#BeingHuman. #PeopleOfTheBridge. With both heavy hearts and steadfast hope, we present yet another comprehensive report documenting our relief ministry of the seminary-based refugee hubs “People of the Bridge” throughout 1200 days of Russia’s full-scale war. Since February 2022, these hubs – with your financial and prayerful support – have served as beacons of the Light of the Gospel amid the darkness of the ongoing war (that gets more and more intense), providing critical support to countless individuals affected by this devastating aggression.
For most of this Russian war we wrote to you every eight weeks, because the war arrived in episodes – an offensive, a wave of evacuations, a winter. Somewhere in the third year that changed. The war stopped being a series of events and became something more like weather, a permanent climate we now simply live inside. Ten months passed between this accounting and the last.
Two quiet thresholds were crossed in these months, almost unnoticed. The number of people who have received counsel and soul-care since the war began passed one hundred thousand. And the Scriptures we have handed out are approaching a million and a half. We did not plan either milestone. We simply kept opening the doors, and kept handing out the one thing that does not wither, through a stretch of the Russian war long enough to make everything else feel like grass…
Through our dedicated staff, volunteers, and faithful partners, we have delivered comprehensive services including evacuation assistance, shelter, food aid, spiritual care, faith-based counseling, and specialized support for internally displaced persons with disabilities. This report details the scope and impact of our efforts, documenting both the immense challenges that we continue to face and the resilience demonstrated by our Community of Hope through God’s grace and your unwavering support.
Behind every statistic in this report lies a human story – mothers, fathers, children, siblings, and grandparents whose lives have been shattered by the Russian war. Millions have fled their homes, leaving everything behind, while others have endured occupation and witnessed unspeakable Russian atrocities. Yet amid this darkness, we have witnessed extraordinary courage and faith as people cling to Hope through the compassion offered by our seminary-based refugee hubs.
Ministry Impact Report: January-June 2025. The following statistics demonstrate the comprehensive scope of our seminary-based refugee hub ministry during the first half of 2025 (note: figures marked as ‘total’ represent cumulative impact since February 24, 2022):
- 244 volunteers carried the work across a long and wearing stretch
- 241 people were evacuated from areas the fighting still threatened (total: 12,126)
- 187 displaced people were sheltered and cared for on seminary campuses (total: 11,645)
- 230 people passed through our hubs in transit toward safer ground (total: 69,910)
- 30,370 food boxes and packages reached families driven from their homes (total: 730,053)
- 532 tons of food and humanitarian supplies were delivered where the need was sharpest (total: 7,374)
- 249,090 Bibles and New Testaments were placed into the hands of the displaced, the military, and those in war zones (total: 1,481,066)
- 12,915 people received counsel and spiritual and emotional care for what the war had done to them (total: 100,196)
- 2,539 people with disabilities, including wounded soldiers and civilians, received specialized care (total: 10,970)
- Over 4 000 internally displaced people have found new hope and life in their Communities of Hope by accepting Jesus as their Savior and joining local churches through baptism, thanks to the ministry of the seminary-based refugee hubs.
Your invaluable impact on the lives of those affected by the war and the Church in Ukraine cannot be overstated. We are grateful for your partnership and commitment to the Mission of God that has not changed and will not change, despite the Russian war. And we invite you, our esteemed friends and partners, to continue to support the ministry of our seminary-based refugee hubs as the war gets more and more intense:
- Ukraine: Refugees Assistance (through our seminary hubs): https://www.mesaglobal.co/projects/48505
- Ukraine: Bibles for refugees and military (with Ukraine Bible Society): https://www.mesaglobal.co/projects/65548
- Ukraine Mental Health and Well-Being Care (with Institute of Trauma Healing and seminaries that provide faith-based professional counseling: KES and ETU): https://www.mesaglobal.co/projects/45809
Peace be with you, and keep your children away from war, Taras D (project manager in Ukraine for the “People of the Bridge”), on behalf of the Coordination Group: Roman Soloviy (Langham, EEIT), Olga Marchak (Mesa Global), Ernest Clark (Mesa Global), Ivan Rusyn (UETS), Kseniya Trofymchuk (EEIT), Kateryna Shutko (EEIT), Scott Cunningham (Mesa Global), Evan Hunter (Scholar Leaders)
PS. Eleven communities carried this time:
- Chernivtsi Bible Seminary
- Dialogue in Action (Peacebuilding group)
- Eastern European Institute of Theology
- Evangel Theological University (Zaporizhzhia)
- Institute of Trauma Healing
- Kremenchuk Evangelical Seminary
- Lviv Central Baptist Church (“Sharing the Bibles with a Stranger”)
- Lviv Theological Seminary
- Transcarpathian Christian Institute (Khust)
- Ukrainian Bible Society
- Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary
These hubs represent our partnerships with Mesa Global (former Overseas Council-United World Mission), Scholar Leaders, Overseas Council Europe, Open Eyes, Send International, Langham, Tyndale House Foundation and others. However, over 20 additional seminaries across Ukraine (which are not a part of our network “People of the Bridge” but many members of the International Evangelical Theological Alliance) continue providing essential relief services and deserve equal recognition for their tireless work.
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