Bible verse written on wall of Baptist church damaged by Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine

On April 16, a Russian aerial attack destroyed the building of the Baptist church “The House of the Gospel” in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, according to reports. The attack killed the community pastor, Ruslan Utyuzh, and injured eight others. The loss of a pastor leaves a congregation in grief, the kind of sorrow Scripture addresses directly (Psalm 34:18).

The Embassy of Ukraine in the United States described the attack as deliberate. Colby Barret, head of the project “A Faith Under Siege,” which produced a documentary in collaboration with a humanitarian aid awareness initiative for Ukraine, told Baptist Press that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aiming to destroy the faith that helps believers stand. The source reports this as Barret’s view and does not present it as an established finding.

On April 23, Meagan Mobbs, director of the R.T Weatherman Foundation, which supports Ukraine, posted on X the first photo of a Bible verse written on the church. “We are called to testify,” Mobbs said in the post.

The verse, Romans 8:31, reads: “If God is for us, who will be against us?” It was written on wooden plates that replaced one of the church’s destroyed walls, as a call to testify to the Gospel in the face of adversity. Ukrainian media outlet United24 reported the inscription on April 25.