Upstairs, four college students sift through a pile of wooden planks and rubbery strips of wallpaper, occasionally landing on treasure; a dusty matchbox or crinkled movie poster; delicate bird skulls; a Hello Dolly vinyl; a bottle of liquor half-full. When they come across a roll of film, they hold it up to the window, angling it toward the sunlight to reveal faded images. Most of it is porn. The boys joke, “What kind of movie theatre was this place?” 

The students are far from home, in Gummersbach, Germany. They are here because they signed up for a mission trip with their church — First Baptist Church (FBC), a megachurch in Hendersonville, Tennessee. For most, it is their first time leaving the country. 

Downstairs, more American missionaries of varying ages, and around twenty Ukrainians, are drilling holes and hauling branches into large red containers in the front yard. Among them is Pastor Nikolas Skopych, an unassuming man with a wiry salt-and-pepper beard and kind eyes. In this scene of wreckage, you might find him wielding an electric floor-grinder, sparks flying behind him, or else quietly circulating to ensure everyone has a task.  It’s slow work, but everyone is focused. All are intent on transforming this abandoned, cavernous theatre – once known as Germania Lichtspieltheater and still displaying signs for Indiana Jones 4 in its ticket booth – into a church.  

The church is intended to serve as a house of worship and community hall for the upwards of 1000 Ukrainian refugees now residing in Gummersbach. It is just one of 64 Ukrainian Churches which have been “planted” in Germany since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. And these are just 64 out of 152 Ukrainian churches which have been planted across Europe. 

American missionaries have played a significant role in growing these churches, as they have throughout history. Michael McClanahan, the head of missions at FBC in Tennessee expressed his hope that this mission, and those like it, would extend beyond Gummersbach. “This will be a central training hub,” he said. “It will be an opportunity, not only for Ukrainian churches to be expanded, but also, I feel that this is the beginning of a revival of Christianity in Europe.” 

Though American evangelicals have notably flip-flopped in their views on Ukraine, often echoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s stances, the war is transforming the relationship between Ukrainian and American evangelicals. In some ways, the war has both strained and strengthened this bond, revealing the extent to which the groups are religiously and politically intertwined. And churches like Almaz reveal that the relationship between these nationalities is not confined to their countries — America and Ukraine — but is now seeping into Europe, where millions of Ukrainian refugees have fled.

Rough Outline for Rest of Piece:

I. Context of Evangelicalism reaching Ukraine and how Pastor Nikolas came to Christianity through American evangelism in Kyiv, leading up to Pastor Nikolas’ moving to Gummersbach and founding Almaz [Interviews with Pastor Nikolas, academic experts on evangelical Christianity in Ukriane]

II. How FBC Hendersonville got involved in the mission, spreading out into the greater narrative about how American evangelicals see Ukraine including a scene with Michael Bible, and FBC member who has sponsored 8 Ukrainians through U4U and has a different relationship with Ukraine (and Trump) than most American Evangelicals [interviews with Bruce Chesser, executive pastor of FBC, Michael McClanahan, head of missions at FBC, a representative of another Baptist church in Texas which also helped out in Gummersbach, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the role of Faith Under Siege documentary, academic expert on church planting]

III.  How Church planting for Ukrainians in Europe is changing Christianity/culture in Germany more broadly (need much more reporting to pull this section off)

IV. Kicker likely circling back to Gummersbach