Download - Caring in Crisis: Report on "I Care" Refugee Assistance Program

Caring in Crisis: REPORT ON “I CARE” REFUGEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

May 2015

Mission Eurasia (formerly Russian Ministries) and its in-country affiliate, the Association for Spiritual Renewal (ASR), launched the “I Care” Refugee Assistance Program in the summer of 2014 to respond immediately to the crisis caused by Russia’s sudden annexation of Crimea and the pro-Russian assault on eastern Ukraine. Together these tragic events have created a humanitarian crisis that has:

Forced more than 1.5 million residents of Ukraine to flee their homes without food, clothing, and other basic life-sustaining items.

Officially killed more than 6,000 people, although unofficial estimates put the number of casualties at ten times this figure.

Wounded more than 14,000 people, including many innocent men, women, children and the elderly.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the persecution of evangelical Christians in Crimea and eastern regions of the country. Tragically, hundreds of Protestant pastors have suffered abduction, torture, arson, property confiscation, death threats, physical violence, expatriation, and even murder at the hands of the pro-Russian separatists. Between April-September 2014, at least 54 evangelical churches were taken over or destroyed. At least 100 other churches, Christian missions, orphanages, rehabilitation centers, educational institutions, research centers, and charities have closed because of the ongoing violence. One of these educational institutions, Donetsk Christian University, was seized in July 2014 and is still being used as a base of operations and prison by more than 400 pro-Russian separatists today.

Sadly, this crisis has also created a deep division between members of the body of Christ in Russia and Ukraine, who need reconciliation in order to serve as healing entities in their nations.In the midst of this darkness, God has used our partnership with 500 local national churches and the efforts of more than 600 School Without Walls students (SWW) and other volunteers to touch the suffering people of Ukraine in some amazing ways. This report will provide you with glimpses of how your faithful prayers and generous support are helping Next Generation leaders trained by Mission Eurasia/ASR to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus, bringing help and hope to a nation in despair.

“...as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,

you did it to me.”– Matthew 25:40, ESV

P.O. BOX 496, WHEATON, IL 60187 | PH: 630.462.1739 | MISSIONEURASIA.ORG 1

Background

“I Care” was designed as a nationally led, multi-faceted program to help the suffering people of Ukraine by:

Providing relief aid in the form of food packs and clothing for refugee families.

Providing copies of Scripture and Scripture-based materials for everyone affected by the crisis, including refugee families, orphans, and soldiers on the frontlines.

Designing and hosting training events for local pastors to help them more effectively care for the refugees in their midst.

Developing Christian counseling materials for pastors and other Christians who are working with refugee families.

Providing pre-fab housing for homeless, displaced families through our Homes for the Homeless initiative.

Caring for needy, homeless children through the restoration of an orphanage, construction of playgrounds, and distribution of Gifts of Hope.

Because of the instability and widespread corruption in Ukraine, Mission Eurasia/ASR established an oversight committee for the “I Care” Program, headed by ASR Vice President, Boris Volkov. This oversight committee ensures that relief aid is distributed through local evangelical churches where we have a working relationship with pastors who monitor the distribution efforts and provide follow-up.

As a result of the prayers and generous response of friends and ministry partners in the West, combined with the dedication of Mission Eurasia/ASR ministry teams and national churches in Ukraine, we estimate that more than one million needy refugees and other suffering people in Ukraine have received some form of assistance through the “I Care” Refugee Assistance Program.


Overview Of The “I Care” Program

Through Your Partnership, Lives in Crisis Received Urgent Relief AidWhen violence first erupted in eastern Ukraine in April 2014, following Russia’s sudden annexation of Crimea, Mission Eurasia/ASR responded by providing for the immediate, life-saving needs of the refugees, including food, warm clothing, bedding and medical equipment made possible by individuals, foundations, partner ministries and churches in the West, including a large number of Slavic churches mobilized by Konstantin Andreyevskiy, Mission Eurasia’s Director for Slavic Church Relations in North America. We thank God and you for this outpouring of compassion for the refugees that included:

The distribution of more than 7,280 family food packs, providing enough food for 29,000 people for a week. These food packs were distributed to those living in the most violent areas of eastern Ukraine.

The shipment and distribution of eight 40-foot containers with 1,114,560 individually packed meals, and more than 174,000 pounds of other food goods, donated by partner ministries in the US and Ukraine. A total of 272,160 individual meals have been distributed so far.

The shipment and distribution of 16, 40-foot containers with more than 583,000 pounds of clothing, shoes, bedding, and miscellaneous home goods from partner ministries in the US, Germany, and Ukraine. These goods have been distributed to needy refugees in the Donetsk, Kharkov, and Zaporozhye regions, among many others.

How the “I Care” Program Is Bringing Help and Hope to the People of Ukraine


Stories of Lives You Have Helped to Touch Through “I Care”Anna Burkut, who was forced to flee her hometown of Avdeyevka, near Donetsk, along with her husband and two children, recalls her gratitude for the “I Care” program. “You helped our family when we needed it most…when I was pregnant and we had nothing to feed the children, and no warm clothes for them, the ‘I Care’ project saved us,” she shares. “I still cry every time I think of the care you showed us.” Our ASR staff and SWW students brought rice meals, clothing, and Gift of Hope boxes to the Burkut family after they learned of the struggle they were facing in the village of Osipenko. Anna began cooking the rice meals right away, and the children were overjoyed to open the Gift of Hope boxes. Not only were the Burkuts filled with a delicious meal; they were also reminded of God’s great love and provision.

Artyom, who fled with his wife from their hometown of Gorlovka after fighting ravaged the area, shares about the kindness that they experienced through the “I Care” program. “While we walked to Nikitovka to flee the violence in our hometown, it was horribly hot. We passed by an elderly woman sweeping her yard and asked her for water. She refused to give us any. We didn’t have any cash with us and no one would accept credit cards. When we got to Artymovsk, the Christians there greeted us with tea and sandwiches. My wife started crying—our neighbor would not give us water, and these people we don’t know were doing so much for us. They took us to Svyatogorsk, and fed us lunch and dinner while we waited for a bus to Kiev.” Artyom and his wife had heard rumors that Christians were enslaving refugees, but the love that they were shown through “I Care” helped them to see that these were just lies spread by separatist propaganda.

Yevgeny, who lives near war-torn Donetsk with his wife and three children, is a testament of God’s power in the midst of tragedy. “After our home burned down and we were left with nothing, we didn’t know what to do,” he shares. “In one of the darkest moments, a group of joyful young people showed up in the yard of the home of our friends whom we were staying with. They brought gifts and told my children about Christmas…This was completely unexpected. No one had brought us anything in a very long time. I started crying, and knew in that moment that God cares for us. He sent strangers to bring us hope and joy when we were in great need of it.” Even in the midst of turmoil, God is using “I Care” to reveal His love to the hurting people of Ukraine.


Stories of Lives You Have Helped to Touch Through “I Care”

Through Your Partnership, Lives in Crisis Received Hope Through the Word of God People in crisis need true hope that only God’s Word can provide. That’s why the “I Care” Program was designed in a holistic way, not only to care for the urgent physical needs of the suffering, but also to care for their long-term spiritual needs by providing copies of Scripture, such as the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John, and Scripture-related publications, such as Hope magazine, to as many hurting families as possible, and even to soldiers on the front lines.

During our Gift of Hope Christmas gift distribution outreach, we included copies of The Greatest Stories of Hope for needy children in Ukraine. This specially designed booklet features 12 colorfully illustrated stories from the life of Jesus and presents the gospel message in a way that children can understand.

In addition to these Scripture pieces, we also worked with Pastor Peter Dudnik of the Good News Church in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, to publish and print How to Live Further, a book designed to help victims of the violence in Ukraine find joy in Christ, even in the midst of suffering. Overall, your support has helped us to print and distribute:

Gospel of John in the Ukrainian language: 200,000 copiesGospel of Luke in the Ukrainian language: 200,000 copiesGospel of Luke in the Russian language: 200,000 copiesHope Magazine: 125,000 copiesHow to Live Further: 100,000 copiesGreatest Stories of Hope for children: 20,000 copies

Total: 845,000 copiesP.O. BOX 496, WHEATON, IL 60187 | PH: 630.462.1739 | MISSIONEURASIA.ORG 5

When Roman, a Ukrainian soldier, received a copy of the Gospel of Luke from SWW students, he immediately began reading it, and thinking about Jesus and the eternal life He offers. As Roman read, he felt a desire to share what he was learning with others. One day, he went on a mission to enemy territory, and he took the Gospel of Luke with him. During the mission he spotted some tree stumps where the enemy soldiers often sat, and left his copy of the Gospel of Luke there, hoping that it would end up in the right hands. He returned to the spot the next morning and found fresh footprints, but the Gospel of Luke had disappeared! Roman said that for the first time in his two months on the front lines, he felt joy and peace inside. “God knows who took those Scriptures,” he shares, “and I hope that they will bring that person the same peace they brought me.”

“I found God through the Story of Jesus booklet,” shares Zhenya. “The colorful illustrations and interesting text helped me forget about the war, which left my family homeless.”Zhenya and his family fled occupied Slavyansk and ended up in Izyum, where a church provided them with housing and a copy of the Story of Jesus. The booklet turned my attention to the Bible,” continues Zhenya. “I don’t know if I ever would have read the Bible and made a decision to follow Christ if I hadn’t first gotten a hold of this booklet. I’m so grateful for those who made the effort to share the Good News of Jesus in such an interesting and understandable way.” Zhenya immediately started serving among the other refugees in Izyum, and when his family was able to return to Slavyansk, he continued to serve displaced people in his hometown.

“I’m from Western Ukraine and I’ve been serving in the army for a year,” Vitaly shared with Next Generation Christian leaders who visited him and other Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines, bringing Scriptures and a message of hope. “I don’t know when I’ll see my family again or whether or not I’ll ever return home. We rejoice every day that we’re still alive and are extremely grateful to those who pray for us. Every day we hear artillery fire and see pain and problems. We are grateful for your visit and show of support. Thank you especially for Hope magazine – I wanted to have a copy of God’s Word, and now that I have this, I will read it. Please keep praying for us! We feel your prayers and support.”


Stories of Lives You Have Helped to Touch Through “I Care”

Igor lives with his ailing wife Olga and eight children in an old house in the village of Lozanovka in eastern Ukraine. Life for the Sokolovs is difficult. Olga recently underwent surgery to have a tumor removed and is in need of care. However, there was no care to be had. Igor, her husband, frequently drank and left his family. Olga, a believer, would tell her children that she would not die until she had seen every member of their family come to God. And neither poverty nor hunger nor sickness nor marital problems could sway her.

“When Olga almost died six months ago, I woke up,” shares Igor. “Although I stopped drinking, I couldn’t get close to God. Olga had long been telling me that He was our only hope.” Berdyansk SWW students heard about the Sokolov family shortly before Christmas and went to visit them, armed with food, Hope magazines, and Gifts of Hope. “The Sokolov family lives in extreme poverty. They have no indoor plumbing and only a single wood stove to heat the house. The family has a few chickens, which help them survive. There is very little work to be found in the village, and people are just surviving,” shares Berdyansk SWW coordinator Alexei.

The children were delighted to see guests bearing gifts. Olga thanked them for everything, especially for the warm clothing, food, and Gifts of Hope. Igor surveyed everything mistrustfully, before taking a copy of Hope magazine and disappearing into another room. Alexei followed him into the other room to talk to him. The tears he saw on Igor’s face told him everything. Holding the magazine tightly to his chest, Igor asked Alexei to pray for him and his family. Hope magazine and Gifts of Hope served as the first step for these children and their father towards getting to know their Savior. Now a house church meets in the Sokolov’s home in Lozanovka. “Hope has come to their home,” rejoices Alexei.


Through Your Partnership, National Pastors Have Been Trained to Help RefugeesWhile evangelical churches in Ukraine were often the first to offer assistance to the refugees in their midst, many of their pastors had never dealt with a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude before, and felt unprepared to meet the complex psychological and emotional needs of the refugees. For this reason, through the “I Care” program, Mission Eurasia/ASR organized and sponsored 23 pastoral training seminars for 1,485 local pastors from Ukraine and Russia. Addressing important topics, including the church’s role in times of conflict, trauma counseling, and reconciliation strategies to help build bridges of understanding between Russian and Ukrainian church leaders, these pastoral training seminars helped to equip local pastors to better minister to the hurting refugees in their communities. Some of the 1,485 pastors who attended our training seminars have begun providing counseling services for displaced families in their congregations. We estimate that these efforts will help to provide Christian counseling for 10,0000-15,000 suffering families in local churches throughout Ukraine.As one of our partnering pastors from the war-torn city of Donetsk shared,


“People who are disillusioned in everything, who have lost everything – homes, cars – are now turning to God for help. Our church is shocked, in a good way, when there are no free seats at services, and people repent in tears . . . it’s inexpressible. Some people from our church thought about leaving the conflict zone, but now that we see how God is working through us, it’s unthinkable for any of us to leave.”

Through Your Partnership, National Pastors and Christian Workers Have Been Equipped with Special Post-Traumatic Counseling Materials to Better Care for the Suffering In addition to organizing special pastoral training seminars, Mission Eurasia/ASR has partnered with experts in Christian counseling to develop and make available special counseling resources through the “I Care” program which deal with the topic of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the horrors of war. These resources include a Pastoral Training Handbook on Psychological Help for War Victims in Ukraine (1,740 copies). Electronic versions of the Pastoral Training Handbook have also been made available to local pastors who could not attend our training seminars. In addition, Mission Eurasia received permission from the World Health Organization to reprint 500 copies of Psychological First Aid: Guide for Field Workers and reproduce this on CD-ROM for pastors in Ukraine. We are also translating Caring for Souls: Counseling Under the Authority of Scripture written by American professor and theologian, Dr. Harry Shields. We plan to make 500 hard copies of this work available to pastors in Ukraine in July 2015, and 2,500 copies available electronically to Next Generation leaders who are involved in counseling refugees through their churches. Stories of Lives You Have Helped to Touch Through “I Care”Oksana, a psychologist who uses our counseling materials in her ministry to refugees, shares, “Recently, I was training a group of 18-year-old nurses, some of whom are going to serve as volunteers on the frontlines, while others will work with military men, who have seen death, and many of whom have been permanently disabled. Each of them will need serious psychological help…Thank you for these precious materials. They are priceless in today’s situation in Ukraine.”

Natalia, director of the Ascension Center, one of our “I Care” partners, recalls a displaced woman who came to one of our training seminars. “I worked with a refugee who was having trouble with her teenage son. The family had lost their home and was trying to survive. The mother felt a rift develop between her and her son, but she did not know how to overcome it. During the second day of the training, which addressed active listening, she came to me with tears in her eyes. She put the theory into practice, and the stress they were both experiencing served to bring her and her son closer together, instead of tearing them apart.”


In April 2014, the Sails of Hope orphanage in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine was reduced to rubble in the midst of the severe fighting. Pastor Peter Dudnik, one of our partners, had established this orphanage in 2001-2002 after he felt called to reach out to the numerous street children in his community. He and his wife had been working with these children for a few years before they purchased the building that would become Sails of Hope, but they felt that they needed to do something more substantial. “Sails of Hope worked not only with children,” Pastor Dudnik shares, “but with mothers and fathers. We helped to restore relationships, and free parents from alcohol and drug addiction.”

In 2011, Sails of Hope restored 19 children to their families, and in 2012, this number grew to 21. An orphanage intended to serve 30-40 children had transformed into a family restoration center. All of this hard work was harshly interrupted in spring 2014 when Slavyansk came under fire from pro-Russian separatists. In the midst of the fighting, Sails of Hope was severely damaged: the third floor collapsed into the second floor, the roof was cracked, and many of the walls had large holes in them due to shelling.

After the separatists were driven out of Slavyansk, Pastor Dudnik was determined to repair Sails of Hope, even though experts told him that there wasn’t much of anything left to restore. Thanks to a very generous gift from one of our faithful donors to our “I Care” program, we were able to help Pastor Dudnik and his volunteer team repair the orphanage in just three months.

“The main thing I want to thank Mission Eurasia for is their moral support,” says Pastor Dudnik. “Thanks to your initiative and kind hearts, we not only completely restored the orphanage, but we also added on a center for refugees. Today, there are 50 people living in the building—homeless children and refugee families with nowhere to go. In August, I was looking at ruins, and on December 6th, I was rejoicing as I saw the children moving into beautiful new rooms.”

Not only is Sails of Hope providing shelter for needy and homeless children, it is also offering an opportunity for them to hear the gospel from Pastor Dudnik and his team, serving as a great model for the entire nation. Through this ministry, Christ’s light is shining despite the destruction all around.


Through Your Partnership, Needy Children Have a Home

Through Your Partnership, Needy Families Will Have a HomeThousands of homes in eastern Ukraine have been destroyed as a result of the assault by pro-Russian separatist forces, leaving countless families with nowhere to live. To help provide housing for these homeless families, Mission Eurasia, in partnership with Good News Church in Slavyansk, initiated and developed the Homes for the Homeless project as part of the “I Care” program. The Homes for the Homeless project is designed to quickly provide warm, pre-fab housing for refugee families and to create jobs for refugees who have no other means to support themselves. Pre-fab housing is an ideal solution to the housing crisis in eastern Ukraine because the materials used are less expensive than traditional housing materials, the construction process is much simpler and this model can be easily replicated by other churches and organizations throughout the country. Generous funds that were provided for this project have been used to purchase and install equipment for a home-building factory and to begin building pre-fab homes in the area. To date, four homes have been completed, and plans are underway to simultaneously build three homes per month.

Stories of Lives You Have Helped to Touch Through “I Care”Alexei lives with his wife and three small children in the first pre-fab house built through the Homes for the Homeless project in Slavyansk. Their previous home was destroyed during the shelling. As Alexei recalls, “Nothing was left. My wife and I and our three small children became homeless in an instant.” Alexei helped during the entire construction process explaining that he could not do otherwise because of the tremendous gratitude he felt.

Recently, Alexei, his wife and his three children accepted Christ into their hearts. After that, Alexei and his wife were baptized. Alexei’s entire outlook on life has now changed as a result of the love and care he has received. As he explains, “I can’t help but help others now. After everything that believers did to help me, after everything that God did, I can’t live by the principle ‘each for himself,’ any longer.”


“No one ever helped me before in my life. Since I was a little boy, I was left on my own. I had no father and my mother worked all the time. I grew up very quickly! And then believers offered to help build us a new house! My wife and I still can’t believe how good God is!”

As a result of your generous support of “I Care,” four playgrounds have been installed in Ukraine for refugee children who have experienced the horrors of war in eastern Ukraine. These include refugee children living at the Sails of Hope orphanage in Slavyansk, Ukraine, where two playgrounds were installed. Other playgrounds were installed in Kotsyubinskoye (outside of Kiev) and Zaporozhye, Ukraine. According to local Christian leaders working with these traumatized children, these playgrounds are already making a noticeable contribution to their emotional and physical well-being.

Through Your Partnership, Traumatized Children are Being Restored



Ukraine is going through a very difficult period. The war in eastern Ukraine has forced more than a million people to resettle in other regions without the resources to live, without housing, and with little hope…. Churches in our country have been mobilized, understanding that their response to these needs presents an opportunity to expand the Kingdom of God. We would like to thank Mission Eurasia (ASR) for training pastors and providing counseling materials, which strengthen our churches’ ministry to refugees, not only helping to restore lives, but also making reconciliation with God possible.

Valery AntonyukPresident of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of

Evangelical Christians-Baptists

I would like to thank Mission Eurasia for mobilizing so many caring people who have responded to help the needy. Many of them left their homes with literally only two bags of belongings, and were forced to face a new reality from zero. I commend you for contributing so much toward helping the needy. Every food pack, item of clothing, or blanket delivered to thousands of refugee families with a word of comfort has revealed your caring hearts.

– Sergey MorozVice-President of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of

Evangelical Christians-Baptists

In January 2015, our city of 40,000 people began to experience starvation. Churches in our city responded by using their facilities as soup kitchens to feed those who were hostages of this war. But a soup kitchen without food is just a building. I am grateful to Mission Eurasia for being one of only a few organizations that provided us with food and copies of Scripture to share with suffering families. Without you, we couldn’t have helped so many people survive this difficult time in their lives. Many people who came to our soup kitchen for food started to attend church, which helped them to find hope for the future. We look forward to continuing our partnership with you!

– Grigory RyasnyiPastor of “Hope” Church, Bryanka, Ukraine

During the summer of 2015, our family became refugees. We moved from one place to the next, until we were invited to settle in Kiev and take part in planting a new church. We began to plant the church in one of the regions of Kiev where there are a lot of people like me: refugees. The life of a refugee is a life of survival, a struggle for legal status, and a constant search for food, work, a home, medicine, clothing and help. I am very glad that we are partnering with Mission Eurasia/ASR to help many refugee families, providing them with clothing, food, and a word of hope. Recently a man from Lugansk [war zone in eastern Ukraine] whom we had helped gave his life to Jesus Christ. Thank you for your valuable contribution!

– Oleg LarkovPastor-Church-Planter and Refugee from Donbass region,

Kiev, Ukraine

On behalf of the tens of thousands of people in Donbass who received help, we want to thank Mission Eurasia/Association for Spiritual Renewal and their team for all their resources during this time of terrible crisis, helping us to reach people with food, tens of thousands of copies of Scripture, and financial support for the most needy and suffering. Together we are showing them the love of Christ and helping to restore their hope through the actions of the church.

– Peter DudnikPastor, Good News Church, Slavyansk, Ukraine

What Christian Leaders in Ukraine are Saying About the “I Care” Program

Humanitarian Aid (GIK) - Non-Food Items $2,134,135

Humanitarian Aid - Family Food Packs 300,123

Scripture Publishing 309,338

Homes for Homeless 140,000

Transportation Costs 57,599

Sails of Hope Orphanage 50,000

Pastoral Training Events & Counseling Resources 25,695

Heating System for Refugee Camp 20,000

Other Aid, including Playgrounds 7,035

$3,043,925


“I Care” Financial SummaryInception through April 2015

ConclusionWe are deeply grateful to our faithful friends and ministry partners for your prayers and financial support of the “I Care” Refugee Assistance Program. Because of your compassion and generosity, Mission Eurasia continues to reach out to refugees who are frightened, suffering, and in great need of humanitarian aid and the life-transforming hope of the gospel. During this time of great crisis in Ukraine, your partnership in ministry through the “I Care” program is helping to expand God’s Kingdom, once again demonstrating the amazing truth of Jesus’ words: “…I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Matthew 16:18, ESV.

Thank you for your partnership!


Download - Caring in Crisis: Report on "I Care" Refugee Assistance Program

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