lot of the missionaries who evacuated served 15 or 20 years,” Schubert said. Devastation described the current work, but he also wondered what future ministry in Ukraine would look like.
Last October, Schubert received a call from John Barnett, who serves as the director of diaspora mobilization for Southern Baptists. He informed Schubert about an initiative involving seven U.S. Slavic Christian networks that were interested in forming a partnership. The goal of this partnership was to reach Eastern European people not only in the United States but also those back in Ukraine and other parts of Europe where they have scattered because of the war.
Historic meeting
This led to a historic meeting last November, as representatives from five of the seven networks met in Richmond, Virginia. The Schuberts were already planning to be back in the U.S. during this time and attended the meeting. They said the meeting was “amazing” and an answer to prayer, as they made connections with many leaders of Eastern European churches in the U.S.
Barnett also said the meeting was successful, allowing for opportunities to discover ways to collaborate and reach more people in Eastern Europe, as well as here in the U.S.
“We brought 19 leaders together to the IMB with the intention of beginning an ongoing partnership,” Barnett said about the November meeting. “I think this is a great example of how we can network on ‘this side of the pond’ to build new pathways, partnerships and pipelines to the field.”
The diaspora mobilization team was formed in 2024 as a partnership of the IMB, North American Mission Board, Send Relief and Woman’s Missionary Union with the intention of reaching other nations that come to North American soil.
Schubert wasted no time with the new opportunities. Recently he traveled to Sacramento to visit Spring of Life Ukrainian Church, where church leaders are members of a Slavic Christian network in northern California.
Founded in 1992 by immigrants from Ukraine, Spring of Life is one of the largest Eastern European churches in the U.S. They offer multiple Saturday and Sunday worship services, including an English-speaking service, where Schubert was given the honor to preach.
‘Active war zone’
Schubert discovered that the church is currently sending people to do mission work in Ukraine.
“Right now, we can’t take volunteers [to Ukraine] because it’s an active war zone,” Schubert said. But he and church leaders worked out a plan as volunteer mission groups from Spring of Life can provide resources to Ukrainian mission partners to continue the work of sharing the gospel and discipling believers.
The Spring of Life mission groups also help with retreats for Ukrainian spiritual leaders that Schubert and ministry partners started after war began. The retreats provide respite for those living in the active war zones.
Schubert explained that many deal with ongoing missile strikes and drone attacks. “These pastors and deacons and elders are all carrying those burdens, not just for themselves and their own families, but for their churches as well,” Schubert said.
The retreats are held in Budapest, Hungary, where Schubert said Ukrainian church leaders “can turn their missile alerts off, and they can actually sleep through the night.” For many of them, Schubert said, it’s the first time that they get to sleep through the night since the war started.
Schubert was impressed with many other ministries Spring of Life is doing for refugees. Along with food and clothing, the church provides job skills training in various businesses.
And through this meeting, Spring of Life learned more about how they can work with the IMB to do volunteer missions with the possibility of church members becoming full-time missionaries.
Looking ahead
Another meeting will happen in June for the Slavic networks at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas. All seven networks are to be represented with even more opportunities to fellowship and find ways to do more mission work here and abroad.
“Slavic churches are growing all over America,” Schubert said, “and my hope is that they’re not just finding Slavic people, but they’re getting the gospel to them, and that out of that harvest will come more missionaries.”
Some names have been changed for security
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chris Doyle and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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