According to tradition, in medieval times, endangered persons could claim ‘Sanctuary’ by finding a church building, also known as ‘a sanctuary.’ The idea was that this is a sacred place, a holy place, a place where God is thought to dwell (or at least visit…). Thus, this is a safe place where harm could not (in good conscience and without incurring divine wrath) be brought upon one person by another person. In the modern world, this is all but a thing of the past. In its place are legal rights for asylum, refugee status, and immigration.
However, in the last two years, we have seen first-hand how THE CHURCH still provides places of ‘sanctuary’ for those in need.
In Matthew 25, Jesus famously talks about ‘the End times,’ when all people stand before the Lord and he separates them like sheep from goats.
According to Jesus, the basis for the judgment is not their beliefs, but their actions, specifically their actions towards those in need. For it is when serving the one in need that we actually are serving Jesus.
As Ukrainian men, women and children have fled their homes seeking nothing more than safe skies above them, THE CHURCH has risen up and provided care.
This has varied in appearance or method, largely depending on geography, financial means, and connections.
Here in Europe, and limiting my reference to the Church of God, I can proudly boast that we have seen the Church of God provide in these primary ways:
1.) Finances/Possessions
2.) Storehouses/Connecting Points
3.) “Homes” away from home
I want to briefly unpack each of these categories with specific examples:
1.) Finances/Possessions
Within the Church of God in this region, people and congregations have given towards Ukraine relief at least from these countries: Ukraine (duh), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lebanon, England, France, Italy, Austria, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. We can personally cite numerous examples of how Church of God people or congregations from each of these locations have in one way or another given towards helping Ukrainian refugees and/or internally-displaced people still in Ukraine.
In many of these locations, people have given towards caring for newcomers to their land (refugees). In many of these locations, people have given towards other countries’ ways of caring for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. In some of these instances, like with Austria, we do not even have a Church of God presence. And yet, through Church of God connections in Germany, I spoke with one man whose non-denominational Austrian congregation wanted to help, but didn’t know how. So, they transferred funds to our Hungarian Church of God to help with the purchase of generators.
In the past two years, the Church of God has provided food and clothing to the least among them.
2.) Storehouses/Connecting Points
This one brings a large smile to my face, as I can show a scene from one of our local worship services here in Budapest (pictured below). :-)
Many sanctuaries have been temporarily (or in ongoing ways) turned into storehouses or places that can receive donated (or purchased) items before they are sent on to assist in caring for others. To me, this is such a beautiful illustration of God’s design for the Church. As the body of Christ, the Church is designed to be the very hands and feet of Jesus in our world. Of course, physical sanctuaries are wonderful locations to sit in silence and meditate on the words of Jesus. Of course, sanctuaries are wonderful locations for pastors to deliver sermons. Of course, sanctuaries are wonderful locations for voices to raise to the heavens in choruses (or hymns) of praise. And yet, I believe our Holy God loves it immensely when He sees our sanctuaries also being used as locations to help those in need.
This picture illustrates our congregation gathered for worship while the back of the sanctuary was chock-full of items waiting to be delivered to our church partners in Ukraine.
3.) “Homes” away from home
We know entirely too many people whose lives were massively disrupted on the 24th of February 2022. People who got phone calls or messages or saw on their screens the unthinkable. Their homeland, sometimes their very city/town, was being overrun with Russian tanks and soldiers. So many people did what I would probably do as well: Grab a bag with ‘critical’ goods and flee towards safety. For some, they assumed they would return home in a matter of days/weeks, once things went back to normal. For others, they had a more realistic view towards things.
But still when faced with a life/death decision, what is more important:
a.) To gather a collection of all-weather garments, and to put together a plan of action in terms of where to go and how to spend the ensuing months; or
b.) Simply jump in the car and put some miles between your loved ones and all the explosions…?
As a result, so many sanctuaries in western Ukraine have been turned into homes. Really, people have slept in these church sanctuaries for some nights or for many, many months. In other countries, this has been the case, too. I know of one German Church of God sanctuary that provided sleeping quarters for 35 Ukrainian men, women and children. Not for one night, but until the local government could get their paperwork processed and they could locate other nearby places for them to live. Now, before you go and imagine this being a ‘mega-Church,’ know that this congregation is probably smaller than your own: Roughly 50-80 people. Their building is nice, but not massive in size. And yet, they did what they needed to do. They did what they could do. They did what they believed God wanted them to do.
We have heard and seen so many examples of this! People and congregations who have been willing to invite strangers into ‘their space,’ providing for basic needs (food and shelter) while a more permanent solution could be reached.
In the past two years, the Church of God has time and again welcomed the stranger in their midst.
If you would like to help those in need, I invite you to give through this LINK to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund. Money given there, earmarked ‘Ukraine’ will go towards providing food and medicine to people in more need than hopefully any of us reading this ever will be.
Link: https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/