Christian Unity Ministries

Unity News

June, 2006

The Enemy in the Ukraine

by Connie Whilden

I didn't allow myself to connect deeply with my own emotions this trip until the plane engines pushed us into our seats and the country of Ukraine was beneath us. Intense emotion washed over me as I lifted up friends and congregations in prayer during takeoff. This was a very different trip for me than last year's visit. Eighteen months ago, I came home rejuvenated, filled with childlike excitement, hope, and wonder at what the Lord was doing in the lives of Ukrainian believers. That visit, I saw through the lens of the Spirit, and I saw the Lord so very clearly.

This year I saw a different picture. Perhaps my focus was more balanced this time, but I did not see Jesus in the way I expected. Of course I felt His presence and I saw His hands working, but this time I saw the enemy too. I so wanted to hear the testimonies of what happened in the churches after our first visit, but there were no testimonies shared with us, at least not where I went. Instead, I saw churches splitting, leaders using scripture to justify the shunning of church members without remembering to love them, legalism, and close-mindedness.

Everywhere I looked I saw division--even in the places I least expected to see it, and my heart is broken. They are no different than us, but my prayer for them is that they will learn the message of unity and the principles of love, and incorporate them into their spirits and their culture to become much better then we are. If they continue in their divisiveness, my fear is that they will drive brothers away and send the message to an atheist culture that Jesus is not real and that “religion” hurts people. I am afraid for them.

It saddened me to say goodbye to dear friends but my joy comes from knowing that plans are already made for our return. There is much work to be done. We must do it well. From our last trip, my lesson was how much Jesus loves these people. This time my lesson was how fragile they are.

How can it be that these two trips could show me such vastly different pictures? I suspect that the churches have not changed that much in eighteen months. It is more likely that my own perspective has changed. It is as if the hummingbird saw for a moment through the buzzard's eyes. I saw the work of the enemy in those dear churches and I feared for them.

After seventy years of oppression, they have the opportunity to get it right, and in our first trip they seemed to be so close! But this trip I saw divisiveness, legalism, territorialism, selfish ambition and more.

We need a team for next summer. Not a good team, but a great team. We have one year to learn, to grow, and to prepare. My prayer is that Jesus will assemble and equip teams that He can shine through--those who have caught the heart of the message of unity--and that He will use those teams boldly to teach His church.

I am rejoicing in that Five Principles will be printed in Russian by the end of the summer, and copies will be available to all the churches. This is a tool I know Jesus will use to help soften the hearts of our brothers. I hope we will be able to get those copies into their hands very soon after printing to give plenty of time for the Lord to work before our return. We now have at least 2/5 of the funds raised, and this printing is my single greatest joy and praise as I come home. To me, it is a miracle in the midst of the fire, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

I saw the enemy in the Ukraine . I suppose I should not be surprised at that. My heart aches for the damage he has already done there. But I take joy in the fact that Christ will prevail—that the gates of Hell itself will not prevail against His church. I'm holding fast to that promise as I prayerfully prepare for our return next year.

Connie Whilden is a Christian mediator and Advisory Board member of Christian Unity Ministries. She resides in Round Rock, Texas with her husband, John, and their four children.

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