Polish Baptist Union outreach to Ukrainian refugees  

The Polish Baptist Union launched its “New Roots” initiative in 2025 which supported Ukrainian and Belarusian refugees living in Poland - and is now gearing up for its 2026 activities, writes Paul Bate

 

There are approximately 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine living in Poland and 30 Ukrainian communities are linked to the Polish Baptist Union(PBU).

The PBU were helping the Ukrainians to integrate more into Polish churches and society by promoting various activities for them including Polish language courses, summer camps for children and trauma counselling. 

Daniel Trusiewicz, an experienced Baptist pastor had retired from being the missioner for the European Baptist Federation, was appointed as the co-ordinator of the ministry.

Last year the PBU supported 12 summer camps and 12 day camps for 1,600 young people. The camps ranged in number from 30-150 and were expertly staffed by volunteers including leaders of the Ukrainian communities. They were also linked to Baptist churches across Poland.

Each day the camps started with a time of prayer and Bible studies took place daily. There was also time for some fun with games and activities. Evangelistic meetings were held for the parents each evening.

Sponsorship for the programme was obtained from the PBU, some UK Baptist churches, American Baptist churches, some German organisations, the Slavic Gospel Association and Operation Mobilisation. The total cost of the project was £28,475 and they were very grateful for the support.

They are now currently launching their programme for this summer. This will include some financial support for a number of the Ukrainian leaders as well as camps for young people, language courses and trauma counselling. They will particularly concentrate on the children of Ukrainian war refugees and give them priority to receive help as their parents are not affluent. 

They are initially trying to raise about 20,000 Euros in order to facilitate the work. If your church or organisation would  like to partner with them in supporting these events that create opportunities for reaching out with the Gospel to the refugees from the Ukraine this summer then please contact:

Paul Bate at pbate2@gmail.com or Daniel Trusiewicz in Poland at daniel@akcjabach.org

Paul Bate is a retired headteacher of two Christian schools and a former Baptist minister of a church in Somerset. He led a mission to Poland in the Communist era (1983-89) from a Baptist church in Dorset. He is currently a lay preacher living in North Devon.