A delegation of a dozen of Ukrainian evangelical leaders attending ‘Hope for Europe’ 2026 in Golem, Albania, were honoured by the other 250 participants in the gathering. 

On the last evening of the gathering, 8 October, the European Evangelical Alliance leaders Connie Main Duarte (Portugal) and Jan Wessels (Netherlands), presented the ‘Hope Award’ to the Ukraine Council of Protestant Evangelical Churches.

This national alliance of churches became a member of the European network last year.

All Evangelical Focus news and opinion, on your WhatsApp

Among those present in Albania who accepted the award were pastors whose churches have been damaged by missiles, people who have evacuated individuals with disabilities out of Ukraine, and theologians who continue to train new pastors and military chaplains today.

“Churches did not close their doors”

“When the hardest moment came, these churches did not close their doors. They opened them”, said Main Duarte as she presented the award.

“Church basements became bomb shelters. Church buildings became warehouses for food, medicine and generators. Youth groups became teams of volunteers. Many pastors could have left, and they stayed. They stayed with the elderly who could not flee, with the frightened, and with the soldiers and their families. Some of them have paid a very high price”.

Jan Wessels added: “Baptists, Pentecostals, Evangelical Christians, Adventists, Reformed, Lutherans, Messianic Jewish congregations and many more found that, in the face of suffering, what unites them in Christ is far greater than what separates them”.

But these churches also “speak with one voice to their government, to their society and to the wider world. That is the kind of unity we talk about at our tables. They have lived it under fire”.

More than 40,000 baptised in wartime

Addressing the delegates from over 30 countries, Igor Bandura, general secretary of the Ukraine Council of Protestant Evangelical Churches, thanked evangelical Christians in the continent their “participation in our physical and spiritual struggle”. 

“Just yesterday, 22 civillians, including children, were killed in a town north of Ukraine (…) But God is at work. Churches continue to work. More than 40,000 believers have been baptised since the war started”, the Ukrainian pastor said. Meanwhile, “2,000 pastors and deacons have been ordained”, Bandura said.

In these soon four years of total war, Ukrainians have experienced “terrible tragedy and great lessons from God (…) But the war is not over, the battle continues. Let’s stand together in prayer and support”.

As the evening came to an end, delegates from other European countries wrote down prayers and words of encouragement for Ukraine and its churches.

Awards in previous editions

Previous recipients of the European Evangelical Alliance award include A Rocha, for caring for God’s creation; the Greek Evangelical Alliance, for receiving refugees in 2016; and Home for Good, for welcoming children who had nowhere to go.

Thérèse Swinters received it for building the European Disability Network, Yassir Eric for serving migrant communities, and Jeff Fountain for helping us understand Europe’s story.