"'God reigns, not Putin.' Pastor Ryan Burton King shares insights into the Ukraine conflict"

In 2014, a people’s protest movement called “Euromaidan” or the “Revolution of Dignity” sought to escape the lingering shadow of the former Soviet Union and the corrupting influence of Russia by pushing back against a government that stood in the way of more open democracy, economic opportunity, and the rule of law. Viktor Yanukovych was consequently removed from the nation’s presidency by parliamentary vote, after which he fled the country to Russia - his interim replacement, incidentally, was a Baptist church elder. Russia retaliated by exploiting Ukraine’s political upheaval and systemic weakness, annexing Crimea and supporting violent separatist uprisings in the east of Ukraine. For Ukrainians, invasion and war started in 2014. The world really began to take notice in late 2021, when substantial troop build-up along the borders of Ukraine with Russia and Belarus were observed, and intelligence leaks indicated Russia intended to take control of the entire nation and install a puppet-regime. Many, even in Ukraine, were in denial that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be so audacious: cyber-attacks, a disinformation propaganda campaign, and an attempt at finally seizing control of the Donbas region in the east perhaps, but not a full-scale invasion. That changed in the early hours of 24 February, when bombs and missiles rained down across the nation. John Tredgett, Production Editor of Evangelical Times, recently interviewed me for the May edition of that paper. In the end they only had room for one article about Ukraine - my sister-in-law's, which I will share upon publication. They have, however, kindly permitted me to publish the interview here, and I have added some photos to illustrate. I hope it is helpful. 

· Tell us about your connection with Ukraine.

 

I have lost count of the number of times I have visited Ukraine. In early 2014, I began contacting pastors there as part of a Europe wide ministry project I was contracted for. This led to me organising an “Effective Evangelism” conference in 2015, working with a church in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. Despite coordinating the UK side of things, I was not going to speak, and it was not certain if I would even attend. In the providence of God, one of the invited speakers was unable to go, and my team suggested that I take his place. I accepted. Among other things, I met my now wife of over five years, Uliana, there. 

 

I lead the Grace Baptists in Europe team of Grace Baptist Partnership. In that capacity, and the roles that preceded it, ministry responsibilities continued in Ukraine, even alongside more personal developments. I have spent time in cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine, preaching and leading ministry training sessions, day seminars, and pastors roundtables. Several hundred copies of a booklet based on some of these sessions, “The Bible-Driven Leader: Basic Ministry Principles” were circulated in Ukrainian.

 

I suppose it is fair to say then in summary that I am deeply connected with Ukraine and its people, both by faith and by family.

 

· What's been happening among the Ukrainian churches you're connected with?

 

While I have brothers I know, love, and respect across Ukraine, let me tell you about the two churches I am most closely connected to. 

 

My Father-in-Law Anatolyy Melnyk is pastor of House of the Gospel Church In Khmelnytskyi, midwestern Ukraine, and serves Baptist churches in his region more widely as Oblast Pastor. House of the Gospel is providing a refuge for families goes west to safety and men going east to fight, housing and feeding up to 150 people a night, and doing so in a gospel-centred context. They quickly exhausted the entirety of their summer ministry budget and the church where I am pastor, Grace Baptist Church Wood Green, has been seeking to raise funds to assist them with this project. 

 

For a couple of years, our church has had a monthly financial commitment to Vadym Kuchinskyy, who is planting Open Bible Church in the village of Sushky, in Zhytomyrs’Ka Oblast, not far from the Belarusian border. Ministry and life there is very hard, and Vadym and his family have faithfully preached the gospel and ministered to the needs of their impoverished neighbours. We recently assisted with the evacuation of Vadym’s wife Yana, her mother, and their three children to Poland, where they are being looked after by our friend Mariusz Bartkowski, pastor of Grace Baptist Church Bydgoszcz. Vadym has remained in Sushky, where he is ministering to the spiritual needs of their community and the practical needs of local volunteers in the Territorial Defence, feeding and clothing them. We have provided additional support to assist him with this. 

 

The work of House of the Gospel and Open Bible Church is not atypical of what churches across Ukraine are doing. They are meaningfully engaging with the needs of their communities and serving their country however they can.

 

· Can you share some of the accounts you've heard from believers in Ukraine? E.g. of God's mercies and providence?

 

I could speak at length on this - they are too many to tell! 

 

At the beginning of the conflict, my Sister-in-Law Orysya was in Kyiv, where she has been studying for a few years. Every night we went to bed wondering what terrible news the next morning might bring. Every morning we realised anew and afresh, experientially, the reality of “His mercies are new every morning.” One night we spoke with her and while she showed great calm, we were aware of news that Chechen soldiers, renowned for their brutality and
suicidal zeal, were swiftly approaching her part of Kyiv. The sound of shelling and gunfire was getting closer to her as the evening advanced, but it was impossible to know which side it represented. God gave us rest though, and we awakened to news that the Chechens, led by an infamous warlord, had been destroyed in battle. We praise God that in the days that followed, Orysya found a way of escape. She has made it safely to Brussels, and we have connected her with Roland Eskinazi and the International Baptist Church there, who have made her very welcome. 

 

I have heard of Ukrainian soldiers who feel like they are being divinely protected, and more, that God is fighting for them: stories of the invader’s machinery and missiles malfunctioning, Russian soldiers surrendering in large numbers or defying orders, tanks getting practically swallowed up by mud, logistical chaos, storms on the Black Sea keeping the Russian navy from assaulting the beaches of Odesa... and the uncommon bravery of ordinary men and women who would rather die free opposing the enemy, than live as that enemy’s slaves. All in the hands of a sovereign God. 

 

Outside of Ukraine, stories are emerging too. My friend Nickolay Skopych, a pastor from Kyiv, was in Germany on a ministry trip when the bombs began to fall. His fellow pastors urged him to stay where he was: were he to come back, he might not be able to leave again as all men aged 18-60 must remain in the country to fight, with some exemptions, and they needed someone to care for their scattered congregation outside of Ukraine. Slowly but surely, many of his congregation have been able to leave the country and have made their way to where Nickolay is in Germany, where he shepherds the church “in exile”, as it were, while his fellow pastors care for evacuees and displaced people still in Ukraine.

 

· How would you gauge the mood among believers remaining in Ukraine?

 

It is one of lament, resolve, and hope. God is a God of justice, light has come into the world in
Jesus Christ and the darkness has not and will not overcome it, oppressors will not triumph forever, God’s word must be proclaimed to a lost and dying world regardless of what happens, and this of all times is a time to stand up and serve their communities pastorally with God’s word and practically with good works. God, not Putin, reigns. The Judge of all the earth will do right. 

 

· What difference has the Christian faith made to those experiencing the war?

 

At the heart of the Christian Faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It communicates that God has a sovereign plan even in and through murderous atrocities (Acts 2:23-24), and that everyone must repent, because God is one day going to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:30-31). In a time when they are daily confronted by the reality of their mortality, Ukrainian Christians are taking comfort in and courage from the truth of triumphantly resurrected Saviour who will reign forever in righteousness and justice. Because they have hope for tomorrow, they are helped through today, and are themselves helping others. 

 

· You recently spoke at an anti-war rally in Trafalgar Square - can you tell us about that?

 

Technically it was not an anti-war rally - indeed some Putin-friendly cynics later referred to it as a pro-war rally! The truth is somewhere in between, it was a pro-justice, pro-Ukraine rally,
and so pro-peace, but with the recognition that not all that is called “peace” is in fact good. One sign at the rally summed it up: “If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine. If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war.” 

 

The rally was organised by Ukrainians living in London. I had already spoken to hundreds at the rally outside Downing Street on the Thursday bombs began to fall. On that occasion, I was able to make a few comments and read Psalm 144. At the larger Trafalgar Square rally a little over a week later, I had opportunity to speak again. I grounded my remarks in a reminiscence of several places well known to Ukrainians that have special meaning for me, to underline my love for my Ukrainian wife and the Ukrainian nation. From there I spoke about bad news: the Ukraine we love is under attack; good news: Ukraine is free; and better news: the national symbol of Ukraine is the tryzub, an ancient symbol of the Trinity and of the union of justice and mercy - symbolised by fire and water - in the divine nature. Because God is just, he is against lies, oppression, and aggression. Because God is merciful, he lifts up the oppressed. I had little time, and exceeded even that, but what I said was well received, and many were visibly moved. One burly man, with tears in his eyes, gave me a hug and kissed my cheek. Different people express support in different ways. For me, God has given me legs on which to stand and march, a voice, and a pen: I try to use them when I can. 

 

· Should this war challenge the attitudes, priorities or values of Christians in the West? If so, in what ways?

 

Absolutely. Our society has become grotesquely decadent and entitled, enslaved to materialism, consumerism, and moral relativism. Many have overreacted to our own national histories of imperialism and wanton warmongering by become pacifists without principles, keeping the peace at any cost simply because even the potential of conflict is too disruptive to our ease. Our leaders are often immoral and unjust: some signal virtue but don’t show much, and some don’t seem to care for virtue at all. Our churches have neglected to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God and have become little more than preaching stations for chapel-goers which are nowhere to be found in time of crisis. The war is, in various ways, shining an unfavourable light on these things. 

 

As ever, there are opposite ends to the spectrum. Our social weaknesses have spawned a resurgence of the frankly anti-Christian philosophy and ideals of Nietzscheanism, the misplaced hopes of Christian nationalism, and the deeper-knowledge claims of Neo-Gnosticism. Strength, power, and cultural machismo masquerading as “masculinity” are idolised, moralism in certain areas excuses immorality and injustice in others, and alternative narratives are embraced simply because they run counter to the mainstream, and not because they are necessarily true. Putin has become something of an ideal world leader in the eyes of many (yes, even professing Christians) who embrace these reactionary world-views and unfortunately many believers seem to have been taken in by his lies, or those of people who regurgitate the Kremlin talking-points. Because he holds to some traditional values, some seem to have laid down discernment and sold their souls to a dishonest man who has oppressed those in his own country who exercise their rights to freedom of speech, a free press, religious assembly, evangelism and missions, and so forth, and now violently oppresses a neighbouring sovereign, independent nation that prizes these things and other ideals we take for granted in the West. 

 

The war calls us away from idolatry, immorality, and injustice to worship the Jesus who said “my kingdom is not of this world”, to pursue justice now in the light of eternity, and to reject the unrighteousness of immorality and the self-righteousness of moralism, for the righteousness of Christ displayed in love and kindness.

· How can Christians in the UK help?

 

There are many fine Christians organisations in the U.K. and in Ukraine that have set up appeals. Financial assistance is most needed and efficient. I personally have chosen to lead our church to work directly with churches we are familiar with on the ground, and have directed some who have been in touch with me to other churches that I know are in need but which we do not have capacity to assist at this time. If this interests you, please email me at gracebaptistsineurope@gmail.com.

 

Another way you can assist is by opening your home and church Ukrainian refugees. I am
coordinating a strategic community action plan in our area of North London with local residents and area stakeholders to house and help Ukrainians, with the church at the heart of the project. Might a similar approach work in your community? Why should non-Christians take the lead on such things? 

 

And of course, pray. If we are weak, overwhelmed, and not up to the task, God most assuredly is not. 

“He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; 

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; 

he burns the chariots with fire. 

‘Be still, and know that I am God. 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth.’” (Psalm 46:9-10)