{"id":387,"date":"2025-10-27T15:45:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/?p=387"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:43:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:43:21","slug":"in-germany-a-ukrainian-church-finally-puts-down-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/in-germany-a-ukrainian-church-finally-puts-down-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"In Germany, a Ukrainian church finally puts down roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took a full-scale invasion to convince Martin Skopych, the son of a Ukrainian Baptist pastor, to become a Christian. Or, at least, to allow himself to be considered one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like, [if] you\u2019re born and raised in a Christian family, it means that you\u2019re a Christian,\u201d he told me. \u201cReal Christianity is not just visiting church once a week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, 19-year-old Skopych and his family have lived in Gummersbach, an unremarkable German town of 50,000 people just east of Cologne. While he had wrestled with whether to become a Christian for several years prior, the shock of war and displacement pushed him to take the leap.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was helpful for me to believe that God [could] control a situation in my country, in my city, my family, in my church, in my life,\u201d Skopych said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Skopych is one of an unknown number of young Ukrainians who have chosen to move closer to evangelical Christianity after fleeing the war. In Gummersbach, he has slowly emerged as one of the growing Ukrainian community\u2019s most prominent young spiritual leaders, holding youth group meetings as often as three times a week and ready to speak earnestly about his connection to Jesus at any given moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Almaz, the congregation headed by his father, Nickolay Skopych, is starting to put down roots in Gummersbach. With the help of a Baptist congregation in Hendersonville, Tenn., Almaz recently acquired an old movie theater in Gummersbach to renovate into a worship space (the church currently borrows space from another evangelical church in the small town outside of Cologne). It will be Almaz\u2019s first-ever permanent building; even before the war, the church rented from place to place in Kyiv.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a recent visit, Skopych became my tour guide to the construction site, bounding around the gutted space with brisk confidence. There he was, helping me rip out an old wire fence buried in rotting leaves in the church\u2019s backyard or foisting giant tree branches into an overflowing dumpster. I\u2019d wander around upstairs and see him emerge from a gaping hole in the wall wearing a respirator and safety glasses, covered in dust after chiseling old tiles from the walls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of Skopych\u2019s self-assuredness naturally comes from Nickolay, his father and the pastor, who is a constant presence in the church and has helped attract dozens, if not hundreds, of Ukrainians to Gummersbach. The predominant church in Ukraine is the Ukrainian Orthodox church, but the Skopychs are Baptist, a denomination that the Baptist World Alliance estimates <\/span>accounts<\/span><\/a> for about 112,000 Ukrainian members.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, my family is a special family. We don\u2019t, like, fear about war,\u201d Skopych said, adding that he had considered going back to Ukraine to be a missionary. \u201cI don\u2019t stress that, if I will come to Ukraine, they will take me to army. If they take me to army, I\u2019m going to serve,\u201d he added, almost nonchalantly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gummersbach now has about 3,000 Ukrainians, I was told repeatedly on my visit, although it hasn\u2019t released census data since 2022. Almaz can attract some 200 people at a Sunday service from a variety of religious backgrounds, with services held in Ukrainian.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Skopych estimated that as many as 60 young people show up to his groups every week. But he admitted that being a pastor\u2019s son could be difficult, with the constant attention and expectation from parishioners.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome people don\u2019t understand that pastor\u2019s children are not saved,\u201d he said. At one point, he said, he asked his parents not to help him with the question of whether to become Christian \u2014 although he had already bought into a belief in God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI need to see to believe,\u201d he said. \u201cI [spent] a lot of time praying to God and asking, \u2018are you really existing?\u2019 And if it\u2019s Christianity, or Islamic, or it\u2019s just science \u2026 I spent a lot of time to study this question.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other religions, however, didn\u2019t have the answers he was seeking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI watched a lot of videos about Islam, about other religions. And I didn\u2019t find like that structure that had Christianity. I didn\u2019t find enough proofs for me is that it can be real,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Skopych\u2019s family was in Gummersbach visiting friends when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Their vacation has turned into a stay of three and a half years. Skopych had to quite literally start from zero, with only a backpack of clothes with him for what he thought would be a short trip. That time ended up being spiritually transformative \u2014 although he was very reluctant to get into the details.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was period of hard times where you can see miracles,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several of the young Ukrainian Baptists I interviewed in Gummersbach spoke that same way: with an intense evangelical devotion, but without being able to articulate what exactly got them there beyond their favorite scripture passages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clearly said that you\u2019re not perfect. You cannot be perfect. Nobody can be perfect. But Jesus still loves you, Jesus still died for you and died for your sins,\u201d said Viktoriia Hluschenko, who had come for the day from D\u00fcsseldorf to help Almaz with the renovations. \u201cIt\u2019s not so easy to explain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While many of the younger Ukrainians told me they felt alienated by the tradition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church \u2014 \u201cyou must be holy,\u201d Lisa, another Ukrainian girl, told me with an eye roll \u2014 Skopych grew up in and around his father\u2019s church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nickolay Skopych didn\u2019t respond to repeated messages and calls for an interview about his son. However, he has blogged about his children\u2019s relationship to the church, including some revealing passages from Barnabas Piper, the son of prominent Baptist preacher John Piper.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPKs [pastor\u2019s kids] live in a fishbowl, or at least it feels that way. Everyone in the church knows the names and faces of the pastor\u2019s children. There is never the safety of anonymity,\u201d Barnabas Piper wrote in 2012. \u201cIt is mighty hard to live a life surrounded by people knowing your every move, romantic interest, misbehavior, athletic triumph (or failure), college choice, and seemingly every other personal detail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Skopych, however, doesn\u2019t seem to mind the fishbowl now. With some prodding in conversation, he can conjure up stories of trying to preach the gospel to complete strangers: an Italian businessman sitting next to him on a flight, a retired Cuban professor in a hotel in San Diego. His favorite Bible verse is 1 Timothy 4:12\u201316, which begins: \u201cLet no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.\u201d He\u2019s now considering becoming a minister to help Almaz grow other churches in Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven in Germany, for example, I see big opportunity in Cologne to work with students, and to share gospel. I think for me, it\u2019s possible to do something bigger,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That would require giving up on a job offer at DVAG, a German financial services company that Skopych claimed could make him $65\u201375,000 his first year. However, the firm seems to be closer to a multi-level marketing scheme, according to an <\/span>investigation<\/span><\/a> by Jan B\u00f6hmermann, a comedic TV journalist akin to a German John Oliver \u2014 a helpful reminder that, for all his wise-seeming spirituality, Skopych is also a 19-year-old boy. Thankfully, God also seems suspicious of DVAG.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that it\u2019s really good life,\u201d Skopych said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s where God wants me to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It took a full-scale invasion to convince Martin Skopych, the son of a Ukrainian Baptist pastor, to become a Christian. Or, at least, to allow himself to be considered one. \u201cIt\u2019s not like, [if] you\u2019re born and raised in a Christian family, it means that you\u2019re a Christian,\u201d he told me. \u201cReal Christianity is not<\/p>\n

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