Meeting Ukrainian Christians in exile

One of the spin offs from my links with the Latvian Biblical Centre is receiving invitations to lead preaching seminars with Russian-speaking congregations in Western Europe. At the end of June this brought me to Lisbon for a weekend of basic preaching training in Lisbon. 15-20 people gathered over the weekend to reflect on what we can learn about preaching from the Sermon on the Mount.

I shared the training with Victor Petrenko, the Director of the Latvian Biblical Centre, whose wife is Portuguese, and comes from Lisbon originally. We gave particular attention to how to begin and end a sermon; listeners are particularly keen for preachers to learn how to do the latter effectively and promptly!

The Centero Evangelico Church in the northern part of Lisbon is home to Russian speaking Christians from Ukraine and Moldova. Some of the Ukrainians arrived here after the annexation of Crimea in 2014; others are more recent arrivals as a result of the most recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The favoured occupation for the Ukrainian men seems to be taxi-driver. This is a job that that does not require extensive knowledge of English and gives a stable income and flexible working hours.

A common narrative is beginning to emerge as I observe what is going on among Ukrainian Christians in exile:

1. There is a fair measure of uncertainty about when or if they will be able to return to Ukraine. Their circumstances remind me of the situation in Babylon, that the prophet Jeremiah addresses in Jeremiah 29. It seems as if some Ukrainian Christians have not fully integrated into their temporary home because they assume they will not be there for long. This can lead to a lack of imagination concerning evangelising fellow Ukrainians or the local population.
2. One of the knock-on effects of this can be seen in their children. They attend school where they are doing their lessons in Portuguese but when they come to church the services and Sunday School are in Russian. This can produce something of an identity crisis, which does not get easier when these children turn into teenagers and young adults!