SELCU Pastors Risk Their Own Lives to Provide Humanitarian Aid and Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus to Ukrainians in Need

8/30/2022

100% of Your Donations Continue to Support Ukrainians in Need

Since March 2022, Lutheran Church Charities has been working cooperatively with pastors of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine (SELCU) to provide humanitarian relief which combines the clear proclamation of the gospel.

SELCU Pastors Serving Ukrainians
More than 180 days have now passed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the past six months, it is estimated that more than half of Ukraine's 44 million populace has either left the country as refugees or become internally displaced persons within the country.

One of the internally displaced persons is the Rev. Valerii Verba, a pastor of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ukraine (SELCU). The SELCU is a partner church of the Lutheran Church-Canada, which is a partner church of The Lutheran Church —Missouri Synod.

Pastor Verba's home and congregation are in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, to which he cannot return. His wife, son, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew are refugees living in the town of Marsberg, Germany, together with two other SELCU pastors' refugee families in the same apartment building.

Because Pastor Verba cannot visit his congregation, he primarily assists SELCU Pastor Sergei Bevz and his congregation in Dnipro. In addition to caring for the Dnipro congregation, some two-three times each week, the two pastors load vans with humanitarian relief supplies and travel to cities and villages farther to the east in the Donbas region. At risk to their own lives, the pastors provide food for both body and soul to their fellow Ukrainians.

The conflict in Ukraine will not end soon. Through the generosity of its donors, Lutheran Church Charities has been concentrating on assisting those who remain in Ukraine, whether they are still residing in their own homes or are among the internally displaced. That assistance includes both humanitarian relief and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. LCC is pleased to partner with the pastors of the SELCU and their congregations as they carry out this important ministry.

Your Donations are Immediately Helping Ukrainians in Need!

DONATE — UKRAINIAN RELIEF FUND