“We’ve stepped in and tried to help them be more effective in what they do and actually sharing some of the resources that we’ve received from Southern Baptists. So we’re using these resources that we’ve received from Southern Baptists,” Pyzh said. “Instead of the seminary directly dealing with humanitarian relief (as in the initial months of the war), we work with these care centers and help them.
“The basic idea of care centers is to provide a platform for churches to cooperate with each other to serve the community. That’s the basic idea. It’s not only responding to the needs of the war, but actually creating something that can stay within the community for a long time.”
UBTS, providing education at no cost to students during the war, plans to work with about a dozen care centers by the end of the year, Pyzh said. With Ukraine’s inflation rate of nearly 30 percent, UBTS has halted tuition fees and is concentrating on raising funds to support its educational efforts.
Pyzh, who is the founding pastor of Journey Church in Lviv, encourages Southern Baptists to continue praying for a miracle of peace and victory, to pray specifically for the rebuilding of church leadership, to continue giving to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine and to consider establishing scholarships to support UBTS students during the war.
“Send Relief helps us with donations that we are using at We Care Centers,” Pyzh said. “But overall, donations are dropping down big time, not like we had two or three months ago. People are just tired of the war, but I see a tremendous decrease in donations.”
In one of his latest UBTS videos, Pyzh expressed continued hope.
“The same God that was faithful in the past will be faithful in the future. So in the midst of all the struggle that we’re going through right now, we’re looking forward with great hope, knowing that God is with us through you,” he said on the video. “Thank you for your help.”
This article originally appeared on BaptistPress.com.
