We were having lunch with a couple families and one of the young moms, who’s been wondering about global mission and knows our background as long-term mission workers, heard us refer to our “call” to cross-cultural ministry. She’d obviously heard such words numerous times in the past from various people, but it was clear that…
Category: Europe
The Legacy of Maidan. Part 2. Democracy
Many people are looking forward to a successful running of national elections in Ukraine this coming weekend as being a “victory for democracy.” But let’s look a little harder at the subject of democracy: it’s worth taking consideration of the experience of Maidan – some lessons to be learned and observations to be considered…
The legacy of Maidan. Part 1. Spirituality.
As Ukraine struggles and lurches toward a national presidential and parliamentary election this Sunday, please continue to pray. I truly believe that a stable government with the democratic mandate of a “free and fair” election will go a long way toward bringing needed equilibrium (not “stability” yet) and beginning the long, complex job of national…
What I saw in the hotbed of Extremism, Part Two
I visited Maidan just before it was transformed by the massive murderous violence of late February. At that point it was still a (some said desperate) attempt to carve out and define what free society might look like… or else it was a seething hotbed of violent insurrectionist neo-Nazis. Again, what narrative is being told,…
What I saw in the Den of Extremism – My visit to Maidan (Part One)
As the focus of recent events has turned to the Crimean peninsula in the south and the eastern provinces of Ukraine, part of a narrative being spun to justify the assimilation is that Russians or Russian speakers in the East are under grave threat from violent, neo-Nazi fascist extremists from Kyiv and the West. It…
Table talk in crisis time – real people seeking real answers to real problems
I signed off last time with an urgent request for prayer, sensing that the situation in Kyiv was at a critical point. Since then, we saw an all-out violent assault on Maidan, in which scores of people were killed, the majority shot in the street by snipers, an abortive attempt at a “negotiated settlement” (which…
Prayer on Maidan
Following on my last post about the significance of spiritual unity, particularly prayer, on Maidan in Kyiv these days, I wanted to pass along my translation of a post “Euromaidan on its knees” that illustrates it well. The original can be found at: http://paus144.livejournal.com/20705.html It was an indescribable sight! I saw it with my own…
The heart of Maidan – touched by prayer
It was -15F, the frost on the window next to my bed has become a thick coating of ice. But the sun is shining for the first time since I arrived. I had an opportunity to meet with Sergei, an evangelical leader whom I had not seen for many years. We met at a nice…
Mill Pond Porch 