Today in the Mission Yearbook - Mission co-worker delivers a compassionate update during Synod School on Ukrainian refugee work

Ellen Smith says a key to the massive response has been effective and extensive partnerships

October 7, 2023

A map of Central and Eastern Europe shows the close

 proximity of nations aiding Ukrainian refugees. 

(Map courtesy of Nations Online Project).

Ellen Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for Central and Eastern Europe, led a packed and thought-provoking mini-course  during Synod School on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s mission in Ukraine.

“Ukraine is a complicated country. It is divided linguistically, by faith and by culture, certainly,” Smith told a lecture hall full of Synod School attendees. More than 500 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, PC(USA) partners in neighboring countries — Moldova, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland among them — have set up refugee centers to care for the many people fleeing the fighting, including children and people with special needs. To date, Presbyterians have contributed millions of dollars to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which together with Presbyterian World Mission has many partners in the region.

Among the partners is Sant’Egidio, an organization that works in 70 countries, including Ukraine, and International Orthodox Christian Charities. Another partner, the ACT Alliance, coordinates response for groups including Hungarian Interchurch Aid, Hungarian Reformed Church Aid, Lutheran World Federation and the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. Of the nearly 6 million refugees in Europe, more than 3.7 million refugees from Ukraine have registered for temporary protection, ACT Alliance said in its most recent report.

Smith, who spends much of her time in Moldova just south of Ukraine, said 70 churches with the Transcarpathian Reformed Church in Ukraine “have been responding to refugees with great courage. All their pastors have remained, and all are engaged in housing people, feeding people, getting people to the border and carrying on ministry.”

The Sant’Egidio director says “it doesn’t matter what church they belong to. We do ministry together for marginalized people,” especially the Roma people, Smith said, adding Sant’Egidio also ministers to elderly people and those without homes.

“The elderly are often abandoned by their children or never had children. The [Sant’Egidio] community has befriended them, taken them on excursions and cared for them. They’ve set up four refugee centers,” Smith said, despite the situation getting “worse and worse.”

International Orthodox Christian Charities is rehabbing a former vacation camp to house special-needs adults. It’s also started a women’s empowering project to help women develop micro businesses.

Smith has traveled throughout Eastern Europe for the past 18 months, including Poland, which has taken in millions of displaced Ukrainians.

Ellen Smith is World Mission’s regional liaison for 

Central and Eastern Europe.

“After World War II, Ukrainians massacred Poles, and yet [the Poles] have welcomed them with open arms,” Smith said. “They house people in their homes,” even though “it’s a bit of a risk. The churches in Poland have found ways to welcome people and get resources into Ukraine.”

In January, Smith worked with the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren in the Czech Republic. “Prague was full, so [Czech Brethren] went to the smaller places,” she said. She learned that Ukrainian children are attending Czech schools without speaking the language. “You get layers of issues, but I was deeply impressed with the Czech Brethren,” Smith said. “A woman invited refugees to be tour guides, so one day a month they didn’t feel like refugees.”

Two weeks before Synod School, Smith was in Budapest, Hungary, to attend the Ukraine Future Conference initiated by the Reformed Church in Hungary in cooperation with the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia (Ukraine).

The first panel outlined ongoing ecumenical efforts throughout Europe toward just peace and reconciliation, she said. The second panel included voices from the Middle East and South Korea, “highlighting valuable insights into how a Christian vision for just peace should guide us even during war and crisis,” a release stated. “Presenters from the Middle East reminded us that the path to reconciliation demands we respect the dignity of all human beings.”

In the third section, panelists from various churches in Ukraine discussed the obstacles to dialogue and peacebuilding within Ukraine. “Participants emphasized the need to listen to the experiences and expectations of the people of Ukraine, knowing that reconciliation cannot be imposed from the outside,” according to the release.

Participants prayed together with churches in Ukraine for the future of the country, then had the opportunity to visit western Ukraine. They worshiped together with the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia and learned about its ministry in response to the outbreak of the war.

Contribute to international refugee programs supported by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance here.

 Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Ellen Smith, regional liaison for Central & Eastern Europe, gives update on Ukrainian refugee work

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Carrie Mitchell, Church Consultant, Princeton, NJ, Board of Pensions
Lee Mitchum, Operations Administrator, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray

Creative and Creating God, we thank you for the beautiful rainbow of peoples you birthed in your image and scattered around this glorious world. May we celebrate and enjoy both the beauty of our diversity and the wonder of all being your beloved children, united in one family through our Savior, Jesus the Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘The sensitivity of the people I met for these refugees was just really impressive’

Checking in with global partners in Eastern Europe coping with the refugees fleeing Ukraine

August 2,  2022

Following worship, the Evangelical Reformed Church of Poland held a fundraising concert to aid refugees. (Photo by Ellen Smith)

Ellen Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for Eastern Europe, recently returned from a visit with partners in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland to see firsthand how they are coping with the enormous task of caring for refugees fleeing Ukraine and how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can accompany them.

“What I saw was heart-wrenching, but also filled me with hope,” she said. “I saw ordinary people doing extraordinary things. They were completely overwhelmed, but receiving people with open hearts, compassion and love. No one had an abundance of resources, but they were focused on what they could do by working together.”

After landing in Berlin, she took a train to Bonn, Germany where she met with an Orthodox theologian from Minsk. The theologian is living in Germany while finishing her doctoral degree and spoke last year to the BURM (Belarus Ukraine Russia Poland) Mission Network about the ongoing unrest in Belarus. Smith said she is part of a network of people working together to help Ukrainians in exile. With her extensive contacts, she was able to give Smith a true picture of what is happening on the ground.

The theologian is one of several involved in reconciliation and peacemaking in Ukraine, people who are “deeply wise, deeply compassionate.” She said even though the war has caused them to scatter, they continue to stay in touch and look for ways to help.

Smith said she was impressed with the way Germans are handling the large influx of refugees.

“The Germans are receiving people with compassion,” said Smith. “They’re very organized, and that’s wonderful. And they’re very protective. There were signs in Russian and Ukrainian everywhere. They were doing a great job, but they’re overwhelmed.”

Deutsche Bahn, the German train system, is offering free tickets to Ukrainians for any destination in Germany they choose.

Smith, who lived with her family in Russia for a decade, worries about friends who are part of the Moscow patriarchy in Ukraine because they think of themselves as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchy, not as Russian Orthodox. She said they are the subject of hate now due to association.

“It’s sad because their metropolitan came out more boldly than anyone against the war and called on Russia to withdraw. “I don’t know if there will ever be enough forgiveness. They are just under the patriarchy. It’s just so painful for me, personally, because there are people I care about in that church and in other churches.”

Ellen Smith

In Prague, Smith met with members of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren, a PC(USA) global partner. Although small in area, the Czech Republic has received 300,000 refugees. By dispersing refugees into smaller places, they have been able to provide emergency shelter, but realize it’s only a temporary solution. They have begun thinking ahead to long-term shelter solutions, realizing there is no end in sight for the conflict.

“The refugees are women and children and the elderly, a very vulnerable group,” said Smith. “They realize it is important to take good care of them and protect them. Often, the refugees are confused, and not sure what to do. The men have stayed behind to fight.”

Smith met a young volunteer in charge of fundraising for ECCB who spearheaded a special fund drive to buy toys and games to keep children occupied while their parents are being registered. They often have to wait in line for hours. They also had to find 400 volunteers, far beyond ECCB’s capacity, so they reached out to every church and civic organization all over the country, and they got the 400 volunteers and a huge number of needed emergency supplies.

“The sensitivity of the people I met for these refugees and watching them and caring for them and understanding their needs was just really impressive,” said Smith. “They were phenomenal.”

Smith said these churches are small without a lot of capacity, but they have been creative about finding ways to help. One church that previously operated a day care has opened its doors to educate Ukrainian children. Churches around the country have opened their doors to refugees and church members are taking refugees into their homes.

Kathy Melvin, Former Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Vernon Broyles, Volunteer, Office of the General Assembly
Laura Bryan, Coordinator, Financial Aid for Service, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Today we pray for all those who have been forced to leave their homes, their homelands and all they hold dear that you may grant them safe passage, wisdom and courage. And we pray for host communities around the world to have open hearts and eyes to see God’s servants in the faces of those seeking refuge. In the name of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.