How Elim’s helping to spread hope inside Ukraine war zone

As the war in Ukraine continues to devastate daily life, one Elim partner is bringing humanitarian aid and spiritual care to a vulnerable community. Sergei Hodynets told Chris Rolfe the story

In the first days of the war in Ukraine, Elim partner Ukraine Evangelical Theological Seminary (UETS) was forced to shutter the doors of its college.

But out of this unwelcome upheaval has come a remarkable large-scale relief ministry which is still meeting the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of its community today.

“The campus closed due to the invasion, but when the Russians retreated, instead of moving students back in, UETS went online and used the campus to provide aid for people whose houses had been damaged,” explains Elim Missions’ Tim Cobham.

Today, in the village of Moshchun in the region of Kyiv, the college’s community is being supported by a holistic programme which distributed more than 12 tons of humanitarian food assistance in 2025, alongside spiritual and pastoral care.

At the heart of it are Sergei Hodynets and his wife Erika, who along with their ministry team at Tabernacle church have been caring for poor or displaced families and elderly people in Moshchun since 2022.

We asked Sergei to tell us about this work, which Elim is supporting.

Feeding programme

Twice a week for the past four years, the Tabernacle church team have been providing food for people in Moshchun.

Thousands of hot meals are served each month; these being the only hot meal some people will eat that day.

“We prepare porridge on Tuesday and rice and vegetables on Thursdays and we can give away 170 portions a time,” says Sergei.

UETS says the charitable meals project aims to meet not only physical needs, but spiritual ones too.

Before meals are eaten, Sergei prays and shares a little of the Gospel.

“We can use the Lord’s Prayer and I can share something from the Bible. It’s like evangelical seed,” he says.

The team is also on hand to offer comfort, encouragement, prayer and counselling.

Children’s ministry

Many families who returned to Moshchun after fleeing the initial outbreak of war had children in need of support.

After praying, Sergei and Erika felt the Lord prompt them to organise a children’s ministry, which launched in September 2023.

It gathers children regularly for Bible lessons, games and crafts, and Sergei says it’s a safe place with emotional support that gives kids a break from anxiety and the realities of war.

“We pray with the children and tell them stories from the Bible. We tell them how they can use these in everyday life at school and with their parents,” he says.

Last summer they also held a five-day summer camp for 40 children, with Bible lessons, sports, games, fellowship and prayer. It was so successful that another is planned for this summer.

Home group

A home group also launched out of the feeding programme, in 2024. The early group of three has grown to around 12 and meets for prayer, fellowship and sharing God’s Word. Several who attend are from the food assistance programme.

“A lot of people in Ukraine are traditional orthodox believers but they don’t know God,” says Sergei. “In this group, we read the Bible together and I can preach about God and His love.”

Food parcels

In addition to hot meals, the team have also been providing food packages since 2022, with around 100 distributed to adults in need every month.

“I call these our grocery packages and we put sugar, porridge, rice, oil and lots of other things inside them,” says Sergei. “A lot of people need this help. Some have been affected by war, others don’t have children, or their children have moved to other countries.”

He values the opportunity to offer pastoral care alongside practical help as the packages are given out.

“When my wife and I have a free day we like to buy groceries and cookies for people and to listen to their stories and pray with them. We believe God called us to this.”

Eye clinics

Separate but equally vital in Sergei’s ministry are the mobile clinics which bring eye care to communities which would otherwise struggle to access it.

He had originally seen this ministry operating in east Ukraine, but when war came the man in charge of it moved to America. Sergei took it over in November 2022.

“We have two eye doctors, I’m the driver and assistant for one and my wife is assistant for the other,” he says.

They work with churches and other organisations in regions such as Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk, often seeing hundreds of people per session.

Sergei’s report for 2025 says 22 mobile eye clinics provided eye examinations for 2,083 people and 1,700 pairs of free glasses, with more than 8,500 kilometres travelled. Many of the locations they serve are on the front line, he adds.

“In Kherson we sometimes saw the Russian army on the other side of the river. It was very scary but God helped us and we checked the eyesight of 200 people there.”

He is grateful that the eye clinics provide another opportunity to share the Gospel.

“I believe that if we can do good, we must do it, and if we can tell people about Christ it’s like planting a seed.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.