Faith
Former Iranian Refugees Now Ministering to Ukrainian Families in Austria
Faith Facts
- Iranian Christians who fled persecution in their homeland are now serving Ukrainian refugee families displaced by war in Austria
- The Pohlgasse Church of Christ in Vienna conducts services in Farsi for believers from Iran and Afghanistan who converted from Islam despite facing persecution
- Ukrainian refugees receiving ministry from Iranian Christians say the compassion crosses all boundaries when people are united in love and faith
POYSDORF, AUSTRIA — Bags stuffed with candy. Foil-wrapped crepes filled with chicken salad. Children’s Bibles full of colorful illustrations.
Members of a Church of Christ in Vienna pack them all into their cars on a Saturday morning. They drive about an hour north from Austria’s capital to reach this village near the Czech border.
The Christian caravan pulls up to Poysdorfer Hof, a hotel for refugees, and unloads. Inside, a small group of children, most of them Ukrainian, waits eagerly as the church members set up a table of snacks, plastic cups of juice and a coffee bar for the parents.
“I remember what they must feel like,” says Ibrahim, who made the drive from Vienna with his mother, Esmat. So do the other church members, all but one of whom are from Iran.
Eight years ago, Ibrahim was a refugee, too. His father had met a group of Christians while visiting the Middle Eastern nation of Kuwait. His family began worshiping with an underground church in Iran — and caught the attention of the Gasht-e Ershad, the country’s much-feared morality police. Ibrahim fled to Vienna and found the Pohlgasse Church of Christ, which baptized him. Other Iranians followed, though many of their families stayed behind.
Ibrahim is part of a wave of refugees from the Middle East who transformed the Pohlgasse church in the mid-2010s. The Vienna congregation now has a Sunday morning service in Farsi, Iran’s national language, for Christians from Iran and Afghanistan. The church also has an afternoon service in German and English, attended mostly by immigrants from Africa.
Add Ukrainians to the mix. The first wave came to Austria after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began four years ago. More Ukrainians followed as Russia’s drone and missile attacks intensified.
Now, both Ukraine and Iran endure daily bombings, and both peoples worry about their loved ones back home. The ongoing conflicts have created humanitarian crises in both regions.
Ibrahim prays for an end to the conflicts. He also thanks God for his new life in Austria, where he works in information technology — and for the opportunity to help fellow refugees.
After years of receiving aid from people of faith, serving the Ukrainians “feels really good,” says Parvin, another Iranian Christian.
“When we support each other, differences don’t matter. In these moments, we are just people helping people, and that’s what matters most.”
‘This Way We Have Hope’
In the hotel’s meeting room, the small group of children quickly becomes a standing-room-only crowd. The Pohlgasse church members come to Poysdorf regularly, and the numbers grow with each visit.
The kids closest to the table put down their snacks and grab copies of a Ukrainian-language children’s Bible produced by Eastern European Mission. They chatter gleefully with each other as they turn the pages. Next time, the church members will have to bring more.
Three Ukrainian women lead a chorus of children in traditional songs, welcoming spring and celebrating Easter. Then Reggy Hiller, the only non-Iranian from the Pohlgasse church, talks about Jesus’ resurrection, the Great Commission and baptism — while doing her best to remember all of the children’s names.
Hiller, the daughter of missionaries Bob and Ruth Hare, is a longtime member and mission worker with the Pohlgasse church. She recently married an Iranian refugee, a musician and guitar instructor who was baptized in 2023.
“Is it good that Jesus was resurrected?” Hiller asks the children.
“Yes! Because otherwise we would just stay dead, and that would be sad. But this way we have hope. We get to see each other again and stay with Jesus. We get to sing a lot up there, too!”
Sasha, 17, and her mother, Alesia, squeeze onto a wooden bench in the corner of the room. They’re from Mykolaiv, a port city and shipbuilding hub in southern Ukraine that’s endured heavy attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. Sasha’s sister is still in Ukraine. When asked if she’s OK, Sasha says, “Not always. It’s so hard.”
As for the Christians who came to serve them, “I think the Iran people are good, actually,” Sasha says.
“They come here to find a better life, so I understand them.”
Sophia Semeniuk, 20, also grew up in Mykolaiv. She was studying in Germany when the invasion began and remembers crying bitterly when she learned of it. Now she’s taking online courses and earning degrees in psychology and counseling. One day she hopes to return to Ukraine and help the countless people traumatized by the conflict.
“I think it’s good,” she says of the Iranian Christians’ care for the Ukrainians, “and I think that Ukrainians can also be of help to the Iranians.”
She looks forward to the day when she can return the favor, reaching out to Iranians affected by war. When asked if she’s found a church home in Poysdorf, she says no.
“I’m believing in God, but I believe that God is in your heart. God doesn’t have a place because he’s everywhere.”
Dimitri Godunow is on his way to do laundry when he sees the crowd in the hotel’s lobby. He grabs a snack and visits with the Iranian Christians.
On his phone, he pulls up a photo of a charred black apartment building. It once was his home in Kostiantynivka, a city in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, now on the frontlines of the war.
“This is a completely new life here,” says Godunow, who was an attorney in Ukraine. As the brutal conflict pushed him westward, he encountered suspicion from fellow Ukrainians because of his region’s ties to Russia. And many of the men who leave Ukraine are regarded as traitors by those who remain and join the Ukrainian army, he adds.
But there’s a sense of camaraderie among refugees that crosses geographic barriers, he says. He’s become friends with a Russian family from the republic of Chechnya, which endured more than a decade of bloody conflict in the 1990s and 2000s.
Receiving support from Iranian Christians might have seemed far-fetched a few years ago, but not now.
“For me, this is totally normal,” Godunow says.
“It’s from the heart. There are (no longer) any lines between religions and nationalities. I don’t want to make harm for anybody. I’m open to everybody — Iranians, Indians, Chinese, Americans — if we’re united in love.”
Back amid the crowd of children, Sasha uses the English she knows to translate for her mother, Alesia, who’s eager to show off a tattoo she got a couple of weeks ago. She rolls up her left sleeve as her daughter rolls her eyes. Scrolled across her forearm, in cursive English, are words that seem to sum up the past four years for Ukraine, “Only God knows why.”
What inspired Alisha to have those words immortalized in her flesh? With a teenage smirk, Sasha says, “Only God knows why.”
Laborers Needed
After handing out the chicken salad crepes, the Iranian Christians pack up. Four girls, each holding an orange rose, crowd around Hiller’s car to tell her goodbye. She remembers two of their names — Marina and Adrina.
As Ibrahim drives Hiller and his mother back to Vienna, he reflects on their Ukrainian neighbors, speaking in German as Hiller translates.
“I’m pleasantly surprised by how nice they are,” he says.
“Once you have a friend in them, you always have a friend.”
Hiller, 75, would love to see a Church of Christ planted in Poysdorf. But her schedule is full. That’s also true for Gerhard Krassnig, minister for the Pohlgasse church. As Hiller and the Iranian Christians return to Vienna, Krassnig is headed to Salzburg, near the German border, to visit a Church of Christ there. Missionaries Bill and Marie-Claire McDonough worked with the congregation and studied the Bible with Iranian refugees in western Austria. But the couple recently returned to the U.S.
“The harvest is plentiful,” Hiller says, quoting Jesus’ words to his disciples in Matthew 9:37.
But the laborers — be they Austrian, American, Iranian or Ukrainian — are few, at least for now.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Faith Facts
- A Catholic father was convicted for praying silently near an abortion facility under UK buffer zone laws
- The Evangelical Alliance warns against conflating every legal restriction with religious persecution
- Christian leaders emphasize the importance of challenging poor laws while maintaining factual accuracy about religious freedom
The recent conviction of a Catholic father for praying silently near an abortion clinic has sparked intense debate among Christians in the United Kingdom and beyond. While the case raises legitimate concerns about religious liberty, Christian leaders are urging believers to maintain perspective and avoid overreaching claims that Christianity itself has been criminalized.
Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance addressed the controversy head-on, acknowledging the troubling aspects of the case while cautioning against inflammatory rhetoric. “Poor lawmaking should always be challenged,” Lynas stated. “But Christians must not conflate every legal case involving public evangelism with religious persecution. It simply isn’t accurate.”
The case involves buffer zone legislation that restricts certain activities near abortion facilities. Under these laws, individuals are prohibited from engaging in activities deemed to interfere with access to reproductive services, including prayer and counseling within designated zones.
For many Christians, the conviction strikes at the heart of religious freedom—the ability to pray publicly and witness to their faith without government interference. The image of a person being prosecuted for silent prayer has understandably troubled believers who see it as government overreach into the spiritual realm.
However, Lynas and other thoughtful Christian voices are encouraging a more nuanced response. They argue that while the buffer zone laws may be poorly constructed and deserve legal challenge, characterizing them as wholesale persecution misrepresents both the current reality and the experiences of Christians facing genuine persecution worldwide.
The distinction matters for several reasons. First, accuracy in public discourse honors the Christian commitment to truth. When believers make exaggerated claims about persecution, it undermines credibility on legitimate religious freedom concerns.
Second, conflating legal restrictions with persecution can diminish awareness of Christians facing actual life-threatening persecution in other parts of the world. Brothers and sisters in Christ are being imprisoned, tortured, and martyred for their faith in numerous countries—a reality that differs substantially from legal restrictions in Western democracies.
This doesn’t mean Christians should accept unjust laws passively. The buffer zone legislation raises serious questions about whether the government has drawn boundaries appropriately between protecting access to facilities and protecting fundamental freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion.
Christian legal organizations have every right—and arguably a responsibility—to challenge these laws through proper legal channels. Advocating for better legislation that respects both women seeking services and citizens exercising their constitutional rights represents the kind of civic engagement Christians should embrace.
The case also highlights the increasing tension between secular progressive values and traditional Christian belief in the public square. As Western societies drift further from their Christian foundations, conflicts over religious expression in public spaces will likely intensify.
For American Christians watching these developments across the Atlantic, the case serves as a sobering reminder of how quickly religious freedoms can erode when society loses its moorings in faith and tradition. The United States benefits from stronger constitutional protections for religious liberty, but those protections require constant vigilance and defense.
The path forward requires Christians to walk a careful line—vigorously defending religious freedom while maintaining credibility through accurate representation of the facts. This means challenging unjust laws through proper legal and legislative processes, educating fellow believers about their rights and responsibilities, and supporting organizations that defend religious liberty in the courts.
It also means recognizing that living out Christian faith in an increasingly secular society will involve navigating difficult tensions. Believers must be prepared to engage thoughtfully with complex issues, seeking wisdom and discernment rather than reacting with fear or hyperbole.
The buffer zone case reminds us that religious freedom remains precious and fragile, requiring active protection. But that protection is best advanced through truthful, measured advocacy that maintains moral authority and public trust.
As Christians continue to engage these important issues, prayer remains essential—not just prayer for religious freedom, but prayer for wisdom, courage, and clarity in representing both truth and grace in the public square.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Faith Facts
- A retired Baptist pastor was fined for preaching within an abortion facility buffer zone in the United Kingdom
- The Evangelical Alliance warns this case reveals the dangers of poorly crafted legislation that restricts religious expression
- Christian leaders caution against conflating legal consequences with religious persecution while defending the right to preach the Gospel
A retired Baptist pastor in the United Kingdom has been convicted and fined for preaching near an abortion facility, sparking fresh debate about religious liberty and the boundaries of free speech in public spaces. The case has raised serious concerns among Christian leaders about the scope and application of buffer zone laws.
The incident occurred within a government-designated buffer zone around an abortion clinic, where activities including prayer and evangelism are prohibited. The pastor was found guilty of violating these restrictions and received a financial penalty.
Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance addressed the conviction, emphasizing that while the case highlights legitimate concerns about religious freedom, Christians must maintain perspective.
“This conviction does not mean UK Christians can’t preach the gospel,”
Lynas stated, urging believers to distinguish between legal restrictions in specific zones and broader religious persecution.
The case underscores ongoing tensions between protecting access to medical facilities and safeguarding fundamental freedoms of speech and religion. Buffer zones have been implemented in various locations across the UK, creating designated areas where certain expressive activities are criminalized.
Christian advocacy groups have long warned that these laws, while presented as protective measures, could be used to silence people of faith exercising their constitutional rights. The vague language in some buffer zone legislation leaves room for broad interpretation and inconsistent enforcement.
Lynas pointed to the quality of the legislation itself as a primary concern.
“It highlights the dangers of poor legislation,”
he explained, suggesting that hastily crafted or overly broad laws can inadvertently criminalize peaceful religious activity.
The conviction has prompted calls for greater clarity in how buffer zone laws are written and applied. Many Christian leaders argue that peaceful prayer, conversation, and offers of assistance should not be treated as criminal acts, even in sensitive areas.
Despite the concerning nature of this particular case, Lynas cautioned against exaggerating the threat.
“Christians should be careful not to conflate it with religious persecution,”
he advised, noting that true persecution involves systematic violence, imprisonment, and denial of basic rights—conditions not currently present in the United Kingdom.
The distinction matters because it shapes how Christians respond to legal challenges. While vigilance about religious freedom is appropriate, painting every legal restriction as persecution can undermine credibility and distract from genuine human rights abuses occurring globally.
American Christians watching developments in the UK should take note of similar legislative trends emerging stateside. Several jurisdictions have proposed or enacted buffer zone laws that could impact sidewalk counseling, prayer vigils, and Gospel proclamation near abortion facilities.
The case serves as a reminder that religious liberty requires constant defense through both legal advocacy and civic engagement. Christians must remain active in the legislative process, ensuring laws protect conscience rights while addressing legitimate public safety concerns.
Faith communities across denominational lines continue to affirm the Great Commission mandate to share the Gospel publicly. The question remains how societies can balance competing rights without unduly restricting the free exercise of religion.
As these legal battles continue, Christian organizations are mobilizing resources to defend religious freedom, provide legal counsel to those facing charges, and advocate for clearer, more balanced legislation that respects both religious expression and public order.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Faith Facts
- Church leaders convened in Bucharest in April to address Europe’s impending migration policy shift set for June
- A new Mapping Migration report warns faith communities must prepare for a “new phase” of humanitarian challenges
- European nations are finalizing major changes to migration policy that could significantly impact Christian relief efforts
As European governments prepare to implement sweeping changes to migration policy this June, Christian leaders are raising urgent concerns about the challenges ahead. Faith communities across the continent are being called to prepare for what church officials describe as a critical “new phase” of humanitarian need.
The warning came during a gathering of church leaders in Bucharest this April, where the launch of a comprehensive Mapping Migration report highlighted the intersection of policy changes and practical ministry. The timing is significant, as European nations move toward coordinated policy shifts that could reshape how churches and faith-based organizations respond to migration challenges.
For Christian communities that have long served on the front lines of humanitarian assistance, these policy changes represent both challenge and opportunity. Churches across Europe have historically provided shelter, food, legal assistance, and spiritual care to migrants and refugees, often filling gaps where government services fall short.
The Bucharest gathering underscored the vital role faith communities play in addressing migration issues with both compassion and wisdom. As governments grapple with policy frameworks, churches continue to balance biblical commands to welcome the stranger with concerns about community resources and national security.
The Mapping Migration report arrives at a critical moment when European leaders are seeking sustainable approaches to complex demographic and humanitarian realities. Christian organizations have consistently advocated for solutions that honor human dignity while respecting the rule of law and national sovereignty.
As June approaches, faith leaders are mobilizing congregations to understand the policy changes and their implications. The call to prepare suggests that churches may need to expand existing ministries or develop new partnerships to meet anticipated needs.
The report emphasizes that faith communities cannot remain passive observers as migration policies evolve. Instead, churches are being challenged to lead with both truth and grace, offering practical help while maintaining biblical principles.
Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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