Despite extensive searches and enquiries by Baptist churches, there is no news whatsoever of missing pastor Leonid Ponomaryov and his wife Tatyana.
They were seized by armed, masked men wearing military uniform from their home in Russian-occupied Mariupol in September. Neighbours ‘distinctly heard groans and cries’ as the masked men took Leonid and Tatyana away ‘in an unknown direction’, local Baptists said. Indications are that they were taken after they refused to allow their church building to be used for the referendum held to rubber stamp the annexation of the eastern Ukrainian territory by Russia.
A spokesperson for the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) said: ‘The abduction of the Ponomaryovs is a deeply worrying development for all involved. Our partners on the ground have been trying to find out some information, but sadly nothing has been forthcoming. It is a reminder that in this brutal war, there are pastors, Christian workers and believers who are serving their people in difficult and very dangerous situations. We need to be vigilant as we pray for all of God’s people caught up in these terrible events’.
The situation facing the church in the occupied areas of Russia was a focus of the 2022 SGA residential conference, which took as its theme this year ‘Reaching the Nations’. One delegate, speaking from Ukraine, highlighted the difficulties and blessings of life there. He reported that they know of 46 church buildings damaged or destroyed; in another 260 in the occupied territories most services have been halted. In Kherson, for example, three Baptist churches have been turned into barracks for Russian soldiers. No fewer than 225 pastors have been displaced from their churches, 97 have moved to other countries; at least 100 have joined the Ukrainian military.
But, despite this disruption, the church seems to be growing strongly in Ukraine at present. Forty new pastors and a similar number of deacons have already been commissioned to serve in those pastors’ places, as Christians step up to take responsibility for their congregations. And all the theological seminaries which were closed at the start of the war, even that in Irpin, the scene of much fighting at the start of the war, have now reopened.
The SGA estimates that about 20,000 people have started attending church for the first time since the invasion and at least 3,000 people have been baptised in the past three months alone. What is very noticeable – and novel – is the way that hundreds of young people are now connecting with the church.
The Association is supporting 150 pastors who have been forced to leave their villages as their churches have been scattered. For those that remain in operation, another of SGA’s key tasks is to support churches by helping them find fuel, such as wood and coal, and contributing to their soaring utility bills. As winter draws near, church buildings will play an increasingly important role in providing warm spaces for those in their communities. But the most important task, said one delegate, is for the church across Ukraine to continue to listen to God’s word.
