Home Christian News Russian Baptist Church Helps 40 Slavic Refugee Families Resettle in U.S.

Russian Baptist Church Helps 40 Slavic Refugee Families Resettle in U.S.

Russian Baptist began its outreach early in the war, sending supplies and helping refugees cross the Mexico-U.S. border into the U.S., aided by Iglesia Bautista, a congregation in Rosarita, Mexico.

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Russian Baptist is among several Southern Baptist congregations helping refugees resettle, both in Europe and in the U.S. Refugees are fleeing a war that has displaced 12 million Ukrainians, including 5 million who have fled the country and nearly 8 million displaced internally, according to the United Nations.

Estimates from the Slavic Community Center of San Francisco indicate the vast majority of the 10,000 refugees California has accepted since the war began are from Ukraine. Sacramento has the highest concentration of Ukrainian immigrants in the nation, with the 18,000 in the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom metropolitan area amounting to 0.8 percent of the population.

Russian Baptist leaders will meet this week to reassess their response to remain efficient in meeting needs. Rising housing costs impacted by inflation are hampering the outreach, Avramenko said.

“One of the problems is to find … affordable rent. Cost has jumped tremendously,” he said. “Some of the host families are getting exhausted or discouraged by high expectations of some refugees. We heard so many stories, both encouraging and discouraging.”

Avramenko encourages prayer for refugees.

“Share your love with refugees by giving undivided attention and simply pray about needs,” Avramenko said. “(Prayer) is precious tool given to believers and sadly, disregarded.”

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.