Posts by Erik Tryggestad
Serbian Church Endures Knife Assault Along With Attacks From The Media

Three members of a Church of Christ in Belgrade, Serbia, are recovering from stab wounds inflicted by a fellow church member just before Sunday worship. Meanwhile, the congregation has endured unwanted media attention and accusations of manipulation, alcoholism and operating without a license.

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Ukrainian Refugees Redefine What It Means To Be A Church

Ukrainian refugees have revitalized a Warsaw, Poland, congregation, which had dwindled to a handful of worshippers in recent years. Mission efforts here have struggled, and supporting churches have pulled out. But in recent weeks, church attendance has topped 60.

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Ukrainian Christians Recall 51 Days Huddled In Church Building As City Was Destroyed

Huddled in a hallway as bombs reduced their Ukrainian city to rubble, members of the Mariupol Church of Christ urged Alexander Chekalenko to call on the Lord for protection. When he stopped, they could hear the gunfire, the explosions. For 51 days, the church members lived in the darkest of valleys — Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city obliterated by the forces of Russia and the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.

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Christians Who Escaped Horrors Of War Journey Back To Aid The Hurting And Share Jesus

Artyom Kirilenko, who survived in the besieged city of Mariupol, is now part of a band of brothers, nearly 50 in all, who load vans with water, ramen noodles, diapers and vitamins and drive from western Ukraine to the hard-hit cities of the east. They unload the supplies and ferry back women and children.

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Border Town Church In Ukraine Becomes A Hub Of Relocation And Relief

Chernivtsi, a western Ukrainian city less than 25 miles from Romania that hasn’t yet endured an attack from Russia, is a respite at the end of a long journey for some 60,000 displaced souls who fled from the east. Hundreds of them have found a temporary home in the meeting place of the Chernivtsi Church of Christ.

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Romanian Congregation Becomes Family For Traumatized Souls

The Church of Christ Cluj, which meets in the northwestern Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, has become a center of refuge as war rages in Ukraine, about four and a half hours away. The church offers them housing in a rented facility next door, and its free grocery store has served more than 9,400 customers since the war began in late February.

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Christians In Ukraine Share Stories Of Evacuation, Separation And Grief

As Russian forces withdraw from the capital and western Ukraine, Christians in Ukraine report that they’re concerned attacks will intensify in the cities of the east, including Dnipro and Mariupol. In Mariupol, a port city that has been all but obliterated by Russian artillery, 33 Christians were taking refuge in the meeting place of a Church of Christ.

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Bucket Ministries Gather Supplies For Ukraine — With $10,000 Boost From Kelly Clarkson

Churches across the U.S. are gathering buckets of supplies to help refugees in war-torn Eastern Europe, including one ministry that got a $10,000 donation from TV host Kelly Clarkson and another that’s getting help wrapping presents from St. Nicholas.

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As Russian Attacks Intensify, Churches Organize Rescue Missions, Relief Centers And Baptisms

Fighting has intensified in eastern Ukrainian cities near the separatist-held regions. Meanwhile, Christians take supplies to congregations in these hard-hit cities. They plan to help churches set up bomb shelters and deliver aid. They also plan to bring refugees back with them.

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Christian Medical Mission Predisan Transforms Health Care For Region of Honduras

When a medical ministry built an impressive clinic in rural Honduras, some feared the government would take it over. Nearly two decades later, the ministry has experienced a takeover of a different kind. Through a process called “decentralization,” the Honduran health services turned administration of the rural clinics over to Predisan.

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Ukrainian Christians ‘stay, pray and try to bring hope’

Christians across Ukraine woke to the sounds of explosions as their Russian neighbors began a bombardment of the Eastern European nation. Some had made plans to house refugees making their way west, but the Feb. 24 attacks were reported in cities east and west, further complicating their situation.

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As Russian Troops Launch Invasion Into Ukraine, Church Members Pray For Peace

About 50 Christians with ties to Ukraine gathered for an afternoon of prayer at the North Davis Church of Christ in Arlington, Texas. Less than 48 hours after the prayer service, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the breakaway republics and ordered his military to “maintain peace” in the disputed areas.

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90-Year-Old Keeps Watch Over Historic Black Church And Schoolhouse In Tennessee

From her front porch, adorned with periwinkles and impatiens, 90-year-old Evelyn Buck keeps watch over a small piece of American history: the West End Church of Christ at Silver Point, where a thriving community of Black Christians served orphans, taught schoolchildren, launched cottage industries and trained gospel preachers in the early 1900s.

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Descendants Of Self-Freed Slave Still Live And Worship On His Nashville Land

It’s easy to miss amid the upscale apartment complexes of Nashville’s Bellevue neighborhood. But the Old Hickory Boulevard Church of Christ is rich with history, standing on one of the oldest settlements continuously owned by an African American family in the state of Tennessee.

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Christians In Ukraine Call For Peace But Prepare For Possible Russian Invasion

Ukrainian Christians have experienced death, displacement and loss in conflicts with Russia that date back to 2014. That’s when Russia seized Crimea. And now, Russia has amassed some 127,000 troops along its western border with Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry.

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Survivors Of Deadly Tornado Deal With Aftermath — With Help From Churches

Taga Jones’ home is one of hundreds destroyed by a rare December tornado that tore through four states — Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky — in four hours. It was part of a Dec. 10-11 outbreak in which more than 30 tornadoes were reported across six states.

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