Not Alone

“Our ability to connect with others is innate, wired into our nervous systems, and we need connection as much as we need physical nourishment.”

This winter is set to be the most difficult of the conflict so far for our friends in Ukraine. According to the UNHCR Ukraine Winter Plan 2024-2025, “Rolling power outages are now a common occurrence across the country and will likely worsen in the coming months. People will struggle to remain safe and warm in their homes as energy prices, including for solid fuel, are expected to soar, along with household expenditures.” Reduced electricity impacts all areas of life: the ability to cook food and prepare hot drinks; the ability to keep warm and clean; and the ability to charge a phone, access the internet, and stay connected with the outside world.

Every year we run a fundraising appeal from November to February, so that we can provide extra financial support for our pastors as they care for the most needy in their communities. This year is no different, and our special focus for winter 2024 is on providing connection wherever we can – to fight loneliness and social isolation by helping people not to lose meaningful human contact.

We know this won’t be hard, as we see countless examples of how connection is already at the heart of what our churches do and how they serve, such as in the ministry of the women’s group at Kadena Gora church. “We have a women's meeting, where the sisters gather, they pray, they study the bible,” Pastor Dima explains. “But twice a month, instead of meeting, they make a list of people who are at home, who are lonely, who cannot get out, and they go and visit them. To show God's care and love, they take food, and they find out these people’s needs, and they pray for them. I want as much as possible for every person in the village not to feel alone, not to feel abandoned. I want them to know that despite the difficult circumstances of the war, there is a church and it continues to care for people, to pray for them.”

There is no doubt that mental as well as physical health is impacted by the challenges of winter, and these impacts are amplified for those who are elderly or find it difficult to get out. We are encouraging our pastors and their teams to have an eye out for these people in particular, and to do everything they can to visit them and invite them to participate in activities, including using church vehicles for transport when needed.

Thanks to the generators that were provided for the churches in December 2022, the pastors can open up their buildings during the week to provide warm, friendly spaces for ‘Connect’ meetings. The first of these has already happened in Blagodatne, bringing together seniors from the village for hot food and social time together. We look forward to seeing more of these events taking place in the weeks ahead.

Please join us in praying for those Ukrainians who will be hardest hit by the winter, and that the church across the country would lead the way in showing care and kindness, neighbour to neighbour.