The European Evangelical Alliance (EEA), a body representing more than 30 national Evangelical Alliances in the continent, has issued a statement to publicly clarify its position on the war in Ukraine.

“The EEA strongly believes that the way to peace for Ukraine and Russia is simple. Russia must withdraw completely from Ukrainian territory that it invaded in 2014, and also from the land that it took in 2022”, the body’s leadership said on 4 July.

The evangelical body, which works to represent around 23 million evangelical Christians in the continent in spheres like the European Parliament, said it saw the need to explain again its position after Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, expressed his views in an interview with Christian Daily InternationaI (later summarised by Evangelical Focus).

The Russian Evangelical Alliance is a member of the EEA.

Vitaly Vlasenko sees lack of evangelical action

Asked about the war in Ukraine, pastor Vlasenko expressed strong emotions of lament and grief over the “suffering of people in the war zone”, which made it difficult for him to “find the strength to maintain self-control not to go crazy”.

Vlasenko said the Russian Evangelical Alliance was calling on the “global community of evangelical Christians” to make “every possible effort to save our wonderful world from military escalation and complete destruction”.

“Is it really that we, as Evangelical Christians, cannot act as a united front, but stand on opposite sides of the political barricades?”, he asked, as he lamented that “it is very difficult when, instead of calls for peace and negotiations to end the war, you hear about ‘the military defeat of your country on the battlefield’”.

Vlasenko asked Christians around the world “to pray for the restoration of relations and reconciliation of the peoples of our countries, Russia and Ukraine”.

Prayers for shalom

In their response, the European Evangelical Alliance said: “The EEA is praying for God’s shalom for both Ukraine and Russia”.

“In this interview, Vitaly shared his anguish at the pain and suffering caused by the war in Ukraine. We know that his feelings are shared by many Evangelicals in Russia”.

Many churches in Europe, as well as continental organisations like the European Evangelical Alliance, have held prayer meetings since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2024. Among them is the EEA, which hosts “a weekly prayer meeting for both Russia and Ukraine where we pray for God’s shalom for both nations. We love both and we certainly love our Evangelical brothers and sisters in both lands”, the statement explains.

But the EEA underlines that “Russia’s invasions and occupation and devastation are illegal. Russia had no provocation to invade. Ukraine as an autonomous state has the right to defend itself and choose its own future. There is nothing ambiguous about this war”.

No division among evangelicals, says EEA

The European Evangelical Alliance, which is led by co-general secretaries Connie Duarte (Portugal)and Jan Wessels (Netherlands), said it disagrees with Vitaly Vlasenko on the point of Christian division. “We do not acknowledge any division of Evangelicals between East and West. Nor do we accept that Russia ‘is being attacked by the countries of the entire Western Christian world’”.

The reality, says the EEA, is that “no country is attacking Russia” and that “many countries are united in seeking to defend Ukraine and to prepare defensively in case Russia decides to invade another nation”.

No reconciliation without justice for Ukraine

The members of the European Evangelical Alliance “pray weekly for peace with justice for Ukraine. Justice means Ukraine having its territory back and for Russia to pay fair reparations for the damage it has caused”.

“Reconciliation is needed but peace with justice and truth must come first”, the EEA emphasises.

The statement concludes by saying: “Vitaly is right that the suffering is immense and that we must do all that we can to stop the war and prevent military escalation. So, we redouble our efforts to pray to see miraculous change in the situation which will bring about a just and lasting peace”.

Evangelical Christians in Russia are a minority of between 1-2% of the population, in a context largely dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Download the full EEA statement of 4 July 2024 here.