Very few of us have ever lived in a country at war with a brutal neighbor. Reports on TV broadcasts give us a little taste of what it is like, and first-hand reports from the war zones are particularly riveting when they describe the realities of life on campuses across Ukraine. A recent report from a campus in western Ukraine began with this update: “We experienced a tough missile attack today that targeted our critical infrastructure assets. So, like most cities of Ukraine, [we are] left without electricity, heating, water, and communication.” Two weeks later, the campus reported: “We’ve had new missile attacks, blackouts, and very poor internet/cell phone connection this week! But that’s our daily routine and we are getting used to it.”
What impresses me the most is the seemingly bottomless courage of these campus leaders to continue classes despite air raid alarms, missile attacks, and the loss of power for long periods of time. Schools have ordered generators, which are needed when their lights only operate several hours a day. They have several hundred students on campus, and when raid alarms go off, the students hurry down to the bomb shelters, where I have seen videos of them continuing their classes.
In addition, these educational institutions are empowering their students to actively serve their communities by working as volunteers in relief centers where food, medicine, and warm clothes are available. Many of the students come back to campus – often exhausted after days of studying and serving others -- where they are supported by the staff and faculty. Seminaries are sending teams to train church planters in neighboring states where Ukrainian refugees are located. They are also educating their students in trauma care and counseling, which is desperately needed after the months of violence suffered by innocent civilians.
Young, dynamic presidents of Ukrainian seminaries and colleges are courageously preparing leaders to fill the leadership vacuum that the war has created. When Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, a group of these presidents and educational leaders were meeting in Moldova. The Ukrainian team immediately developed a three-part strategy: first, conduct relief work by evacuating people in dangerous areas, helping refugees and internally displaced people move west toward safety, and providing food, medical supplies, and spiritual care; second, continue their educational program using technology to connect faculty and students; and third, start plans to rebuild what has been broken or destroyed, which meant reframing theological education for a post-war Ukraine.
Many seminaries and Bible colleges have lost faculty members, and enrollment has dramatically decreased; in the fall of 2022, only 837 students were enrolled across 12 religious institutions in Ukraine. Other institutions are planning to rebuild their programs in March 2023, if the fighting allows. A number of these presidents and deans have testified that the war has really brought all Ukrainians closer. One wrote: “If the church really follows Christ, she follows him to the greatest need and remains there, embodying faith, hope and love. It is impossible to show love at a distance.” Some schools with extension programs in Central Asia have continued their work despite the war. For those located in war zones, teaching has been postponed until the spring, so in the meantime they are working as resource centers, connecting those with needs to those who have the means to help them. These students will never be the same, and their education is showing them how to live out what they believe in the midst of pain and violence.
I also receive reports from various Christian ministries that work on secular campuses (programs similar to InterVarsity in the States), and their updates are striking. In November, they described sitting in the dark most of the day, with only two hours of electricity for every four hours without it. They talked about doing their work, having choral practice, and holding meetings in less than three hours of day, sometimes moving to coffee shops where they were welcomed despite the lack of light. By December, one report highlighted their happiness that electricity was getting better – four hours every day! These remarkable students have made it clear that they believe God is going to do something great for their country and that they will see “the fall of Goliath.”
While I was drafting this essay, I received a report from Dr. Evan Hunter, Vice President of ScholarLeaders International, who had just spent six days in Lviv (western Ukraine) meeting with Ukrainian seminary leaders. He wrote that the leaders are “holding up,” but “they are tired and know that they carry trauma from the war.” They had hoped to be navigating from crisis relief to a more sustained ministry, since their schools are now holding classes, but the attacks on the nation’s power grid during the last two months has intensified the need for more immediate relief. A shipment of generators, heaters, and power banks arrived when he was there and “each seminary will receive a mid-size generator that can power an entire building on campus and a power bank that can keep a computer, phone, and other devices recharged for a couple of days. Many of the schools will also establish warming and charging centers on campus to serve their communities.” This is great news, despite the challenges which face these courageous leaders. We need to sustain our support for them, and ScholarLeaders International (www.scholarleaders.org) is a way to do this!