Baptists make up one of the largest evangelical groups in Ukraine.
They have existed in the country for several hundred years and are much bigger in numbers than Irish Baptists.
The 2020 figures for the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine show that they had 2272 churches affiliated with 113, 000 members. They also run a number of Bible colleges, some of which are the size of a university.
In 2014 Russia illegally took control of 2 parts of Ukraine, Crimea in the south and Donetsk / Lugansk in the east. Since that date, Baptists and other evangelicals in these two parts of Ukraine have faced severe persecution. Examples include,
- The application of the 2016 Yaravaya Law that prohibits evangelism outside the church building, ie no outside children’s meetings, youth camps door to door work etc
- Fining of Pastors in the Crimea region for evangelising. Example Pastor Kornov from the Potter’s House baptist fellowship in Sevastopol Crimea.
- Murder of 4 believers from the Shauyansk church Donetsk
- Confiscation of the buildings of the Good News Baptist church ( and other churches and Mosques) in Donetsk.
The vast majority of churches operate in areas under the normal Ukrainian administration and have enjoyed reasonable religious freedom. Their concern is that this invasion will increase the number of churches under Russian control and therefore the type of persecution highlighted above.
The President of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Yaroslav Pyzh, last month stated that he expected that a number of churches in Eastern Ukraine would come under Russian control when the invasion occurred. Note the size of his evangelical bible school —1300 students ( 400 from eastern Ukraine )
There are also a number of Korean Baptist churches in Ukraine that minister to the Korean ex-pats who work in the country. The European Missionary Fellowship has 1 missionary family and the European Christian Mission currently has 6 working there.
Prayer Points
- Pray that God will restrain the plans of Russian leaders and Generals and that a peaceful solution will be agreed.
- Pray for the Pastors and members of the Baptist churches in areas likely to be conquered by Russian forces. For wisdom as they deal with the new authorities.
- Pray for the safety of Yaroslav Pyzh and the students at the Baptist Theological Seminary.
- Pray for the continuing witness of Pastor Kornev and the Potter’s House church in Crimea.
- Remember the members of the Good News Church in Donetsk who have been closed down and the relatives of the 4 believers who were murdered.
- Pray for the safety of missionaries working for the EMF and ECF organisations