The heartache and tragedy amid the war in Ukraine are constantly before one Ukrainian American family that has seen more than 6,000 refugees come through temporary housing centers it set up almost immediately after the war broke out in late February.
Pastor Joel Brown of a Calvary Chapel in western Ukraine has made it his mission to show hope and joy to every refugee he encounters.
“Lots of people aren’t feeling hope. There’s the idea that as long as Russia exists, Ukraine will never be safe,” Brown said, noting that when one person hopes, it can spread to others, to families, and to neighborhoods. “Hope is infectious.”
“When a neighborhood hopes, it brings hope to a city, and when a city is filled with hope, an entire nation that can be passing through will experience that hope,” Brown added. “ I feel like that is above all one of my main duties — bringing hope, the hope of Jesus, the hope of life.”
For several weeks now, the pastor has turned his church of 65 members into a 500-person refugee center where Ukrainians stop for rest and meals before many head over to one of four neighboring European countries, and he is seeing the fruit of his efforts as shifts in perspective take place.
“It’s through those seeds of desperation and through those seeds of distress and those times of trouble, that seeds of hope are planted and things are grown,” Brown told the Washington Examiner.
Soon after seeing the church refugee center fill to capacity, Brown and his wife, Katya, saw the need for additional space to house refugees. They now manage five refugee centers and four dorm houses, along with assisting other organizations in the area that are also meeting refugees’ needs.
“You see churches and organizations and stuff that never would work together are working together,” Brown said. “You see just this kind of shift.”
Brown has connected with many people locally, regionally, and globally to collect multiple deliveries of supplies, vehicles, construction equipment, and food for the refugee efforts, which include rescues as well as providing safe housing.
FRANKLIN GRAHAM WRITES PUTIN AND ZELENSKY CALLING FOR A CEASEFIRE DURING HOLY WEEK
While most men are not able to leave the country right now, some have found work in the refugee centers’ construction projects, funded through individual donations.
“They’re making the hard decision to put their family across the border, and they’re staying in our shelters, and they’re working on the construction crew,” Brown said. “They’re sending money to family.”
Brown said he is watching these men grow and mature in unprecedented ways because many of them were left without role models due to losing a whole generation during World War II, translating “all these years later to a lot of young men that didn’t grow up and don’t like responsibility.”
“They’re maturing in ways that probably wouldn’t have happened in 10 years outside of war,” he added. “What we’re seeing now is men standing up and acting as protectors. We’re seeing this kind of flourishing.”
As the United Nations now estimates that there are more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees who have left the country, Brown has found hope in knowing that Ukrainian Christians are among those refugees.
“You know [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was trying to destroy a Ukrainian culture in the Ukrainian church,” Brown said, “and what he’s done is he’s created millions of missionaries. War is the thing that is allowing faith to blossom because now people are shifting their thoughts, and now, they’re leaning into the faith that they were taught, and it really is amazing.”
Brown admitted the reality of danger is around them, sharing how a group of Chechen infiltrators was recently caught in their region with the mission of killing civilians and causing terror, but he said Ukrainians found unity in their efforts to fight and help one another.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“At church, we looked at Psalm 133 where it says how good and pleasant it is to dwell together in unity,” Brown said. “So the encouragement was that Russia may be trying to demoralize and terrorize, and God is using it as a moment to show us what Heaven is like.”
“Our main goal,” he added, “is to be people of hope.”
