This isn’t Victory Yet! A Call for Reconciliation in Ukraine

Last week revolution happened in Ukraine. The demands of the opposition were met when former president Victor Yanukovych fled on Friday leaving his post and giving the opposition parties a chance to gain power.

Over the weekend the protesters in Maidan shed both tears of joy and grief as they celebrated the change in government and mourned for at least 75 Ukrainians who had lost their lives in the past few days.

An alleged sniper apprehended by opposition protesters -Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

But is this victory? Not by a long shot!

Yes, there have been some major changes over the past week but now Ukraine has more against it than ever before.

• The people are in mourning.
• The government is broken and struggling to rebuild.
• Kyiv is in shambles.
• The country’s treasuries are empty.
• Many harbor hatred and disdain for whoever is on the opposite side of the political fence.
• Eastern and Southern areas of the country continue to support the former president’s party.

I will tell you what I told everyone as I preached last Sunday,

Ukraine needs your prayers now more than ever!

Ukraine has a long and difficult road ahead of it and the next few weeks and months will decide the long term future.

Revolution is not enough

Last weekend we witnessed a political revolution in Ukraine but revolution is never enough, without true reconciliation the country will never rise from the ashes of burning tires and Molotov cocktails.

This week Valery Antonyuk, vice president of the All Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches, Baptist issued a statement calling for reconciliation in Ukraine. I appreciated his strong call to both sides to seek forgiveness and a deeper more lasting victory that can only be found in Jesus.

Below is a translation of Anonyuk’s statement, you can read the original in Ukrainian on the ECBUA website.

A Message of Reconciliation:

During this time of fateful change in the life of the Ukrainian nation, the Church and each Christian individually cannot remain spectators on the sidelines of the battles and losses. The Church serves society and mourns together with it. We went through difficult days together with the nation – we served through prayer, evangelism, volunteers, medical help, clothing, and food.

Today a time has come for a ministry of active reconciliation, which will help maintain unity in our country and nation.
We supported the nation’s demand to put an end to the tyranny of the authorities and repressions by the police. Now it is important to restore justice and due process of law in the country, to form a government that has the people’s trust, and provide fair presidential elections. We believe that those guilty of crimes against the people will be justly judged, and that peaceful citizens will be protected.

But on behalf of the Church we must say more, we must speak the whole truth; we must say that which is still hard to accept and fulfill; that, which is a precondition for a better future.

Therefore the Church calls the Ukrainian nation to more than just feelings of human justice – to Christian forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. We pray to God for repentance for the guilty. However at the same time we ask victims to forgive those who are already repentant as well as those who are still lost. In order to unite the nation, in order to reconcile its various parts, its various social, cultural, and political groups, laws and justice are not enough.

Without repentance, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, the country will remain divided and in conflict. This is the precondition for a deep spiritual transformation of Ukraine.

The Bible says that there is, “a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecc. 3:7-8). In accordance with these wise words, we declare today to be a time to mend, and not a time to tear the nation apart; a time to seek peace, and not a time to fan the flames of war; a time to learn to love yesterday’s enemies, and not a time to continue to hate rivals and those who have hurt us.

We call on the Evangelical churches of Ukraine to serve to bring peace between people and healing to the wounds of war. We do not call black white and do not justify crimes or even mistakes. But we, as Christians, forgive, because we have been forgiven by God. He reconciled us to Himself, and gave us a message of reconciliation. This grace-giving Word to our whole nation should be heard from Lvov to Donetsk, from Kiev to Simferopol.

We also call upon the international Christian community asking for prayer and intercession for the Ukrainian nation and for help with peacemaking. We mourn for the victims, and thank God for His grace toward Ukraine, and pray for peace and spiritual revival in our nation.

Question: Will you pray for reconciliation in Ukraine!