{"id":610,"date":"2025-12-01T16:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/?p=610"},"modified":"2025-12-01T16:43:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:43:23","slug":"in-the-midst-of-war-ukrainian-baptists-hope-for-revival-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/in-the-midst-of-war-ukrainian-baptists-hope-for-revival-help\/","title":{"rendered":"In the midst of war, Ukrainian Baptists hope for revival [help]"},"content":{"rendered":"

A youth group in Almaz Church looks like any other gathering of young evangelicals: teenagers in flannels and hoodies lounging around a table, snacking on chips and discussing how God has touched their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But these are not ordinary evangelicals. Almaz is a Baptist congregation in Germany, a country where the denomination accounts for only <\/span>about<\/span><\/a> 1 percent of the population. The congregants aren\u2019t even German; they\u2019re Ukrainians who have fled the full-scale invasion, and in youth group, the teens and 20-somethings might swap stories of this relative or that cousin who had been saved from a drone or a missile strike thanks to God\u2019s hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Almaz is one of at least 60 Ukrainian Baptist congregations that have <\/span>sprung up<\/span><\/a> since 2022 in Germany, the <\/span>largest<\/span><\/a> single destination in the world for refugees of the full-scale invasion. In an increasingly secular country, the churches and their gospel teachings have become a cultural and spiritual lifeline for young Ukrainians seeking to make sense of Russia\u2019s war.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Skopych, one of Almaz\u2019s youth group leaders, grew up going to services run by his father, a pastor, in Almaz\u2019s original location in Kyiv. But for most of his life, Skopych had resisted accepting his family\u2019s faith, feeling that he did not truly believe the gospel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In February 2022, the Skopyches were visiting friends in Gummersbach, an unremarkable German town just east of Cologne. Then Russia launched its full-scale invasion, and their short vacation turned into an indefinite stay; Skopych had just a backpack of clothes with him. Having to start from zero allowed him to take the leap and decide to get baptized.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was [a] period of hard times where you can see miracles,\u201d Skopych said. \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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wave of young evangelical conversions also extends to the United States, which has <\/span>admitted<\/span><\/a> at least 270,000 Ukrainian refugees since 2022. In any evangelical church, the name of the game is proselytization: spreading the sound of the gospel to as many people as possible. But the American and German versions of the Ukrainian Baptist movements have taken surprisingly different approaches to their divine mission. While Almaz and its peers in Germany have focused on the Ukrainian refugees <\/span>continuing<\/span><\/a> to enter the country, Ukrainian Baptist churches in the United States are increasingly looking to non-Ukrainians to support historically fragile congregations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe UBC\u2019s goal is not only to be available for Ukrainian Christians,\u201d said Vlad Shanava, the president of youth ministry of the Ukrainian Baptist Convention of America. \u201cObviously we were in America, and we\u2019re available to all cultures, all ethnicities, and the gospel is to be preached there until, as He says in the Bible, till the end of the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

Almaz never had a permanent building until it came to Gummersbach. Before the full-scale invasion, the church rented from place to place in Kyiv. This summer, a Baptist congregation in Hendersonville, Tenn., helped them acquire an abandoned movie theater to transform into a worship space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The renovations are no small task. The property appears to have been neglected for nearly two decades; its last showing was the fourth Indiana Jones movie in 2008. Almaz has stripped it down to the bones, ripping down tiles and knocking down walls on a recent visit. In addition to the main cinema space, the theater also has several small apartments that need serious fixing-up and a debris-filled backyard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The renovations are slapdash in nature \u2014 many of the tile removals, for instance, were conducted with sledgehammers and little protective equipment for the resulting dust besides gloves (there\u2019s no telling how they will fare with German fire, electrical, and gas inspections). Still, they\u2019ve generated real enthusiasm beyond Almaz\u2019s congregation, with Ukrainians traveling from hours away in western Germany to assist with the construction. The construction has also caught the eye of American churches, including the Hendersonville congregation, which sent a week-long mission in October. Relying on such volunteer help, the Skopyches are optimistic the renovations will take a year.<\/span><\/p>\n

For now, Almaz is still using space from a nearby German evangelical congregation. The church can attract some 200 people at a Sunday service from a variety of religious backgrounds, with services held in Ukrainian. Skopych estimated that as many as 60 young people show up to his groups every week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In part due to Almaz\u2019s vigorous efforts to assist Ukrainian refugees, the town of 50,000\u00a0 now has about 3,000 Ukrainians, I was told repeatedly on my visit, although it hasn\u2019t released census data since 2022. Some of the church\u2019s liveliness might be a matter of convenience; Almaz is the nearest Ukrainian cultural institution around, with the next Ukrainian church 30 miles away. But there also appears to be specific resonance in Baptist teachings, which emphasize the idea of God\u2019s and Jesus\u2019 unconditional love.<\/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 lives in D\u00fcsseldorf but often attends services at Almaz. She grew up going to Ukrainian Orthodox services with her grandmother but was not embedded in a particular religious tradition until she came to Germany. \u201cIt\u2019s not so easy to explain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anastasia Omelchenko, who fled with her family from Mariupol, had an awakening on the last day of a small summer camp for Ukrainian teens for Germany.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were watching a video about \u2026 how we are never alone, because Jesus is always with us or something like that. And at that moment, I thought about my whole life, and suddenly I understood that I was never alone, actually, and Jesus was always beside me,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just couldn\u2019t stop crying,\u201d Omelchenko added. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to explain it. It\u2019s like when the Holy Spirit touches your heart.\u201d She was baptized the next summer when she came back as a camp counselor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baptists are a significant minority in Ukraine; the official association of Ukrainian Baptist churches claims <\/span>only about<\/span><\/a> 120,000 members, while more than three in five Ukrainians <\/span>identify<\/span><\/a> in some way with the Eastern Orthodox church.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go to Orthodox Church, I don\u2019t understand what happens here,\u201d said Lisa TK, who also attends services at Almaz. \u201cWhen I go to my church, I understand what my pastor says \u2026 these people try to be like Jesus. It\u2019s really good for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Baptism and other evangelical denominations are unique in practicing a so-called believers\u2019 baptism: the church only baptizes those who have publicly and consciously accepted Christ, as opposed to automatically accepting children of families in the congregation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only requirement is for you to repent and to be saved by the faith,\u201d said David Pavlyuk, a youth minister at the Church of New Hope near Charlotte, N.C. \u201cThat\u2019s not something that we can judge about one another. When you repent, we believe that that’s a completely personal experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite thousands of miles of distance, these Ukrainian churches in the United States and Germany adhere closely to the Baptist tradition. The scenes at a 12 p.m. service at the Church of New Hope or any Sunday at Almaz are strikingly similar: singing in Ukrainian to off-key worship, hands of the performers and congregation raised in swaying prayer. Better description TK. In the wake of the full-scale invasion, these churches have also worked to assist Ukrainian refugees in the practical aspects of moving to a new country, helping them find apartments, obtain drivers\u2019 licenses, and furnish their new housing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a melting pot,\u201d said Pavyluk. \u201cWe have people who come from different Protestant denominations: Pentecostals, different types of Baptists. We have people who come from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We have people who went to Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine. And obviously we have people who never attended church.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While many of Germany\u2019s Ukrainian churches have popped up in the last three years, the Ukrainian Baptist coalition in the United States stretches back about 80 years, beginning with a group of Ukrainian Baptists in Chester, Pa. seeking to support refugees from the so-called Bible Belt of the Soviet Union. Since then, these churches\u2019 congregations have been bolstered by successive waves of migration: missionaries from South America in the 1960s and 1970s, priests and Christians escaping Soviet thaw in the 1990s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the community has not always been stable. The Ukrainian Baptist Convention\u2019s website is littered with churches across the country that have merged closed their doors: Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Fresno, Calif. Many of the now-defunct congregations overly focused on traditional services, said Pavyluk, an obstacle when trying to retain American children of Ukrainian immigrants, who could more easily jump to another Baptist church.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been cases where churches have stopped existing because they just weren\u2019t able to assimilate \u2014 not so much into their culture, but so much into their time period,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFour years ago before the war, I feel like\u00a0 \u2026 we were moving into the direction of potentially more American-centered services,\u201d said Shanava. \u201cBut the war definitely brought us back a little bit because of the influx of refugees.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ukrainian Baptist Convention currently has 24 registered churches, half of which are clustered in southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs, totaling to about 3,500 adult members. The full-scale invasion has brought them another wave of refugee members. The Church of New Hope\u2019s congregation has doubled in size, Pavyluk estimated, with their youth population tripling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No longer able to fit all its parishioners for a single sermon, the church has started offering an additional English-language service in addition to the usual Ukrainian. This new service attracts Ukrainian-Americans as well as Ukrainian refugees looking to improve their English, on average 50\u2013100 people compared to well over 200 for a Ukrainian-language service.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of immigrants that came within the past three years,\u201d said Yuriy Rudnitsky, who leads the church\u2019s English ministry. \u201cTheir kids, being immersed in American culture, are already learning English very, very quickly. And so they go, \u2018Okay, I\u2019m starting to attend this, one, to help my own English out \u2026 and then I\u2019m bringing my kid\u2019 because they already understand English at a level that vastly outpaces their own.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is somewhat familiar, but speaking English,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not every church has been as successful as New Hope. In the past year, the Ukrainian Baptist Convention has recorded only 100 new baptisms nationwide \u2014 up from previous years, said Shanava, the president of the convention\u2019s youth ministry, but still \u201cunimpressive.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The foothold of evangelical conversions among Germany\u2019s Ukrainian refugees is not universal, either. Omelchenko recalled feeling alienated from other Ukrainian teens in her school in Wesel, a small town in the west.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at them and I see that I\u2019m not like them,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re interested only in, like, drinking, and having parties and stuff like that.\u201d Not having many friends was one of the factors that pushed her to seek out the church, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the movement is notable for a country \u2014 indeed, a continent \u2014 where religiosity has been <\/span>sharply declining<\/span><\/a> for decades, including among youth. Now, refugee churches like Almaz \u2014 many of whom are still getting settled in Germany \u2014 are already looking to engage in missionary work. Skopych\u2019s family, for instance, considered going back to Kyiv to proselytize. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Baptist churches in the United States are increasingly looking to expand their congregations outside of Ukrainians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is community around us that isn\u2019t Ukrainian, that also requires the gospel to be preached to them,\u201d said Shanava of the Ukrainian Baptist Convention. \u201cI believe there\u2019s a revival going on in America. A lot of people are coming back to Christ. A lot of people are coming back to religion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At New Hope, this has meant engaging in the local community \u2014 working with charities, holding a fall festival, evangelizing on the street \u2014 as churches do, Ukrainian or otherwise. Many of the church\u2019s refugees have started to give back in this manner. The English-language service has also been a major step in its outreach efforts, allowing congregants to easily bring their friends without worrying about a language barrier.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of young people, or even college age kids, that go, \u2018Oh, yeah, I can invite my friend.\u2019 And they do,\u201d Rudnitsky said.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Hope has also attracted a smaller number of Americans with no social connection to the church but who want to support Ukraine. [I want to talk to one of these guys so bad and am still working on it]. Rudnitsky cited a U.S. military veteran who had reached out to him looking for a way to get involved in Ukraine. The man now attends New Hope\u2019s men\u2019s group regularly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The efforts of New Hope and Ukrainian Baptist churches come as Baptists in the United States have navigated increasingly unstable congregations. The Southern Baptist Convention <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a> in April that its membership had hit a 50-year low, while also baptizing 250,000 people, up 10 percent from the previous year. In Germany, Baptists <\/span>number<\/span><\/a> only about 73,000, and the number of Protestants and Catholics has continued to shrink. An April survey by the research group Fowid <\/span>estimated<\/span><\/a> that, for the first time ever, a plurality of Germans had no religious affiliation.<\/span><\/p>\n

So the Baptists do what they can. Skopych, for instance, has become a vigorous street evangelist in addition to his leadership in Almaz\u2019s youth groups.\u00a0<\/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 Skopych said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll you have to do is believe and come to Christ. He\u2019s done all the hard work,\u201d Shanava said. \u201cI just think it\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A youth group in Almaz Church looks like any other gathering of young evangelicals: teenagers in flannels and hoodies lounging around a table, snacking on chips and discussing how God has touched their lives.\u00a0 But these are not ordinary evangelicals. Almaz is a Baptist congregation in Germany, a country where the denomination accounts for only<\/p>\n

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