Bishops: Ukrainians need church’s presence

Key points: 

• The war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing for more than three years.
• Newly elected Bishop Knut Refsdal is leading the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference, which includes Ukraine, after the retirement of Bishop Christian Alsted from active episcopacy.  
• United Methodists continue to do what they can to boost morale and get food, clothing, medical care and other support to those who need it. 

There are heartbreaking stories happening every day in Ukraine. Bishop Christian Alsted has his share. 

Alsted, who recently retired as bishop of the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference, which includes Ukraine, tells of a father and daughter fleeing Kharkiv — dad on a train and daughter on a bus.  

“While they were talking, the bus was hit by an attack of Russian soldiers,” Alsted said. “She literally died while she was on the phone with him. … It has been really, really bad, and continues to be really, really bad.” 

Russian troops invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Many have fled the country since then, and United Methodists have helped by providing shelter and getting food, clothing, medical care and other help to the victims of the war. 

UM News spoke via Zoom with the incoming and outgoing bishops responsible for Ukraine, as well as a United Methodist pastor helping to house refugees. 

“The first two years of the war, people were more optimistic and more patriotic,” said the Rev. Yulia Starodubets, who is living with refugees at Under the Castle, a United Methodist mission center near Kam’yanytsya, Ukraine, while doing what she can to help. “Nowadays, people get tired and, of course, soldiers get tired. … We are not so optimistic nowadays.” 

Starodubets and her husband, the Rev. Oleg Starodubets, were serving The United Methodist Church in Kyiv when Russia invaded Ukraine. 

Thousands have been sheltered through United Methodist efforts to date, she said.  

“I just see the mood of the people who are living with us in shelters,” Starodubets added. “They really feel low.” 

She said there are about 40 people — mostly women, children and seniors — who are staying at Under the Castle, which was purchased through a grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief in March 2024.  

“We provide a free stay and food two times a day. … We have people still from the regions which are occupied or where (there) is active war actions going on or from places where people are under the shellings,” she said. 

Starodubets said the goal is to transform Under the Castle into a rehabilitation center for war-related trauma. 

Protestant churches, including The United Methodist Church, have played “a very important role in caring for people,” Alsted said.  

“Helping people to get out, get them on trains, on buses, helping people move out of the war zones to places where they could be safe,” he said. 

There have been distinct waves of refugees fleeing Ukraine. 

“In the very beginning, it was just people wanting to get away from the danger,” Alsted said. “But then, as time moved on, there were second and third waves of refugees, people who were actually right in the war zones, and they all had bad experiences. The early refugees had not had bad experiences yet.  

“It’s bad enough to give up your home and pack whatever you can carry and to move. But the second and third wave, they all have had traumatic experiences.” 

There is a United Methodist-run shelter in Transcarpathia in western Ukraine, he said. 

“The church was very active in helping people to move on, offering them a place to stay, and then helping them as they wanted to move on to Europe,” Alsted said. 

During his visits, he did his best to boost morale, he said. 

“I would say the most important thing has been to be present, to talk to people, try to encourage, try to bring some hope,” he said. “I listen to their stories.” 

Being present reassures victims of the war that the church has not forgotten them, Alsted said.  

Bishop Knut Refsdal, who was elected in April and assigned to lead the Nordic-Baltic-Ukraine Episcopal Area, tried to visit in June but it didn’t work out schedule-wise. Now he hopes to make his first visit to Ukraine in August. 

“At that time, they will have a pastor’s gathering, to express solidarity, a witness of the global church caring for them,” he said.  

Refsdal recently met with pastors via Zoom. 

“Many of them are getting really tired of this situation, and it challenges their faith, their spirit and so on,” he said.  

“They have a tradition as a Christian country, so it was important for them to put trust in God and to pray and to get together as a church,” he said. “They cling to it, and they realize they need the church and the fellowship that the church can provide.” 

A Russian victory is unthinkable to Ukrainians, Alsted said. 

“In talking with church leaders, one of the things they are saying is that they know what it is like to live under Soviet rule,” he said. “And if Russia wins the war, the very close ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government will make life impossible for all other churches.” 

In addition to prayers and donations, there are other things United Methodists can do to help Ukrainians, Alsted said.  

“If we start with a very simple prayer, reaching out by sending a note or sending an email comment on social media, saying ‘Friends, we stand with you.’ 

“It means a lot, those kinds of encouragements.” 

If Ukraine prevails, there will be the need for “missionaries, doctors, nurses and people who have experience working with persons suffering from (post-traumatic stress syndrome), which is a very high percentage of the population,” he said. 

The United Methodist Committee on Relief continues to work with partners in the region to support relief and recovery projects in Ukraine. UMCOR recently announced two new grants worth more than $1.5 million. One of the grants will go toward building new housing in Kremenchuk and providing support for Roma people in Uzhhorod. The second will be used in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblasts for repairing shelters and improving accessibility for disabled persons, the elderly and veterans in public places, housing and transportation.

Alsted plans to continue to be in ministry with the people of Ukraine and said he will work at least another four years until full retirement.  

“I’m going to work half time with developing young missional leaders in Denmark and Norway, and then I will serve as pastor in a local church on the island Bornholm (in Denmark) and do my best, together with the leadership there, to develop a church and be a strong witness in that community.  

“But none of that will prevent me from continuing to support Ukraine, rather the opposite,” Alsted said. 

As Refsdal prepares for his first trip to Ukraine, he is aiming to be “a voice representing the international church and international society, supporting them in this situation, helping them to cope with the situation.” 

“I think they appreciate being a part of a global church, a wider community and, in a way, I become a symbol of that,” he said. “Maybe the most important part is to just dare to go there and to be there and to listen to what they tell when they describe their situation.  

“That is maybe the most important, I think.” 

Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.