It’s an honor for me to share this guest post by James Hopkins. He is an American Christian who has lived in Ukraine for the past 28 years. As he shares below, you are welcome to contact him at jvhoplutsk@gmail.com.
He’s willing to answer questions and can also send you email updates about his ministry, if you’d like. I receive these updates myself and can say that each one of them is a powerful reminder of how, even in the most devastating circumstances, God remains present and active.
Like most missionaries, James and his family rely on financial support. If you’d like to bless them in this way, he can provide the necessary details by email.
Lastly, I realize many of us skim when we read online. Given the nature of what James has chosen to share, I’m asking that you make time to read the full post. And please pray for this extraordinary family. Thank you. – David
Hello, this is James Hopkins, a long-time missionary who has been living in Ukraine for 28 years. I first lived for 6 years in Kiev, the capital city. For the last 22, I’ve lived in Lutsk, which is in the Northwestern part of the country.
Yes, I have been here all during the war. In fact, when it started, we as a family were ready for it. We prayed about running or staying. As you might know, over 6 million people ran to other countries.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, we thought they would invade our area first, but they did not, thankfully. As an American, it would have been bad. Turns out it was bad. They went all the way to Kiev in central Ukraine. We had no idea what to do or how bad it would get. Everything changed.
For me, as a husband and father, my job is to protect my wife and two teenage daughters. When the invasion began, the girls were 14 and 15 years old. But we all prayed and felt we were to stay. The Scripture that stood out for us as we prayed was John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
I understood what God was saying and so did my wife.
WOW, stay, that means be ready. Are we ready? Are we prepared for death? Writing this brings a lot of emotions, like pain. How brave my family is. The tests would come, and it would be much, much more serious than we imagined. Well, in some ways.
Soon, more than a thousand refugees came. These were people we would house, care for, feed, and share Jesus with. We were feeding roughly 30–100 people a day at our small ministry center that normally had beds for 22. That went on for two-and-a-half months.
Our home is next to the ministry center. I remember all the horrific stories we were hearing from the refugees who were running from the Russians. In Eastern Ukraine, a husband had been shot in the head in front of his wife and 10-year-old son. They came to us in shock. We heard from girls who had been raped. It went on and on.
I was standing in our backyard praying and crying, as we all did every day. The pain and the horror of war can break the strongest man, the strongest Christian. I prayed and I cried out in deep pain. God, what to do?
After 3 months of war, Ukraine took back much of the land Russia initially invaded. But that left thousands devastated and tens of thousands dead and wounded. Children had been stolen from their parents. Homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals had been damaged or destroyed.
I'm an evangelist, and God said, “Go, go to the broken people.” By this time, there were hundreds of thousands of landmines scattered throughout the country. People were broken and hungry. There were food and gas shortages.
I grabbed a new friend, a refugee from Eastern Ukraine named Evan. He had come to us for shelter. I said to him, “Let’s buy food and help people on the frontlines.” Since he knew that area, I asked, “Will you be my guide and help?” He said yes.
We’ve also helped the military by buying hundreds of tourniquets and bulletproof vests. In the beginning, the military was ill-equipped. They were very grateful for the help.
Then it got crazy. My daughter, Samantha, said, “Dad I want to come with you into these once-occupied frontline villages.” She was 14.
I told her, “No, no way.”
She kept pushing me and did not let up. So, I said, “Ok, you go to Mom. If Mom lets you go, ok, you can go.”
I knew 100% she would say no. She went to Mom, who said NO. Samantha then asked her mom to pray about it. Long story short: We were doing worship and the song came on, “I Surrender All.” My wife later came to me and said, “I’m supposed to let her go. Trust God.”
Now, I can’t tell you everything about that conversation because it would be too long of an article, so just imagine this happening to you. And maybe you would say, “James, I would never put my family into such a position.”
I wish I was not in such a position, but I and my family want to live for the Lord, not for ourselves. Our position is that Christians should be running to help people, running to the sick, not closing our doors. We should even be willing to give our lives, if necessary. Ukraine was and is suffering unbelievable pain. How can we leave our friends, our Christian brothers and sisters? I want my children to run toward them and help, rather than run away to protect ourselves while others suffer.
We ended up taking 37 trips, each lasting 6–10 days and reaching from 16–32 villages.
Through the trips, we’ve seen more than 9,000 people come to faith in Jesus Christ. We’ve delivered more than 100 tons of food and clothing, as well as thousands of Bibles. We helped rebuild many homes, and the ministry has been able to pay for many new windows and roofs.
We have seen more than 22 new church plants. Our ministry center has been able to provide millions of dollars worth of hospital equipment, hospital beds, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, and much more.
My girls both ended up going on these trips many times. More recently, my wife joined too, but she’s the prayer warrior. She has paid a huge price praying long hours during rough nights. She was praying for us and getting texts from the girls telling her how terrified they were as bombs fell nearby. I'm proud of them. We are a team. Besides my family, many brave volunteers came with us. I was always surprised how many wanted to come.
But now, because of the war, we have a shortage of men who can travel with me on these trips. If you feel called, you can write to me. But please remember I cannot guarantee your safety. My email is jvhoplutsk@gmail.com. Some trips are quiet and some not.
There were several trips when we were not sure we would survive the bombings. I remember holding my girls’ hands in the city of Kherson. They were terrified and crying. Everyone was quaking and praying that we would not get hit by all the bombs, munitions, or drones.
For me, the stress can be massive. In all this, in my mind, I am thinking, “Is one of these decisions going to kill one of my family? Or one of the brave people that came with me?” I need to trust God. Whatever the outcome, God is still my God and King. He knows this, and I have been tested.
I have a deep respect for Ukraine’s military commanders, team leaders that send their people on dangerous missions. They know their orders can get someone killed. It’s a tremendous weight on one's heart. For me personally, making life-and-death decisions in ministry is tremendously painful. Causing more tears than can be counted.
This is our calling. It's not for everyone, of course. Just our calling. God equipped us and gave us strength to go. I’m so grateful God chose us, he chose me, chose us, to serve Ukraine. It's a privilege to serve God and Ukraine.
Pray for us. Even now, while writing, this is painful. We have all lost friends in this war. The first guy I baptized, back in 1999, was killed. So were many others we know about. They say 600,000 Ukrainians and 1.2 million Russians have been killed. No one knows exact numbers, but it's a lot.
Our ministry team is still going out to the frontline areas, but not as aggressively as before. I need a new knee. This has been a long time coming, and I should be able to get the procedure soon. God willing, we will get back out. Now, we are focusing on the new church plants, as well as churches we partnered with on these trips.
Ukraine needs your prayers. They are powerful, and we all feel and see the results.
Our ministry is called 99for1ukraine.
If you have questions or want to help us or our ministry, you can write to me at jvhoplutsk@gmail.com for more information.
Thank you for reading and perhaps sharing this.
Please pray for Ukraine.
I do wish the missionary in question call out russian supporters in america for repentance especially within those who call themselves Christians.