11-year Lawson ministry leaves close ties abroad

Michael and Susan Lawson have spent the last 11 years getting to know the country and people of Ukraine, as both were led to serve there through the Ukrainian ministry program at Hardin Valley Church of Christ.

With that country under siege, their friends and loved ones are suffering at the hands of Russian soldiers, and the couple is working with their church and community to provide much-needed assistance.

“We know a lot of people in the Sumy region, who so far have managed to remain safe, but we do have friends and extended family members who are being bombed as we speak,” Michael Lawson said by phone Thursday, March 3, in-between calls to and from those in danger.

“They could leave and travel to Poland or Romania, which are the closest countries, but the distance would be like traveling across Texas. It is a long journey, and even though some busses have been running people to the border, it’s still very difficult and they would face heavy resistance.”

This isn’t the first time the Lawsons have seen political upheaval in the country that only came into existence in 1991 after the break-up of the U.S.S.R. Michael said Ukraine shed a former leader, who was little more than a “Russian puppet,” during the 2013 Maiden revolution.

“Since then, they have been moving toward unification with Europe, not Russia, which is what the people want,” he said. “But (Russian President Vladimir Putin) sees (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that Ukraine planned to join) as a threat to what he wants, which is to reassemble the Soviet Union.

“So now, Putin is acting out and killing innocent people and threatening nuclear war.”

Michael Lawson began ministering in Ukraine as a church camp director, and Susan has worked as a teacher. He estimates he has traveled to the country more than 30 times.

“The Ukrainians are wonderful people,” he said. “They are warm, gregarious and will give you the shirts off their backs, even if they have very little. They feed you, even if they don’t have enough for themselves.”

The church’s Ukrainian ministry has been ongoing over the years, providing clothing, food and basic necessities to the Ukrainian people — and the Lawsons helped expand it into a partnership with other Church of Christ members in other states across the Southeast, Lawson said.

“We have been feeding kids who were in school in Toretsk for many years,” he added. “Now the kids aren’t in school because of the war, and a volunteer asked if the money left in the food account could be used to feed the Ukrainian soldiers.”

To offer help stateside, the church is assembling family buckets while asking for the community’s help in filling them.

“We started collecting family buckets several years ago as a way to open doors to evangelism on the mission field,” Lawson said. “The buckets contain various items a family needs. The current wave of buckets will be given out to refugees or other persons distressed by the war. They will be loaded and shipped to a mission point and distributed in the name of the church to Ukraine, Poland and other locations.

Buckets and lists of what to fill them with may be picked up at the church, located at 11515 Hardin Valley Road, which is also taking monetary donations to help.

“We are leaving the buckets out at night so people can come pick them up, but if folks needed more, they could contact us at the church at 865-824-3078, and we could provide them,” he said.

“We are encouraging other congregations — Methodist, Lutheran, any others who might wish to help to join us.”