An Interview with Pastor Oleksandr Demianenko

In late August the editor of the East-West Church Report visited Warsaw’s Life Center, an initiative of Word of Faith [Polish: Słowo Wiary, Ukrainian: Slovo Viry] Church, a 500-strong Ukrainian-speaking Pentecostal congregation in the Polish capital. 

Opened just three weeks prior, the Life Center supports Ukrainian refugees by providing social spaces for adults and young people, a kindergarten and children’s play area, courses in Polish and English, counselling, and fitness classes. The Center is funded by the U.S.-based Evangelical aid organization, Samaritan’s Purse. 

As he showed the Center’s premises to the editor, Vadym Radchenko—a deacon at Word of Faith—estimated that approximately 1,000 people had used the facility since its opening. He also described how—with the help of volunteers from some 20 countries—his church had set up a collection and distribution point for free clothing, food, and hygiene products at a Warsaw warehouse in March 2022. 

According to Radchenko, thousands of Ukrainian refugees have received its assistance and/or the hot meals, overnight accommodations, and legal advice also provided by his church, with as many as 215 families visiting the warehouse on a recent day: “Now the situation is a little harder—the number of volunteers is decreasing—but the need is still there.” From two hubs inside Ukraine, Word of Faith also prepares and distributes food inside Ukraine. 

Radchenko and his family have lived in Warsaw for around 18 months, after moving—like a number of the church’s ministers— from their hometown of Liuboml in Ukraine’s Volyn Region, just 11 miles from the Polish border. They have been replaced, he noted, by ministers forced to leave the Russian-occupied eastern region of Donetsk. Once involved in a criminal enterprise and addicted to drugs and alcohol, Radchenko became a Christian in his mid-twenties while staying at a church-run rehabilitation center in the countryside near Liuboml. Oleksandr Demianenko, Word of Life’s leading pastor, had a similar trajectory through rehab. Previously responsible for border traffic, quipped Radchenko, “He had a ‘team ministry’—but serving another lord!” 

Before leaving the Life Center, the editor of the East-West Church Report sat down with Pastor Oleksandr Demianenko to discover more about his path to serving the Ukrainian community in Warsaw. The original conversation took place in Russian.

How did you come to lead a church?

 In 2002 I was very sick and given six months to live. I had stomach cancer; the pain was very intense. I was prescribed expensive medicine, and my family and friends gave money, just so I could survive each day. I was also a gangster and a VERY bad person. I ended up in a rehabilitation center for alcoholics and drug addicts that my mother had seen on television. I did not know it was run by believers—I knew nothing about believers. They started telling me about God. People prayed for me. God gave me repentance and completely healed me from my illness. My weight was down to 49 kilos [108 lbs], but I began to eat and put on weight. This gave me faith that God really exists. Earlier, I had been treated everywhere possible—I had connections and large amounts of money—but nothing worked. 

From that point on, I began to pray very hard. I experienced God and liked being in His presence. I understood that I had to go to my hometown nearby, so I returned to Liuboml. I was interested to know—was there a church there like the one running the rehabilitation center? I began to search and ended up at a service in an apartment. Understandably, I was the main topic of conversation—my arrival was like the appearance of a dinosaur. I had a bad reputation, and everyone was afraid of me. Then I went to services at an old Pentecostal church to which the people in the apartment belonged. 

I brought young people to that church—they began to repent, but they did not understand why you needed to dress in a certain way: cover tattoos, do this or that. The pastor said to me, “Listen, perhaps you might gather at home?” So we began to hold house services. There were many different people there: gangsters, alcoholics, drug addicts, a public prosecutor, the head of a passport office, millionaires’ wives with fancy handbags… [Laughs]. What a time that was! We gathered as a separate group and after 10 years, when we were recognized and blessed by the Pentecostals, we opened a second church in Liuboml, called Ark. This church has mostly been engaged in rehabilitation work.

How and why did you come here to Warsaw?

 I was invited by a group of around 20 believers here. Separately, I was offered work here. At that time there was no work in Ukraine—well, for me as a believer. For a non-believer, no problem! But not all work is permissible. I agreed to come for 10 days a month, while continuing to minister to this home group. More people began to come, so we had to rent premises— increasingly larger—and that is how our church was formed. Before that, there was only a Ukrainian Baptist church here in Warsaw, but no Ukrainian Pentecostal church. I searched for someone to take my place: I did not want to move to Poland. By the time five years had passed, I understood nevertheless that it was God’s will—affirmed by different testimonies—and I moved with my family to Warsaw. I prayed for love towards the Poles, for Poland. I really did not want to be here! My children do not know Polish and my family could not envisage being here. But when I began to pray, God granted me love, and I started to experience Poland as my home. 

Through various Prophets I received word that, “I am sending you to a hardened people, and I will make your forehead like a diamond against theirs, and they will not overcome you.” [Cf. Ezekiel 3:7-9: “All the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone.”] I thought, perhaps God has confused me with someone else? After all, I am a new believer, where will I go? Then a time came when God reminded me of this prophecy and spoke to me through a passage about Abraham, who left his home, his land, and went to a country he did not know. The same thing happened in my life—I had to travel here, stay and live. Then God began to bring a team together. I did not bring anyone—why do that if you don’t want to go yourself ? [Laughs] But He brought to me people I had worked with in Ukraine, as well as others, and we have been working in different regional Polish cities for four years now.

Did you have experience working with Ukrainian refugees who came here prior to this year?

Yes. It was like a preparation, even. When God called me here, he placed upon my heart the knowledge that we would need to prepare, because there would be millions of people, and we would need to receive them. I thought it was going to be a serious [spiritual] awakening! [Laughs] I did not understand that there would be a war. But not long before [Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine] God revealed to me that there would be a war, and I said this at one of our services. Afterwards some brethren said to me: “Why did you say there would be a war? What war?” We thought there would be a сoup in Kyiv, the regime would change, and that would be it. No one thought it would be on this scale. This knowledge was granted by God, and when it all began on 24 February we already knew what to do the next day. 

In our church the priority is building relationships; all the rest is fruit. For us it was easy to turn our prayer hall into a storeroom, a dormitory, and a canteen quickly. But we always had difficulties in the past with completing rental payments. Ukrainians have no practice of donating or tithing. But people—including very many Poles—began to appear day and night bringing groceries, clothes, and hygiene products. People started to come offering financial support, and so a movement started to form. We saw that God was working directly in this way. We were lowly servants—we did what God told us to do, took people in, went to the border, fed and clothed people, and there were always sufficient resources.

How do you see your responsibilities changing in future?

I just understand one thing—we must not stop. I cannot fully explain it— point to specific passages of Scripture, or say that God told me this, or that we decided on this path because we are so wise. But there is knowledge in my heart that I cannot violate. We must do everything possible to pursue this work to the end. First of all, it inspires our partner churches in Ukraine. They say that we are giving them hope, and they can also distribute much-needed aid in Ukraine. They are already telling us that they need clothing, for example. So we pray, not knowing where to turn. But then people call us on their own accord, asking, “Do you need clothing?” 

God does all this, in completely different countries, across the ocean. The people who call us understand that God is moving their hearts and wants to unite us so that “we abound in every work of the Lord.” [Cf. 2 Corinthians 9:8: “... you will abound in every good work”]. For example, thanks to our brothers from the Assemblies of God in Canada and America, we are able to buy groceries and store them in a warehouse before they are sent to Ukraine. 

When we first came to that warehouse, there was a forklift truck there, and we all stood staring at it, asking how on earth to operate it. All those buttons! Then some guys came along and asked how they could help. Someone had told them about us. I asked one, “Do you know how to operate that vehicle?” He said, “Well, I worked in America for 16 years….” He turns on the ignition, spins around, and says, “No problem!” And it has been like that with absolutely everything. We went to factories where they signed contracts with us to give us groceries at a lower price. Whenever we made requests, everything seemed to come right of its own accord. 

Have you noticed a change in the attitude of Polish people towards Ukrainians? 

Very much so. The Poles opened their hearts, started to let Ukrainians into their homes, and it was all for free. There was even a sensation of brotherly relations. I think they experienced the initial attack in the same way that we did. They stood with us and helped. 

Imperialism is aggression that started with other countries even earlier, and it does not stop—people want to restore their empire and take over European countries. The Poles understand this, and so they are also worried and want to help Ukraine. My grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived in Poland—our territory used to be Polish—so Poles and Ukrainians are extremely close, especially in the western regions [of Ukraine]. We are very grateful to the Poles. When I went to a store to make the first purchases for the warehouse, I felt great anguish. My heart really ached from the fact that people were dying in the twenty-first century, that people were shooting up my country and setting it alight. What for? I could not understand it, and I asked God, “Where are you in all this? How am I supposed to understand it? If you do not grant me understanding of what is being done, I cannot say anything on behalf of the church.” And God gave me a sort of toughness. I cried, but in peace, in hope. I cried because a human heart could not bear it all. I spoke with one of the cashiers in the store, and I could see that she was crying too— tears were rolling down her face. Whoever we spoke to was crying—everyone was moved by the situation. This was how things were in Poland for about two months. 

It was a time when you could reassess your whole life and understand that Jesus is the only source of life. In Ukraine, all the prayer houses are overflowing. People are repenting—today we have the opportunity to be reconciled with God, unfortunately through war. But how else? 

Do you also have—or did you have—links with fellow churches in Russia? 

Yes, I knew many of them, including bishops. I had meetings with them, went to various different conferences, chatted with them. I had very good relations. But today they  cannot travel here or support us. The situation in their country is clear—they are just waiting. They do not support the war, but they are silent. I understand them, and I do not condemn them.

Ten Commandments for Ukrainian Refugee Relief Workers 

These guidelines are excerpted from Editor Emeritus Dr. Mark R. Elliott’s introduction to the scope of the relief effort undertaken by Protestant Christians, “Best Practices in Protestant Aid for Ukrainian Refugees: 2022.” The full text may be found in Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, Volume 42, Issue 7, Article 5, https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol42/iss7/5.

1. Keep promises. “Never make a commitment that does not have a very high prospect of timely fulfillment.”
2. Overcome Ethnocentrism. “Those enjoying a superior economic position too often assume they somehow, therefore, possess superior judgement.”
3. Learn to Listen. “Listening to and learning from Ukrainians... is a recipe for more effective delivery of vital humanitarian aid...and can reduce the temptation to inflate one’s contribution.” 
4. Exercise humility and be willing to sacrifice. In Poland, for example, a 70-year-old woman named Irena took two refugees and their children into her two-room apartment. Irena “gave her best room to the refugees.”
5. Understand the depth of trauma refugees are experiencing. “Some refugees have lost their friends or family members. They’ve seen death.... They are often unable to speak. They are devastated, shocked, grieved. When you see them, you understand that you need to sit with them in silence, cry with them, hug them.”
6. Avoid burnout. “The Indian medical student [in Hungary] volunteering nearly nonstop would have done well to take a few days’ break in Budapest because mental fatigue and burnout are very real concerns for relief personnel.” 
7. Be flexible and willing to accept directions. “Are you willing to eat, sleep, and work in very difficult circumstances? Are you willing to accept instruction and direction?”
8. Give appropriate aid. Along with innumerable accounts of freely offered food, shelter, and transportation for Ukrainian refugees, some offerings were “not really needed.” Other “missteps... emerge from great enthusiasm, but little willingness for cooperation or little attention to information about actual needs.”
9. . Make the most of partnerships. “A noteworthy feature of the current Ukrainian refugee relief effort is the frequency with which diverse parties cooperate...within and across borders, between individual churches, between denominations, [and] between churches and parachurch NGOs and mission agencies.”
10.  Be accountable. “To the extent possible, close monitoring of the distribution of funds and material...should be a priority even in the midst of war, ‘not because donors suspect misuse of funds, but rather [because] audits protect all involved with the result that transparency produces greater trust.’”