‘I’m Still in Shock’: Pastor Born in Ukraine Encourages Christians in How to Pray Amid Russia Chaos By Tré Goins-Phillips for CBN News
Andrew Moroz, a pastor in central Virginia, was born in Ukraine. He’s looking now at what’s unfolding in his home country with heartbreak, still reeling from the Russian invasion many weren’t expecting to transpire.
“I’m still kind of in shock,” he told CBN’s Faithwire. “Honestly, I’m grieving. It’s very painful to know what my friends and family and ministry partners are experiencing in Ukraine and [it’s] a little bit unbelievable that something like this could be happening right now.”
For Moroz, a lead elder at Gospel Community Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, the headlines aren’t abstractions; they are indicative of a lived reality for friends and family members he said are hunkering down in basements, subway stations, and makeshift bomb shelters.
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Keeping up with the moment-by-moment updates of the situation on the ground in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other cities around the sovereign nation has, for Moroz, been daunting. Even still, it has helped to inform his prayers as he, his family, and his church community petition God “for the preservation of innocent life.”
One glimmer of hope amidst all the devastation has been seeing Christians rise up in Ukraine.
“I’m proud of the church in Ukraine,” the pastor said. “They are rallying. They’re gathering in groups, they’re worshipping. There’s videos going around of prayer services and worship experiences in subways and so I’m praying that Jesus is glorified. If He is peace — which we believe He is, He’s the Prince of Peace — then we want more of Him in these spaces where people are hurting.”
How should we pray?
Moroz encouraged fellow believers looking at the scene in Ukraine to pray the Lord’s Prayer for others.
