Serving God Under Siege: How War Transformed a Ukrainian Community

When Russia invaded Ukraine, an evangelical seminary lost everything--except its commitment to serving God.

In this searing eyewitness account, Valentyn Syniy recounts how the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 upended life for students, teachers, and staff of the Tavriski Christian Institute. As president of TCI, Syniy was responsible for evacuating the seminary community and leading them hundreds of miles to a safer location. Upon arrival, Syniy and his colleagues faced new challenges: where would everyone stay? How long would they live as refugees? How could ministry training continue during wartime?

What unfolded over the next nine months is a gripping story of faith and resilience amid fear and chaos. Displaced and dispossessed, TCI courageously embraced new forms of Christian service. They poured their energies into the town that was sheltering them, ministering to neighbors in need and facilitating activities for local youth. They drove into combat zones to help shuttle people to safety. Despite the devastating news that their campus back home had been destroyed, they carried on with their educational pursuits, holding classes in makeshift spaces.

While showing how the war impacted the seminary, Syniy also reveals how it affected him and his family--how within the chaos, for example, they carved out sacred space to celebrate his daughter’s wedding; how he worried about his elderly father, a pastor who refused to evacuate because he did not want to abandon his congregation; how it felt to see his home again after months of displacement and trauma. The result is a powerful account of the war’s impact on individuals as well as communities.

Serving God Under Siege occupies an important space in Christian writing about war. Syniy explores the same question that C. S. Lewis addressed in his classic sermon ＂Learning in War-Time＂ how can an educational institution carry on when the world is falling apart? By exploring this question in a full-length book, Syniy is able to delve deeper and illuminate more complex answers. Serving God Under Siege is also a worthy successor to Corrie Ten Boom’s classic memoir The Hiding Place, insofar as it transports readers to a place where Christians are grappling with contemporary evil and trying to find ways to bear witness to Christ’s love. Simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring, Syniy’s book is a must read for those who care about the global church and want to understand the human cost of the war in Ukraine.

Valentyn Syniy holds master’s degrees in theology and history and a doctoral degree in theology. Since 2006, he has served as president of Tavriski Christian Institute, an evangelical seminary in Ukraine.