When Theological Book Network merged with Scholar Leaders in February 2024, its ministry immediately became more effective and fostered greater impact in the global Church. Nowhere was that dynamic more acutely felt than in Ukraine, where Scholar Leaders had been working with seminaries and theological leaders for years. An opportunity arose to take parts of Lincoln Christian College’s library to Ukraine, where seminaries were reorganizing and unifying around a common mission to train more pastors and chaplains for the war effort. They needed books, English books, because the Russian language was no longer sanctioned. TBN stepped up, shipping over 25,000 books to Kyiv in 2024.
This August, Scholar Leaders’ staff had the chance to celebrate the opening of a new theological library for Tavriski Christian institute, one of the key evangelical seminaries in Eastern Europe. Russians had burned down their library when their seminary in Kherson was destroyed in the early days of the war. Now, thanks to Scholar Leaders, their mission of training pastors to meet dire needs can continue.
One night our staff woke up to explosions going off outside their 25-story hotel, shaking their rooms. They crawled out of their beds away from windows as Ukrainian anti-drone units shoot down missiles and incendiary drones. Our staff risked this danger to be with our partners, encouraging their ministry and even their theological reflection on the war. The war they face, motivated by a kind of Christian Nationalism, is a theological problem that needs deep theological answers. And Ukrainian theologians, some of whom were sponsored by Scholar Leaders, are leading the way to answering those fraught questions of church and citizenship, of faith and fraternity to country, and forging a new path for Eastern European evangelicalism.
Thank you, Classis South, for the ways your support of Theological Book Network is making an incredible impact on the lives of Christian leaders in Ukraine and beyond. Because you support Scholar Leaders, you are putting our team at the front lines where they can do the most necessary work for the Gospel. We thank you, deeply, for your partnership.
