Along the border of Poland and Ukraine, thousands of refugees are pouring in every day. There are several relief organizations meeting families immediately as they cross the border, providing food, clothing, and other necessities. Behind the scenes, Christian leaders and missionaries from Ukraine and Poland are orchestrating a system of relief that is packing churches with refugees and supplies across Poland and spreading into much of Europe.
Missionaries to Ukraine, now refugees themselves, are working in Poland to provide medical help, housing, food, and clothing to those fleeing the war in Ukraine. A Minnesota missionary who is also a doctor is working in a makeshift hospital. Another missionary church planter who has helped start churches in Ukraine for over 20 years, is working with the leadership of the evangelical church in Poland to help supply transport and supplies. A missionary family drove from Germany with a van packed with food, clothes, medical and safety supplies that will be brought to workers and colleagues still in Ukraine.
Nick and Olivia, who oversee Ukraine for AGWM in the Eurasia Northwest region, coordinate relief efforts from afar on multiple fronts. They sent one of their team members serving in Estonia to Poland to work alongside these missionaries and Polish pastors to help with relief efforts.
While the church planter stays in Poland with her children, her husband remains in Ukraine continuing pastoral work. The missionary doctor has friends and coworkers still in Ukraine trying to bring aid while under fire in combat zones. The risks are very real, as are their losses. They consider themselves lucky, not to have escaped unharmed, but to have been placed as God’s hands and feet for such a time as this.
The evangelical church in Poland may be small, but it is united and strong. Local pastors are working together across denominational lines to give refugees much needed temporal support with an eternal hope. Most of this is happening by word of mouth as Ukrainian friends and families share with each other that Polish churches are open to those needing housing and support.
Trucks from Convoy of Hope and other organizations bring much needed supplies to people who are running out of food. The food is brought by volunteers, church members, and from one family to another to get it where it needs to go.
God moves across political and denominational lines, and in this moment, there are no borders or barriers to His work. His people are quietly and diligently working as His hands and feet. Continue to pray for peace and protection. We can never underestimate the power of God as He works through His church. To donate, visit give.agwm.org.
