What We're DoingDuring the War

Ukrainian Bible Institute and its ministries have been directly affected throughout the whole duration of the war between Russia and Ukraine. This goes back to the beginning of the military conflict, which was the year 2014 when Russian and Russian-backed forces seized control of Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine (including the city of Donetsk, which was UBI’s home at the time). UBI’s first big adaptation to the war began not in 2022 but in 2014, when the institute relocated from Donetsk to Kyiv. This difficult but necessary change brought not just a new location, but also new challenges and opportunities. The institute continued to grow and thrive in the years following that move.

Then came the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Dramatic changes in Ukraine’s circumstances once again meant the need for drastic changes in UBI’s ministries in order to meet the changing needs of Ukrainian churches and disciples—both in Ukraine and abroad. These changes were not all welcome changes. But through these changes God has presented opportunities and directions that weren't possible before.

Providing Resources and Assistance

When the full-scale invasion began, all UBI academic programs were temporarily suspended. Instead, the focus was on moving vulnerable people to safety and ensuring that everyone in the UBI community and associated churches were being provided for. 

Some UBI students and staff stayed in Kyiv, some went to other parts of Ukraine, and some relocated to Poland and other parts of Europe. A number of UBI staff and students were directly involved in establishing and operating a refugee assistance ministry in partnership with the church of Christ in Sopot, Poland, which continues to this day.

In the first months of the full-scale war, even with the regular UBI academic program on hold, we directed resources to meet the specific needs that were prominent in a time of war. We began to offer practical training that speaks to the situation in Ukraine then and now—from online seminars on grief and trauma care, to in-person seminars in refugee locations about how to care for children during wartime. Some of these topics and emphases became incorporated into the regular full-time UBI curriculum once instruction resumed.

These topics and resources are not only for UBI’s current students, but for alumni and other ministers and Christians as well. We want to equip today's ministers with important principles and understanding about grief and trauma—not only as they reach out to help others, but also as they struggle themselves. We understand that mental health care for our ministering brothers and sisters is going to be vital to their long-term success.

Resuming Ministry Training

As the war continued with no sign of stopping and with our staff, students, and prospective students scattered, it became clear that UBI’s instruction would need to be completely online for the foreseeable future. This was not a completely new experience, however; the institute’s experience during the height of the COVID pandemic two years earlier had provided some relevant experience and precedent.

However, the war brought new challenges in the form of frequent, unpredictable power outages. Thus, we developed contingency plans in case of sudden losses of power or connectivity. From making audio recordings which can be more easily shared to watching pre-recorded classes from years past, UBI developed robust and flexible backup plans.

By the fall of 2022, UBI was able to return to a partial, lightened schedule of online classes, with students and instructors connecting online for live classes over Zoom by default, and rewatching recorded classes after the fact when necessary. This online format has made it possible to reach our students wherever they are while also doing it in a way that takes into account different time zones and different personal schedules.

In the spring of 2023, the UBI leadership revealed plans for the “new UBI” - adapting to meet needs of the current and future generations of students and churches. This included a redesigned, intensive format of approximately 18 months of instruction, with a new addition of a hands-on student internship program becoming available for students after they complete their academic studies.

By the fall of 2023, the institute was able to resume an almost complete full-time schedule of classes, although some aspects of the curriculum such as preaching classes were still under redevelopment.

In the spring of 2024, UBI launched its new online learning platform - a versatile web app for computers and mobile phones that organizes and facilitates the educational process for both students and staff.

And by the fall of 2024, the entire UBI curriculum had been adapted to the online format, including even preaching classes.

Developing a Humanitarian Aid Network

From the beginning of the full-scale invasion, donations started to flow in from brothers and sisters around the world. Drawing on the longstanding partnership between UBI and Sunset International Bible Instute, UBI became a focal point for the organization and distribution of humanitarian aid through the Ukrainian churches. 

For over three years now, UBI has been able to provide unprecedented resources to the churches around Ukraine and to Ukrainians now scattered around Europe. Not only are we providing help to thousands of people in need each month, we are doing it in a way which supports local congregations and ministers. We are very happy to see how God has used UBI to build an effective network for providing help.

The help has taken many forms. From the very first days of the invasion, our students and graduates have offered their homes, their cars, and often their safety in order to help their neighbors. Christians are providing heat, blankets, food, rides, hugs, prayers, and worship. Through the work of our staff, students, and alumni, we have been able to empower others to start and maintain ministries in dozens of places. 

UBI's humanitarian aid work has become, and continues to be, a very important part of the ministries among the Churches of Christ all around Ukraine. We are currently partnering with dozens of congregations to get thousands of grocery packages to them each month, which they in turn distribute to those in need. God is using these partnerships to accomplish significant things.

The generosity of Christian donors, coupled with the passion and endurance of the Ukrainian Christians, have served as a strong example to the world about what faith looks like during dark times. Where the world struggles through painful political and economic limitations, God's church has not hesitated to answer the call of help from its Ukrainian neighbor. Thanks to the ongoing donations of Christians on the other side of the world, people are still receiving food and other aid, people are hearing God’s word, the churches are working together, and the churches are growing. To borrow Paul's words from 2 Timothy 2:9, "the word of God is not bound" by the world's politics, conflicts, or evil. God’s word has not been bound in Ukraine.

The Work Continues

There is a paradoxical truth about darkness: the darker something is, the easier it is to see light. (When we lie out in a field and stare up at the night sky, we notice the stars, not the black empty space.) So even though our hearts were breaking over the war and its terrible consequences, it was unbelievably encouraging to see people around the world respond with their hearts and hands, including—and maybe most significantly—the help we've seen come from among the churches.

Despite the heartbreak over the war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Bible Institute is in an exciting place. Even though we can't stop dreaming about the day we return home, we are also dreaming about the different ways UBI can adapt to this new situation and provide Biblical education and practical ministry training to new people in new places, and in new ways.