Europe (MNN) — The number of refugees from Ukraine recently passed 5 million. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) predicts that upwards of 8 million Ukrainian refugees will ultimately flee their homeland.
Nations taking in refugees include Romania, Moldova, Greece, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Finland, and the United States. In all of these countries, World Missionary Press (WMP) is getting urgent requests for Scripture booklets in Ukrainian and Russian to give to refugees.
Helen Williams with WMP says they are hearing stories of regular Christians on the ground doing everything they can to serve Ukrainian refugees in the name of Jesus Christ.
(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)
“There’s a missionary couple in Moldova, they have [refugees] there for a few days and then they’re moving on to the next thing. Those people are giving their lives and their homes and everything they’ve got for these people for just maybe a few hours or a few days.”
Displaced individuals fleeing violence in Ukraine often come with just the clothes on their backs and possibly what they could fit in a suitcase. These Scripture booklets in their heart languages are a critical piece to offer hope and encouragement.
Williams says, “When it’s received, it’s received in Christian love. Someone cares enough to give me God’s Word and maybe something to eat and maybe something to wear. But they also care enough to give me God’s Word.
“The impact of the Word is just the work of the Spirit as the heart is needy. When they get it in their hands and it’s in their own language and they read of God’s love for them,…there is hope, there is a place of refuge, there is something to cling to and you can read it over and over.”
WMP has been in ministry for just over 60 years. Through the decades, they have seen God prepare them for outreach opportunities before the need ever arises. In this case, WMP already had several Ukrainian Scripture booklets to fulfill urgent requests.
(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)
While they will be printing more booklets to keep up with the demand, they are thankful to God for preparing their stock to meet immediate spiritual needs!
Click here to support WMP as they print more Scripture booklets in Ukrainian and Russian for refugees!
Also, Williams asks, “Pray for those that are out there — the missionaries that are staying in Ukraine, the churches in Poland that are opening up their church and housing these people as they go through, the churches in Denmark that are doing this, the churches everywhere and the individuals everywhere who are opening their homes as people transfer from point to point.
“In each of those situations, the Word of God is being shared. So pray over each booklet that the Lord would use it for an individual heart that needs to know His love.”
Header photo of Ukrainian refugees courtesy of Mvs.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
