Ukraine — Erik Mock was in Ukraine last week during the first days of the USAID funding freeze. “There was just a growing sense of indifference and hardship that was going on,” he says. But the suspension of USAID funds wasn’t the main issue – far from it, in fact, according to Mock.
The big culprit is hopelessness: Ukrainians are worn by the brutality and difficulty of life.
How Christians are responding
“We combat that not only with providing the love of God through providing physical resources but with the Gospel,” says Mock. “We’re at the grassroots where we’re serving the churches that are on the front line: giving aid to people that are currently in bomb shelters and being ministered to there.”
Mock says his work with the Slavic Gospel Association has hardly been impacted by the administration’s pause on international development.
“The big difference in why such a decision has very little impact, if none at all, on those we serve is that our ministry of humanitarian aid is centered around the Gospel.”
Physical provisions by SGA’s Ukraine relief arm include generators, solar power backup systems, cast iron stoves, blankets, medicines, hygiene items, and food. Mock says the group’s functionality and nimbleness stand in contrast to USAID initiatives that are administratively bulkier. Especially with the aid freeze, SGA expects to serve a growing number of Ukrainians.
“A huge number of people are actually coming to churches. We call them centers of heat and hope,” Mock says.
During frequent power outages, SGA is working to keep power on and distribute aid efficiently. Mock says there is no established infrastructure or overhead to maintain, since the ministry operates within an indigenous church network – one they’ve been relationally building for years.
Background on ministry of SGA
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, many Western organizations immediately drew back from Ukraine. SGA stayed. Mock says the ministry was able to begin providing aid within days of the war’s onset.
“The reason that is possible is because SGA works to serve the indigenous churches as they deliver aid.”
That aid came in two forms, Mock says: local purchases to spur the local economy and trucked-in aid from Poland.
“What was really important about this strategy is that we were able to operate independent of any government level restrictions or political changes because our focus is equipping the churches for the work of ministry.”
That strategy continues to hold, despite the current pause on American assistance.
Why is USAID suspended?
According to the official white house statement, the 90 day suspension is intended “for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” Ukraine received 16 billion dollars of aid money from the US in 2023, a 22% share of America’s total aid money that year. Prior to the funding freeze, help was doled out through government-run distribution centers operating throughout Ukraine. While the practical outcomes of US-sponsored programs are not always negative, Mock notes they are incomplete.
“Sending aid over and over and over again without a message of hope is putting a finger in the dike with leaks all over the place,” he says.
For Mock, offering eternal hope with temporal assistance is the whole goal.
“We have to be proclaiming the Gospel. We have to come with a message of hope. Food will come and go. Situations between nations will come and go, but the Gospel is unchanging. And without the Gospel, there’s not a future,” he says. “Now with even less aid, the people will be coming through the doors of the church, and praise God, they’re going to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
How can we help?
Please join SGA in praying, giving, and standing in the gap for Ukraine. Pray especially for Ukrainian churches, where there is continual fear of young men being drafted and a growing number of war widows raising children alone.
“We have answers for lost, confused people,” Mock says. “We don’t know what the future is going to bring in a worldly sense, but we can point them to the King of Kings whose promises are certain.”
Sunflower field in Ukraine. Image courtesy of Pexels.
Featured image courtesy of Michael Jahn from Pixabay
