In the East Village, some of those refugees attend Cornerstone First Ukrainian Assembly of God, where elderly women in traditional headscarves worship alongside young people in sweatshirts. The Pentecostal congregation now includes Russians, Nigerians, and Belarusians, with services in a mix of Ukrainian, Russian, and English.
Many at Cornerstone have family in Ukraine and fear their fate as the war continues day by day. On Sunday, one woman with white hair wept softly through the whole service.
“What can we do but stay in prayer and cry to God?” said elder Peter Pristash, who lived much of his life in Ukraine and is now a US citizen.
As the nuclear threat escalated tensions, people in the service were in disbelief about how quickly the situation had spiraled.
“Our minds fail to understand: How is this possible in this day and age?” said Pristash before the congregation. “God allowed this to happen, and we do not know why. But we know God is sovereign, and he is on his throne. There are people who think if they kill someone it will accomplish a goal.”
On Sunday, Ukrainian evangelicals in New York City gathered to vent and sing.
At one East Village church, people quietly scrolled through news articles on their phones. A woman with white hair wept softly through the whole service.@emlybelz reports:https://t.co/Gqnsv6xqd8
— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) February 28, 2022