24 YEARS OF PARTNERSHIP WITH KYIV
BUMC has been in ministry in Kyiv, Ukraine, since BUMC hosted six Russian children and a chaperone for two-and-a-half weeks in the summer of 1998. With donations from almost 300 members, BUMC helped purchase a building for Spring of Life UMC’s ministry, which houses Spring of Life UMC’s congregation and the Kyiv UMC Center which has a ministry to children and families at risk. Mission teams from each country have visited each other’s churches and homes, forming lasting bonds.
Thus, we at BUMC are especially heartbroken over the situation in Ukraine. Apparently, most of the members have fled Kyiv for safer areas in Ukraine or other nations in the E.U. The church building, itself, is being used as a bomb shelter in the city. Meanwhile, one of the leaders who visited BUMC several years back, Pavel Osipenko, fled with his family to western Ukraine, and wrote with an update. He said, "To help migrants from dangerous regions of Ukraine, we organized a place for temporary residence in a local school. Today is the end of only the fourth day of our work, and we have already sheltered 86 people, and last night 62 people spent the night at the same time. There are many small children among them."
As Lead Pastor Brad Dulaney said, “Please continue to pray, and also to give to support our special collection to support Ukraine.”
In Christ,
BUMC Kyiv ministry team
This year’s Christmas offering recipient is the BUMC Ukraine ministry.
Here’s the scoop: Over $39,000 has been raised since the war began in February. Half of this money went to UMCOR for direct assistance, and half was held back for future use. The plan was to employ it for rebuilding efforts, but none of us knew the war would go on so long and cause such devastation. Russia has destroyed about a third of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, creating immediate needs as outlined by our Ukrainian sister church, Spring of Life UMC:
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40 sleeping bags
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40 power banks
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30 solar powered lanterns
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10 camp stoves
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a gas generator for the church building in Kyiv, which is still being used as a shelter during raids
Arrangements have been made to use the remaining $18,000 on these products since winter is already upon them.
So why is more money needed? Stay tuned to next week’s e-news to find out…
In the meantime, you may donate to this ministry by your usual method, marking it for “Ukraine Christmas offering.”
Updates
NEW We received a video link from the rehabilitation center for disabled children Lighthouse in Makariv expressing gratitude for Christmas gifts we sent. The team made an effort to purchased gifts individually in order to address those children's particular dreams. You can see some happy faces at the end of the video.
NEW We received notes and pictures from members of Spring of Life UMC thanking us for our gifts and support.
NEW A collection of pictures of some items we were able to provide our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
BUMC's Ministry with Ukraine written up in the Roanoke Times.
BUMC featured in a Series Celebrating the Ongoing Connections Between Virginia Conference Congregations and Congregations in Ukraine and Russia.
Here is a letter from Pastor Validimir, of Spring of Life UMC, from September 1.
Urs Schweizer, Assistant to Bishop Streiff, of the Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe, shared an update regarding Ukraine, 177 days into the conflict, on August 20th.
Pictures of United Methodist Standing with Ukrainian refugees in several bordering countries and shelters in Western Ukraine.
See how donations to UMCOR are directly helping people from Ukraine and what is giving our partners hope. Hear how our partners are encouraged by the support they’ve received, where they see God in the midst of suffering, and what you can pray for right now.
Here is the covenant between Blacksburg UMC and Spring of Life UMC.
Learn more about how UMCOR is helping in Ukraine.
Summary of Support Provided to Ukrainians
Offerings marked "Ukraine" will be applied to the Ukraine Initiative Fund to continue to aid our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
