Unlike the Soviet era, when evangelical Christians were either severely persecuted and marginalized, and post-Soviet times, when they were traditionally treated with prejudice, today the voice of the evangelical Church is getting increasingly heard in the Ukrainian society.
More and more Ukrainians can’t help but see the active involvement of evangelical Christians in social life and relief work, for example, in evacuating people from the warzone, hosting refugees and IDPs, sharing food and delivering humanitarian aid, rebuilding residential infrastructure, encouraging and counseling, etc.
Therefore, we believe that it is important for the evangelical Christians in Ukraine, when they just start being accepted as full-fledged members of the society, not to miss the chance to be heard and actively share their view of different acute issues, including through up-to-date instruments.
For this reason, to throw light different relevant problems of today from the biblical perspective, we, in addition to our traditional academics and war-time relief activities, have launched an educational video content project.
This project presupposes making podcasts, video blogs and conducting webinars on issues of such as:
– forgiveness in defeating trauma
– mistakes and failures in ministry
– biblical understanding of ‘authorities’ in the Ukrainian context
– church and military service
– religious violence and overcoming its consequences
– worship beyond church service
– worship and emotional honesty
– strategizing and spiritual inspiration in ministry development
– modern psychology and Christian anthropology
– financial support and transparency in ministry music art in church and beyond
– evangelism in the light of communication
– tolerance towards violence in society and families
These video resources in the important spheres such as Theology of Citizenship, Emotional Literacy, Worship, Ministry Development are also intended to support and facilitate different church ministries, in particular those of the pastor, worship leader, church counselor, etc.
“I look forward to watching every UETS podcast… First, I am sure that it will feature competent speakers with a balanced theological perspective. Second, I understand that I will have an interesting time for reflections about an issue which is relevant for a Christian community today. Third, any UETS video is not a list of ready-to-use answers but rather search for them together. This is a dialogue of speakers and my dialogue with them at the same time. That is why I always wait for new video releases. They really inspire me,” says Olena Tyshchenko, a student of applied theology at UETS and media minister at the Vertical Church, Kyiv.
Pray please that the voice of the evangelical Church is heard in the Ukrainian society, stereotypes are ruined, new resources become available, and relevant church ministries are strengthened and facilitated.