“Through our cooperative efforts, from Southern Baptists in the States, through Send Relief and the IMB to Baptist partners in eastern Europe, God is moving in powerful ways.”
Russia reenergized its assault on Ukraine after Oct. 8 explosions heavily damaged a bridge Russia built to the Crimean Peninsula that facilitated Russia’s attacks on southern Ukraine.
The war that Russia began in February has killed more than 6,306 and injured at least 9,602 civilians in Ukraine, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported in its Oct.17 update on civilian casualties. Included are at least 400 children who were killed and at least 723 children injured, OHCHR said.
Pyzh describes the work of UBTS as critical during the war that has displaced at least 400 Baptist churches.
“In the midst of the challenges in this war, the importance of the work of UBTS is tremendous,” Pyzh said in the video update. “Because one of the most critical outcomes of this war is what I call a leadership vacuum. We lost a lot of churches; we lost a lot of leaders. And I know that in future we will lose even more. So our work in equipping and developing leaders (is) becoming much more critical.”
Pyzh shared the story of a new student from Chernihiv in northern Ukraine who had never before pastored a church, but has been called to the ministry forefront during the war.
“We have a lot of people, a lot of opportunities, big building, and I have no clue what to do,” Pyzh quoted the student who also said, “That’s the reason why I’m at UBTS.”
About 2,300 evangelical Baptist churches were active in Ukraine before the war, according to the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists.
“In future, if you rebuild all the buildings, buildings without leaders mean nothing,” Pyzh said. “So thank you for helping us to invest in leaders. Thank you for supporting us and please, be with us through this difficult time.”
This article originally appeared here.
