UKRAINE: Fighting for Their Faith and Culture

Ukrainian Christian Leaders Take a Stand Against ‘Russian Worldview’ and Other Russian Propaganda

By Laura McKillip Wood

Several evangelical seminary leaders in Ukraine—including the president of Tavriski Christian Institute—have issued a statement denouncing the Russian invasion while seeking to clarify that it is not, as Russian propagandists contend, a “denazification” effort but is instead a push for “Russia’s absorption of Ukraine as a numb vassal state and the dissolution of Ukrainian identity in the Russian world.”

The statement also is a response, at least in part, to pressure some Ukrainian church leaders are feeling from Russian evangelical church leaders to accept what Russian president Vladimir Putin is doing as part of God’s will, according to TCI president Valentin Siniy.

The Russian worldview and its influence on Russian Christianity has proven challenging to Ukrainian evangelical Christians. That worldview—a theological, philosophical, and political ideology—pictures Russians as superior, leading them to think they should control as much of the world around them as possible.

This attitude has also crept into the church. There is strong tendency in the Russian Orthodox Church to focus on saving souls without a strong concern for how one lives their daily life in Christ.  This mindset has also influenced some Russian Protestants. It is not uncommon for there to be a disconnect between faith and daily living.

Siniy says some Russian faith leaders have urged their Ukrainian brothers and sisters to accept that Russian control of Ukraine is important because Russians are morally superior to Ukrainians. The Russian faith leaders believe the Russian perspective should spread to countries around them and that those countries—and even the churches—should meekly submit to Russian leadership.

Certainly, many Russians do not support the war and have protested it at risk to their own personal safety. However, this particular Russian worldview still has a powerful hold and bodes ill for Ukraine and Ukrainian Christians, who wish to have their own freedom to worship and live in a Ukrainian way.

In the document they prepared, the Ukrainian seminary leaders urge Russian Christians not to remain silent, and thus give tacit support to the war, but instead to help refugees and support the freedom of Ukrainians. Importantly, they call on international partners to understand that Russia is intent on obliterating Ukrainian culture and freedom of religion.

In creating the document, these seven Christian leaders have taken a stance for the independence of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian churches. The Russian attack “puts our existence at stake,” states one seminary rector. The writers say the aim of Russia’s attack is to eliminate the nation of Ukraine and Ukrainians as a people. The writers hope to give a voice to Ukrainians who have no voice and express the pain they experience at the hands of Russia.

These leaders also have taken a stand for freedom to practice their faith and live according to their own Ukrainian worldview. They hope American Christians will understand that this war is not an attempt to unify the Slavic people, as Russian propagandists would have the world believe, but instead is an attempt to destroy the way of life of an entire country.

When the war started in February, Valentin Siniy and his wife, Luba, fled the city of Kherson, where TCI was located. They have since settled into a new life (with their children) in western Ukraine. They are spending long days organizing humanitarian relief arriving from churches and organizations in the United States, Poland, and other parts of the world, and seeing that the relief is delivered to eastern and southern Ukrainian regions that are still being attacked by Russian forces.

Please pray for Ukrainians during this difficult time, in which they fight not only for their homes but also for their culture and faith. Consider adding your name to the document (posted here), thus supporting their mission. To donate to TCI’s humanitarian efforts, visit the website of the Colorado church that provides them with administrative support: Mountainview Christian Church (choose “Missions: TCI—Ukraine”).

Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, lives in Papillion, Nebraska, and writes about missions for Christian Standard.

Author: Laura McKillip Wood

Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, now lives in Papillion, Nebraska. She serves as an on-call chaplain at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha. She and her husband, Andrew, have three teenagers.