Pray for Ukraine

Kate Prokopchuk

Meet Kate Prokopchuk. She is a wife and mother with a thriving career. When the invasion began, Kate stayed in her home in Ukraine for several days with her husband, Ivan, and their two children, Vera (8) and Stephan (2). They boarded up their windows with tape and mattresses and slept in their closet. Kate and Ivan tried to pretend it was an adventure to protect the children from the reality of their situation.

Eventually they knew they had to get the children out. Kate’s daughter Vera left the country first with relatives. Kate and her son Stephan followed soon after. In the rush to get a spot on the train, Kate was pushed on board before she could even kiss Ivan goodbye. That began a 35 hour journey into Poland, including a 9 hour wait at the border.

Kate was able to get an apartment in Poland, which is becoming hard to do. Kate has made a few new friends in Poland, including Hills-supported missionary Jessica Zorn. Kate and her kids have shelter and their basic needs met, but they are in a waiting season with no end in sight. Every few days Vera asks when she’ll get to see her dad again, and Kate struggles for how to answer. When asked how people can respond, Kate said, “We need your prayers most. Pray for peace. We love our country and we have beautiful lives there. Pray the war will end and we can be home with our families again. I know that God can do it.”

Pray for Kate and for all families who have been separated in this unjust war. Pray for loved ones to be reunited safely. Pray for an end to the war. Pray for God to give healing and strength to mothers like Kate.

Oleg and Viktoria

Meet Oleg and Viktoria. They are Ukrainian church leaders. Oleg became a pastor in Ukraine in 1999, and God gave him and Viktoria a heart for the nations. Two years ago they prayed and God told them to move to Poland and work with both Polish and Ukrainian people. Since 2020 they have planted a church and already have three more church plants in development.

When Russia began invading, they started hearing about needs inside Ukraine. Oleg responded quickly with the help of his church and other ministry partners. Oleg now works with a team who transport goods across the border. They’ve been sending vanloads of medicine and supplies to war-torn areas in eastern Ukraine. On return routes, Oleg’s contacts transport people out of Ukraine and into neighboring Poland. Recently he learned from his Ukrainian brothers that they needed reliable transportation, and so Oleg donated his church’s van to be used for critical deliveries in Ukraine.

Oleg and Viktoria continue to stay in contact with Christians in Ukraine, including family members. Pray for Pastor Oleg and Viktoria and others like them. Pray God supplies them with more goods and means of getting them delivered to Ukrainians. Pray for strength and perseverance. Pray that God keeps them safe.

Piemont Hotel Refugee Center

Genesis Church

Polish church planters Łukasz and Kamil were looking for a way to serve Ukrainians arriving in Poland. Łukasz and his wife Magda had already welcomed three Ukrainian families to stay in their home, but they wanted to do more. Hills-supported missionaries Brandon and Jessica Zorn started dreaming and praying with Łukasz and Kamil. God led them to Piemont Hotel, which had been left empty due to COVID restrictions. They took out a lease and have transformed it into a short-term refugee center. In April 2022 the center hosts nearly 40 Ukrainians. Some of the new arrivals are not believers, yet they have been open to attending Łukasz and Kamil’s church plant, Genesis Church.

Pray for the families who will stay at Piemont. Ask God to give them peace and rest. Some guests will have nothing to go back to in Ukraine and plan to stay in Poland. Pray God will provide for them in the transition and in making a new life. Pray they find community. Pray their hearts are open to the gospel.

Pray for Genesis Church and others like it. Ask God to raise up more volunteers to help in the Piemont Hotel endeavor. Pray that God will give Polish Christians the spiritual and physical resources to care for and minister to Ukrainian families.

Valeriy and Anzhela Shcherban

Valeriy and Anzhela are serving as the on-site directors of the Piemont Hotel Refugee Center. Val is Ukrainian and Anzhela is a Russian American. They served in church ministry in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, but as political tensions built, their supporting organization instructed them to leave. They didn’t know it at the time, but they were on the last flight that would leave that region on February 23rd. The next day Russia would invade Ukraine.

They arrived in the US and were staying with family but their hearts were still with their Ukrainian brothers and sisters. They asked God to open a door for them to serve Ukrainians and upon hearing about the Piemont Hotel project, they quickly made plans to come to Poland. When we met with them they had been there less than three days, but God had already given them opportunities to minister to the center’s guests and to share the gospel with the incoming Ukrainians who are asking questions and seeking the answer to their fear and pain.

Val asked that we not lose interest in what is happening to Ukraine because the needs will be many and will last for a long time–rebuilding Ukraine will take many years. Please pray for their leaders and for their resilience.

Pray for Val and Anzhela. Val’s father, Vladimir, is a pastor who is still in Ukraine trying to care for the people who remain in his region. Val’s mother, Luba, and sister are now in the US, separated from family and friends. Ask God to protect their family and loved ones while they are apart. Pray that God will give them strength and endurance as they serve others. Pray the Spirit works through them to change the lives of the many who come to the center.

Natalia, Kristina, and Sophia

Natalia and her two adult daughters, Kristina and Sophia, have left behind husbands and homes to seek out a safe place to live right now. Kristina’s young son, Timothy, is with them. At the beginning of the invasion, they believed that their hometown would be far enough west in Ukraine to avoid any fighting or danger. In just a short time they realized that they, too, would not be spared as their town was targeted by Russian missiles. These three bright, talented musicians packed up and left quickly–Kristina even left behind her beloved violin, which was later driven to the border with another refugee fleeing west. Łukasz and Magda drove to the border and met them there and brought them into their home to live with them. On one of Kristina’s first Sundays in Poland, she used her violin to join in leading worship at Genesis Church in a room with Polish members, many Ukrainian refugees, and volunteers and visitors from the US and the UK. In a moment when Kristina could be angry and pull away from the God she knows and loves, she chose to lean into Him and trust Him and help lead others in worship, praising and blessing His name.

Please pray for Natalia, Kristina, Sophia, and Timothy. Please pray for their husbands: Yaroslav, Roman, and Petro who are still in Ukraine, where they work to defend their country and care for those who are left behind. Pray especially for Petro, the husband of Sophia, who is a soldier and who is in some of the most dangerous areas of fighting. Pray that God will keep watch over him in the day and by night, and that they would be reunited quickly. Please pray for the many men and women who are fighting a war that they did not provoke or desire. Pray that they will hear the Lord say to go to the right or to the left and that they will avoid injury or death. Pray that these people who are fighting in the war would feel God’s presence and peace, even in the midst of bombs and destruction. Pray for God to redeem time lost for these families and to heal the pain of trauma that so many are experiencing. Pray that Jesus would come to these people in visions and dreams and that they would know of His love and grace and concern for them in miraculous ways. Pray for the Ukrainians and the Russians to experience peace together.

Pabianice Resource Center

God is raising up Polish Christians to respond to this moment. Meet Pawel and Isabella, Przemek (“Pchemek”), and Kasia. They started a food pantry and resource center to receive donations for Ukrainian refugees. Within days they were receiving more than they ever imagined: blankets and pillows, groceries, jackets, diapers, toiletries, Russian and Ukrainian Bibles, and more.

They have been serving around the clock, working their normal jobs and caring for their families while striving to keep up with incoming donations and refugee visits. They are full of God’s Spirit, displaying love and grace to everyone who comes. They show great hospitality and compassion despite their fatigue.

They shared these specific prayer requests: pray for wisdom to know God’s will; pray for discernment to know when to focus on the vision and when to focus on their family and work; pray for more faith in God; pray for the material needs to fulfill their vision (a van, renovation resources, manpower, etc.). They said they are relying on our prayer coverage as their brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray with them against the enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy.

Jerzy Tarnowski

Meet Pastor Jerzy. He is a Polish church planter and disciple maker. He and his wife, Maggie, have 5 sons who range in age from 1 year to 14 years old. Jerzy has served as a partner to Pastor Oleg, helping get donations into Ukraine. Additionally, the Pabianice Resource Center team are members at Jerzy’s church.

Jerzy represents the many Polish pastors who are serving with love and generosity. There’s much to be done: serving Ukrainian Christians, answering calls and emails from supporters around the world who want to help, deciding how to steward donations, and activating church members to respond to the moment.

Pastor Jerzy communicated to us his zealous passion to see the Kingdom of God come to earth. As we pray for Jerzy, he would also encourage us to pray that God’s Kingdom would break into more of Ukraine and Poland in ways that will impact the surrounding region.

Please pray for Jerzy and Maggie and other Polish pastors and churches who are giving their time and resources to many Ukrainian churches and refugees. Please pray that their own churches would be strengthened in faith and in unity with all the believers locally and worldwide. Pray for the marriages and families of these servants of God, that they would grow in their love for one another and for the Lord as they serve others so beautifully. Pray that many would come to know the Gospel because of what Jerzy and Maggie and other believers are doing in the name of Jesus. Pray that God’s kingdom will come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And continue to pray for peace.