EBOLA OUTBREAK

Baptists Respond to Ebola Outbreak

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A truck carrying relief

supplies provided by

Baptists in Liberia

T

he Baptist World Alliance appealed to Baptists to make generous contributions to help in alleviating the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The BWA sent an initial sum of US$20,000 to Liberia and US$5,000 to Sierra Leone to assist in combating the disease. Baptists in Liberia, one of the countries affected, focused on

areas where economic conditions are difficult and are expected to get worse in the weeks and months ahead as the Ebola crisis

deepens in the West African country. Those who have been internally displaced and laid off from work since the outbreak were specially targeted. Olu Menjay, president of the Liberia Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention (LBMEC) called “on our brothers and sisters with great urgency to pray for West Africa, especially Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.”

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Left: Igor Bandura, vice president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists Speaking during the Annual Gathering

The Ukraine Baptist leader assured the gathering that Baptists

and other Christians are engaged in the quest to maintain freedom in the country. Though he asserted that many churches do not take political sides, there is nevertheless a political divide. “Most Ukrainian churches are supporting the people in their fight for freedom” and “most churches in Ukraine are pro-Ukrainian.” On the other hand, Eastern Ukrainian churches tend to be pro- Russian. He claimed that the Christian community, including Baptists, is addressing the resulting tension. “When we had our congress in June we had a very united position. We can testify about the unity of the Ukrainian Baptist churches.” Prayer has been at the heart of the Christian response since

the uprising began. “When the conflicts started, the first thing the churches did was we started to pray more. It seems that we have not prayed as much as we have prayed in the past four months. We prayed in our homes, a lot in our churches and a lot in public squares,” the Ukrainian Baptist vice president reported. He claimed that hundreds of thousands of Christians knelt in public squares, “begging God for help, for peace, for reconciliation.” Churches have also been supporting persons displaced by the conflicts. “Thousands of people have left their homes; many

Christians have left their homes. Churches are half empty in Eastern Ukraine.” Many church doors remain open to receive those who have been driven from, or who fled their homes. Christians are accepting these persons into their homes as well. There are plans to help in rebuilding the country once the

hostilities cease. “We are preparing to go to cities rescued by Ukrainian armies to help to rebuild infrastructure. There is a lot of work left to be done to bring life back to norm.” Bandura told of interfaith cooperation between Christians and Muslims. He reported that in Crimea, Tartar Muslims offered their places of worship to Ukrainian Orthodox Christians when their own facilities became unavailable. Despite the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Bandura

said Baptists have been treating Russia as a major mission field. “In the last 20 years, 500 people from Ukraine went to Russia to preach the Gospel and have stayed to be pastors and missionaries at churches.” His concern is that the current political and military conflicts could destroy the Christian witness. He contended that this is a good time to emphasize God’s message of forgiveness and reconciliation. “We are thinking about the future and would like to keep the best possible peace between the two [Baptist] unions [in Ukraine and Russia] to send forth missionaries to preach the Gospel.”

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