From opening their church doors, volunteering in relief centres, and welcoming refugee families into their homes – people in Poland have been gracious and selfless in helping those in need. That’s why the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) have provided a three-day ‘God’s Hope in Crisis’ course to pastors and church leaders in Poland. Earlier this month, Polish church leaders received training in their mother tongue on how to provide emotional and spiritual support with those suffering. Ukrainian pastors received the same training in their native language the week before.
More than 200,000 refugees from Ukraine are currently living in Poland’s capital city, Warsaw.
The training began with prayers and a time for worship and praise.
Holly Lafont, Assistant Manager of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team in Canada, delivered the training alongside a Polish translator.
“Our vision is to equip church leaders in Poland to effectively share God’s hope in crisis. We want people who receive this training to be able to use and pass these skills on to church members and their community, so they can help people through this traumatic time,” Nigel Fawcett-Jones, Coordinator of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team UK, said.
The three-day ‘Train the Trainer’ seminar not only equips church leaders with practical skills for their ministry, but also how to teach the course to others.
The free training has met a need of a community who’s standing in the spiritual frontlines, offering the comfort of God with those impacted by the war, and carrying Christ into a hurting community.
The course for Polish church leaders and pastors ran from 5th – 7th July. 
Andrew Stephanow (middle) works five days a week at a refugee relief centre in Poland. “This training will be beneficial for the time I spend at the refugee centres. It will improve and stabilise the knowledge I have on how to respond to those in trauma, which is so needed,” he said.
“What I have learnt on this training will help me bring Ukrainians hope during this difficult time, it will point them back to God,” Jerzy Rogaczewski, leader of the Baptist Church in Katowice said.