Part 1: Standing With Ukraine

Ukrainian flags at a memorial. — Remembering lives lost in Ukraine.

Faith, Power, and the War in Ukraine · Part 1

I recently returned from my 20th trip to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Over the past four and a half years, I have spent more than two years in Ukraine, walking alongside soldiers, civilians, pastors, and families whose lives have been devastated by this brutal war.

The People Behind the War

Much of my ministry involves helping people process unimaginable suffering they have experienced. I have sat with Ukrainian soldiers who were captured by Russian forces, imprisoned, and tortured. I have listened to their stories of cruelty, humiliation, and suffering. I have spoken with countless civilians who have lost husbands, wives, children, parents, and friends. Some have watched loved ones die. Others have endured the anguish of knowing that family members were tortured, murdered, or taken captive.

These are not statistics to me. They are real people. They have names, faces, families, and stories. Many have become my friends. Some of their children call me uncle. Their suffering is personal to me.

Paul calls us to enter into the grief of others, not remain distant from it.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

Romans 12:15 (ESV)

For me, that means listening, praying, grieving alongside these families, and continuing to show up. Their sorrow matters because they matter to God.

The Cost of Russia’s Aggression

What Russia is doing in Ukraine is evil. The Russian government has unleashed a campaign of destruction that includes the torture and killing of prisoners, the rape and murder of civilians, the destruction of churches, the persecution and killing of pastors and priests, and relentless missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure. Homes, schools, hospitals, and places of worship have become targets of a war that Russia chose to begin.

We must never lose sight of one fundamental truth: Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine did not invade Russia. Russia could end this war today by withdrawing its forces and ending its aggression.

Instead, the Russian government continues its campaign of destruction, apparently convinced that it can outlast the resolve of the West. Its leadership appears willing to sacrifice enormous numbers of its own soldiers in pursuit of its ambitions. Meanwhile, innocent Ukrainians continue to bury their loved ones, children grow up under the constant threat of missiles and drones, and an entire nation fights simply to survive as a free and independent country.

I have witnessed the exhaustion of the Ukrainian people. I have also witnessed their extraordinary courage, resilience, and determination. They are not asking the world to fight their war for them. They are asking for the means to defend their families, their homes, their churches, and their freedom.

We cannot allow ourselves to become indifferent to this suffering. We cannot become so accustomed to reports of Russian atrocities that they no longer move us. If we fail to speak against this evil, who will speak for those who are suffering?

Our Responsibility as Christians

Our response to Ukraine must be shaped by what God requires of His people. Micah asks:

“…what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8 (ESV)

Justice, mercy, and humility belong together. We must speak truth about aggression and injustice, care for those who suffer, and continually bring our own hearts and judgments before God. Our anger at evil must never cause us to lose either compassion or humility.

As Christians, we must begin on our knees. We must pray for the people of Ukraine, for those defending their country, for the families who have lost loved ones, for prisoners enduring unimaginable suffering, and for the pastors and churches faithfully ministering in the midst of war. We must pray for justice, for genuine peace, and for an end to this evil.

But our responsibility does not end with prayer.

We must also raise our voices. We must call upon our elected representatives, our government, and the leaders of the free world to stand firmly with Ukraine. We must insist that aggression, torture, murder, and the deliberate destruction of innocent lives cannot be rewarded or excused. A peace that simply allows Russia to keep what it has seized through violence invites further aggression.

There is a clear moral distinction between an aggressor and a nation defending itself. We must have the courage to recognize that distinction and act upon it.

Why I Cannot Look Away

After twenty trips and more than two years spent alongside the Ukrainian people, I cannot look away. I have seen too much, heard too many stories, held too many grieving people in my arms, and prayed with too many families who have lost so much.

My appeal is simple: Pray for Ukraine. Speak for Ukraine. Stand with Ukraine. And do not allow the suffering of its people to become something we simply learn to live with.

The war may seem far away to us. But to the people I have come to know and love, it is not a distant political debate.

It is their lives. Their families. Their homes. Their future.

And they deserve more than our sympathy. They deserve our prayers, our voices, our courage, and our unwavering commitment to stand against evil.

Do not assume someone else will speak. A phone call or an email takes only a few minutes.

Our response begins with the love Christ has shown us. In 1 John 3:16–18, John points to Jesus laying down His life for us and calls believers to meet the needs before them. He brings that responsibility into focus:

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

1 John 3:18 (ESV)

That love takes practical form when we care for wounded people, support churches serving their communities, and use our voices on behalf of those under attack.

C. S. Lewis offers a practical challenge in his essay Why I Am Not a Pacifist:

“I think the art of life consists of tackling each immediate evil as well as we can.”

C. S. Lewis, Why I Am Not a Pacifist, in The Weight of Glory

Applying Lewis’ quote and the truth of I John 3:18 to Ukraine, challenges me to ask what good I can do for the people God has placed before me. We cannot end every injustice, but we can respond faithfully to the suffering we see.

See Understand Act

I support Ukraine. I oppose Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. I believe Ukraine has the right to exist as a sovereign nation and that Russia should not be rewarded for taking another country’s territory by force.

I ask you to please contact your United States senators and your representative in Congress. Tell them plainly: You support Ukraine. You oppose Russian aggression and evil. You want the United States to stand with Ukraine.

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Evil triumphs when good people see what is happening and choose to do nothing.

Please do something.

Please share this post with others.

Next: Part 2: Given Russia’s Record, Why Trust Its Next Promise? →

View all articles in this series

Scripture and quotation sources

Scripture references: Micah 6:8; Romans 12:15; 1 John 3:16–18.

Quotation source: C. S. Lewis, “Why I Am Not a Pacifist,” in The Weight of Glory.