The Power of Showing Up

In a country at war, a visit from fellow believers meant more than words.

July 15, 2026

The GO Journey trip took 33 hours.

By the time the team of ten from Perimeter arrived in Ukraine in February, they had crossed an ocean and many borders to reach a country that has spent years carrying the weight of war.

When they arrived, the Ukrainian ministry leaders could hardly believe the team had come. Many told them no one had visited them since the start of the war. “Everybody is gone,” one person said. “All the ministries we partnered with have left us because of the danger, war, or politics. But you came.”

The believers they met were weary. Years of conflict had taken a toll. Some pastors had left the faith. Many church leaders were exhausted. They carried heavy stories of sacrifice, grief, loved ones lost, and uncertainty. Yet, amid the exhaustion and loss, they carried a resilience that one admiring GO Journey member came to describe as “redemptively defiant.” They believed God was already at work redeeming it all.

One of the primary reasons the Perimeter team had made the trip to Ukraine was to remind their brothers and sisters in Christ that they had not been forgotten. They came to listen and be present in the midst of difficult circumstances. They came to remind them that they were not alone.

The team’s first stop was an orphanage tucked into the beautiful hills of Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains in the western part of the country, near the Romanian border. Many of the children and staff had lived in Mariupol at a church orphanage when the city came under attack. They escaped with only minutes to spare and spent the next two years in Germany before eventually returning to Ukraine. There, a benefactor purchased a property in the mountains for them to become a refuge where they could begin to heal and rebuild their lives.

At the Orphanage

When the team arrived at the orphanage, the children greeted them dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing. They sang songs of welcome. And, though displaced from their families, homes, and communities, the Perimeter team could see that the people in the orphanage had become a family of their own.

Over the next few days, the team worked to provide respite for the women serving in the orphanage. Many had not taken a vacation in more than four years. These were ordinary believers serving faithfully under extraordinary circumstances carrying burdens that would overwhelm most people.

The team filled the week with special experiences the children rarely had the opportunity to enjoy. One day, the entire group hiked up a mountain, with adults helping younger children navigate the steep trails. They enjoyed a trip to McDonald’s and some clothes shopping, but the clear favorite was a giant trash bag of Legos the team had brought from Johns Creek.

Perhaps the most poignant moment of the trip came when the team participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new church building that will replace the one lost in Mariupol when Russian forces invaded. The project was made possible through a Perimeter Kingdom Investments grant.

Standing together on the property, everyone joined hands and prayed over the land. It all felt very special. Amid stories of loss and suffering, there was also encouragement and hope, knowing that believers on opposite sides of the world were united as family in Christ.

On to Kyiv

After leaving the orphanage, the men on the team traveled to Kyiv to spend several days with local pastors. Years of war had taken a heavy toll on both the city and its people. Missile attacks remained a reality, and air raid sirens were a regular part of daily life. During the trip, the team’s train was even delayed by a bombing.

One Ukrainian pastor struggled to find words to explain what the visit meant.

“If you can imagine being in the trenches,” he said, “coming out and it’s winter and freezing, you are losing friends on each side, and someone who fully cares about you shows up and sits with you in the trenches—you can’t imagine the importance of that.”

For years, many of these believers had carried their burdens largely unseen by the outside world. More than anything, they wanted to know that someone cared enough to listen.

When the team asked one pastor what the Church outside Ukraine could do for them, his answer was immediate:

“Hear us.”

That response captured the heart of the trip. The team didn’t come to Ukraine with any answers. They had come to listen, to be present, and to remind their brothers and sisters in Christ that they had not been forgotten.

In June, word came that a church the team had visited in Kyiv had been struck by a missile. Miraculously, no one was injured. In the aftermath, church leaders began discussing how the damaged property might one day be transformed into a playground.

It was the kind of response the team had encountered again and again from the believers in Ukraine—a determined refusal to not let suffering have the final word. It’s a faith that says God can and will redeem all things.