Pastor Barry is in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, spending time with our partners at Mission to Ukraine. Here is his first update from the trip.
Greetings from Zhytomyr, Ukraine!!! I have been having a spectacular experience and wanted to share just a few initial thoughts since many of you have been asking about how I’ve been. There will be plenty more updates to come, including a short video in service Sunday and an in-person event when I’m back home where I can share a whole lot more photos and videos.
This will not be polished, but I figured an initial update couldn’t hurt!
Ukraine at War
Graves of fallen soldiers at the Zhytomyr military cemetery.
One of the first things I was eager to understand in Ukraine is what life is like here. As you can imagine, the war touches all aspects of life in Zhytomyr. In fact, literally right as I wrote those words, air raid sirens began to sound! There is a drone heading somewhere in this direction right now.
Which sounds super intense, I know. But don’t worry. As I’ve quickly learned, these alerts are so incredibly common (5-10 a day) that most people simply carry on with life. It’s simply not realistic to take shelter for every alarm. I’ve downloaded an app which notifies me of the severity of any threats, and a map of where in Ukraine the threats are most severe, which is a fascinating glimpse into war in the 21st century. I’m learning, like my hosts, to just sleep through the night.
I was given the privilege of spending Sunday with a church in Zhytomyr which has found a niche serving soldiers, wounded veterans, war widows, families of soldiers missing in action, etc. Pastor Vasiliy asked me to preach. I would have been happy just observing, but as is so often the case in my travels, I was asked to teach. So I shared a few thoughts about the “armor of God” from Ephesians 6.
Here’s what’s crazy, though. When talking about “the flaming arrows of the evil one,” I said the words, “these arrows aren’t meant to cause damage; they’re meant to cause fear.” Just then, the power went out, presumably from a drone strike on a power station. I finished my sermon in the dark without a mic. The timing was wild. “This is what I’m talking about,” I said. “He wants us afraid!” What was amazing to me, though, was the fact that not a soul in that room flinched at the loss of power. It’s just a part of life now. They got their backup generators up and running and church continued.
“This is what I’m talking about. He wants us afraid!”
After service, I was blessed to spend time with a group of women who had lost sons and husbands to the war, many of whom were not yet believers, but who had come to the church for community and comfort. They shed tears as they talked about their regrets and things left unsaid to those they have lost. It was gut-wrenching, but I was privileged to be able to listen and offer whatever encouragement I could.
Friends, let me tell you, it means so much to them that our church keeps Ukraine in our prayers.
Mission to Ukraine
Barry with the staff team at Mission to Ukraine.
Of course, my primary purpose for coming to Zhytomyr was to spend time with Mission to Ukraine. Today is only my first full day at their new ministry center, but already I am just an absolute puddle of emotion.
Their new facility, which was built, miraculously, during the first two years of the war, is an absolute marvel. It is huge and beautiful and bright and joy-filled and honestly really well designed and furnished. Their entire purpose with the new building was to convey dignity to the families of those they serve, and let me tell you… it is working. Ukrainians are not known as the most demonstrative of people, and often faces you pass on the streets are somber (even in normal times!). But not at MTU. It seems like everyone here has a big smile on their face!
For good reason. The unbelievable work being done to give support to families of children with disabilities, the beautiful sensory rooms, the high-quality medical care, the vast warehouse where they collect and sort food donations for hungry families… It’s just an absolutely overwhelming and beautiful embodiment of God’s kingdom in action.
As is their continued work providing support for women facing crisis pregnancies. There are so, so many children alive today because MTU has helped mothers in distress realize they have hope and wraparound support available to them now through this ministry.
Ira told me something absolutely crazy related to this. I need to get the specific stats on the story, but the gist of it was that due to Ukraine’s rapidly declining birthrate, the fact that so many young families left the country at the outbreak of war, and the prevalence of unwanted pregnancies due to economic fears and poverty, there was a recent year in which around half of all babies born in Zhytomyr were babies saved from abortion by Mission to Ukraine. Half! Babies whose mothers are now supported with food, clothing, medical care, community, and spiritual care because of this amazing ministry. It is just plain staggering.
Over the next few days, I will be spending a lot more time engaging with the staff, who, as I’ve said in the past, are some of the sweetest, most wonderful people I know. They are exhausted, burnt out, and discouraged, but ultimately resolute and eager to see how God will work.
I delivered the prayer cards the Grace congregation filled out in the October 4 service, and it was very, very meaningful for every staff member to get a pile of letters (painstakingly sorted and translated into Ukrainian by Hannah Miller… thank you, Hannah!). They are so encouraged by the fact that Grace loves them so much, and the fact that you’d let me come here as your representative at all speaks volumes to them.
There will be much more about MTU to come. Tonight I go to banya with some of the men on staff to encourage and connect with them. Banya, if you don’t know, is like a super-intense sauna with insane temperatures and intense practices like beating people with branches of oak leaves. It’s one of my favorite parts of Ukraine. I can’t wait.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Finally, this has nothing to do with MTU, but I suppose there is one other significant experience I’ve had which is worth sharing about. While I was in Kraków, I did a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. As a massive World War II history buff who has studied the Nazi regime and the Holocaust for years, it was a staggering and monumental experience for me. The details of my visit would require another entire letter to cover, but I’ll give you a few snapshots of moments I will never forget.
Note: Some of what I’ll share below is a bit disturbing, so feel free to skip the next paragraph.
Part of the museum included massive piles of objects collected from those murdered in the camps. Seeing physical objects such as children’s shoes, suitcases, eyeglasses, etc. brought home the reality of the place in a visceral way. One room had a massive pile of 80,000 shoes running the length of the wall. To realize this enormous collection represented only about 7% of the 1.1 million people killed in just this camp alone took my breath away. Another room included a similarly sized pile of human hair collected from victims after their death to be used by the Nazis for felt socks and other such items. There are hardly words to describe the horror I felt at that scene. Finally, standing in an actual gas chamber and seeing fingernail scratches on the wall where people fought for life in their final moments made me almost dizzy with grief.
Disturbing content over.
The whole experience brought home to me the absolute depravity of which humanity is capable. This was what dehumanization and demonization of others can lead to. Not in theory, but in fact. In metal and stone and concrete.
It reminded me yet again of how vital our work is in recovering the beautiful image of God in others. Our work of fighting against tribalism and hatred is so, so important. Because these horrors were not committed by monsters or demonic beasts. They were committed by ordinary people who believed the lie that some of God’s children on this earth did not deserve life. We must continue to strive to recover the dignity of others and the full and beautiful life that every human on earth deserves.
Back to It!
Alright, friends. I’ll leave it there. Hopefully this has been a helpful glimpse into some of what I’ve experienced so far. God is good and this experience has already done an incredible work in healing my soul. I could burst into tears at any moment thinking of how beautiful it is to be partnered with such bright lights as the MTU staff and volunteer team.
Thanks again for supporting me as I travel and lifting me and MTU up in your prayers. I can’t wait to tell you lots more in the days to come.
I love you all!
In Christ,
Pastor Barry
Learn more about Mission to Ukraine