A typical day in Eastern Ukraine lately is marked by the sounds of artillery shelling, drones, and even ballistic missiles striking their targets. By the hundreds, civilians and military alike are wounded or killed each week. Adding to this the weather is not as forgiving as last year. Winter has just started to settle in and already temperatures are reaching low 20s. Snow and frozen ground are building where shelter is scarce in war-torn cities. Combined this has created a context of decreasing morale and an increasing sense of isolation. This is precisely where the Ukrainian Evangelical Church is showing up.
Read MoreThe Outreach Foundation has received a tremendous amount of support for the Israel/Lebanon/Palestine Emergency Relief Appeal. Here is the latest news received from two partners there — Nader Abou Amsha, Director of the Middle East Council of Churches Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR), and the Rev. Joseph Kassab, long-time partner in Lebanon and moderator of the Synod of Syria and Lebanon:
Middle East Council of Churches
Unfortunately, we have lost another colleague to the war. She was killed along with her husband and child in an airstrike on their home. In a separate attack, we lost our Center in Al-Daraj — the entire building including the clinic, physiotherapy unit, pharmacy, and dentist clinic — just flattened to the ground.
We continue our work in Gaza. Here is a summary of that work, often conducted under fire:
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