Articles - Miscellaneous

A view of church life, Ukrainian style

I’ve just returned from visiting the church-run children’s home I help to support near Kyiv.

The pastor Yuri has a wife and 6 children and earns about £30 a month (roughly the average wage in Ukraine).  Given the prices in the shops (Western-style supermarkets are now common place and well-stocked), so long as you avoid expensive imported items (like milk or coffee) this is probably equivalent to a family living on basic state benefits in this country - but without child allowance, housing benefit or free medical care. Yet, superficially, to look at Yuri and the majority of people in Church on Sunday, or on the streets each day, you would not guess the struggle they must have to live. The average Ukrainian takes far more pride in their appearance than most folk in this country,  but in reality has only one or two good sets of clothes, changing into an old track suit as soon as they get home so as to keep their outdoor clothes decent until they can wash them (by hand in the bath) at the weekend. That is probably how the majority in this country lived at the turn of this century, but without the const-ant battery of tv adverts flaunting the joys of western consumerism in their face, as expensive designer stores spring up all over the centre of the city promising a lifestyle which they can only look in on from outside. Yet the atmosphere among the ordinary people on the street or in the crowded micro-buses is surprisingly upbeat; most people smile cheerfully and give a genuine impression of enjoying life. Returning to Leeds, I was struck by an aura of despondency which I rarely encounter on the streets of Kyiv, even despite the tremendous social problems which do exist as the nation tries to transform itself into a modern European society.

Given all this, what message should the Church of Christ be bringing to this emerging nation? Is it right that we identify ourselves with the material ‘blessings’ which capitalism offers - a McDonalds on every street corner, mobile phones on demand? - as many western-sponsored churches unquestioningly do?  The world of American-financed missionaries, living in Euro-standard apartments, driving a Mercedes, and building plate-glass cathedrals with state-of-the-art sound systems (the prosperity gospel is alive and well and flourishing in many Kyiv churches!), seems reminiscent of the ‘cargo religions’ of earlier mission fields. Or is the less appealing message of un-sponsored native pastors like Yuri, urging their congregation by word and example to work hard and honestly and share their goods with those less fortunate than themselves, actually closer to the spirit of Jesus Christ we read of in the Gospels?

Anthony Duncalf

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay - Charity Number 1131904