Churches in countries neighboring Ukraine have opened their doors to shelter and aid refugees. The United Nations refugee agency estimates that 1 million people have fled the Eastern European nation since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.
Many of the displaced have fled to the neighboring countries of Poland, Moldova, Slovakia and Hungary.
Churches in neighboring countries are among community centers and camps sheltering refugees who’ve fled from the violence, with some seeing hundreds of Ukrainians coming and going in recent days.
As Poland has taken the brunt of the Ukrainian refugees, one church that has served as many as 400 refugees is a Baptist church in Chelm. According to the Baptist Federation of Europe, the church is “filled with life” as it has pushed its pews out of the way to make room for beds.
The church’s kitchen has supplied soup, snacks and hot meals for the refugees arriving while packing lunches for the refugees that depart. The church receives help from local hotels that provide clean linen for the beds.
Shoreline Church in Austin, Texas has raised over $110,000 to support the refugees through its Caleb Foundation. The money is going to a church in Poland near the Ukraine border. The Polish church has filled its sanctuary with beds for the refugees.