When Home Becomes Foreign: What Ukraine Is Teaching the Global Church About Migration
The war of Russia against Ukraine has triggered an unprecedented crisis of forced displacement, on a scale not seen in Europe since World War II. This drama has unfolded in two distinct stages. The first wave began in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas: according to UNHCR, by the end of 2014, over 610,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were officially registered in the country, although the actual figure exceeded 1 million[1], and at the peak of hostilities in 2015, the number of registered IDPs reached 1.5-1.6 million people (according to statistics from the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and the Migration Policy Institute).[2] [3] Simultaneously, according to the PACE resolution, over 524,000 Ukrainians were forced to seek asylum or other legal status abroad, primarily in the Russian Federation, as well as in other European countries.[4]
The full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, transformed this crisis into a global catastrophe. Within the first two months of the war, nearly 13 million people fled their homes, of whom 7.7 million remained within Ukraine as IDPs and over 5.2 million fled abroad (according to the report by the Groupe d’Études Géopolitiques).[5] At the peak of displacement in 2022, IDMC recorded a record-breaking 16.9 million internal movements triggered by conflict and violence.[6] As of the end of 2024 and into 2025, the active internally displaced population in Ukraine stabilised at approximately 3.7 million (according to ACAPS and the International Organization for Migration), while the number of external refugees worldwide, according to the UNHCR Operational Data Portal, exceeded 6.5 million.[7] [8]
As well as initial forced displacement, refugee return dynamics and forced family separation have become critical aspects of Ukraine’s migration crisis. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), approximately 1.4 million refugees have returned to Ukraine and remained for at least three months with over 300,000 settling in new host communities rather than their original homes. [9]
Data from the Centre for Economic Strategy (CES) indicates that about 43% of adult refugees express an intention to return home, while UNHCR predictive modeling estimates that up to 3.5 million individuals could return over a three-year period given a stable security environment. [10] The martial law restrictions which prohibits men aged 18–60 from leaving the country means that 83–90% of adult refugees abroad are women accompanied by children. UNHCR and CES monitoring data reveals that 70–80% of married female refugees abroad are forcibly separated from their husbands who remain in Ukraine.[11] This widespread transnational family separation generates long-term social, psychological, and demographic challenges for society.
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I still remember walking out of our home in Kherson.
We had only a few hours to decide what to take and what to leave behind. Like millions of Ukrainians, we assumed we would return in a few weeks. We locked the door believing the interruption to our lives would be temporary.
We were wrong.
Since then, I have lived as an internally displaced person in two different Ukrainian cities. During the war I spent more than two years in Ivano-Frankivsk and almost two more in Kyiv. I have returned to my hometown more than ten times. Each visit has taught me the same lesson:
Migration does not end when someone crosses a border.
For many Ukrainians, the hardest migration has not been leaving home. It will be learning how to return.
Refugees Are Not One Story
Outside Ukraine we often speak about "Ukrainian refugees" as though they are a single group.
They are not.
The mother who fled Kherson under artillery fire carries a different story from the university student who left western Ukraine to continue his education abroad. A father who remained in Ukraine while sending his wife and children to Europe lives a completely different emotional reality from his family. An internally displaced pastor who continues serving after losing his church building and community faces challenges that few outside ministry recognise.
They all crossed geographical boundaries.
But they did not experience the same migration.
The church often assumes that displaced people share similar needs. The situation in Ukraine reminds us that migration is never merely about movement. It is about loss, identity, vocation, memory, and hope.
The Migration Nobody Talks About
The world naturally focuses on escape.
But eventually another journey begins.
Returning home.
Many imagine that returning simply reverses migration. It does not.
After several visits to Kherson, I realised that I was no longer returning to the city I had left.
The streets were familiar, yet unfamiliar.
Neighbours had disappeared.
Some had been killed.
Others had moved away.
Our church had changed. New people filled the pews. Old friendships had been interrupted by years of different experiences. Even those who remained had become different people.
War changes more than buildings.
It changes memory.
Home is never just a location. It is a network of relationships, routines, shared stories, and ordinary moments that quietly shape our identity. When those disappear, the map remains the same whereas home becomes foreign.
Returning, therefore, is not the end of migration.
It is another migration.
The Church Will Face a Different Kind of Reconciliation
Ukraine is also teaching us something uncomfortable.
Not everyone experienced the war in the same way.
Those who stayed often carry memories of constant danger, occupation, shelling, and survival. Some quietly wonder whether those who left truly understand what was endured.
Those who left carry different wounds—guilt, loneliness, cultural displacement, broken families, and the exhausting work of building life in another country.
Both groups have suffered.
Yet they often struggle to understand each other's suffering.
This may become one of the greatest pastoral challenges after the war.
The church will not simply help people rebuild houses.
It will help them rebuild trust.
After Becoming Displaced, I Began Reading Scripture Differently
Displacement changed the way I read the Bible.
I had always known that Abraham left his homeland, that Joseph was taken to Egypt, that Ruth crossed cultural boundaries, that Daniel lived in exile, and that Nehemiah returned to rebuild Jerusalem.
But after becoming displaced myself, I noticed something I had missed for years.
The Bible is, in many ways, a story of God's people on the move.
Migration is not a footnote in Scripture.
It is one of the primary settings in which God forms His people.
Sometimes He calls them to leave.
Sometimes He sustains them in exile.
Sometimes He sends them back to rebuild what has been destroyed.
The question is rarely whether God's people will migrate.
The question is how they will remain faithful while they do.
Hospitality Is Not Enough
Churches around the world have shown extraordinary hospitality toward Ukrainians.
For that, we are deeply grateful.
But hospitality alone will not be enough for the years ahead.
The next challenge will not simply be welcoming strangers.
It will be helping people become neighbours again.
That requires more than food, housing, or financial assistance.
It requires patience with trauma.
Space for grief.
Grace for those whose experiences are different.
And the willingness to believe that reconciliation is possible even when memories remain painful.
Nehemiah's Journey Is Becoming Ours
Among all the biblical stories of migration, I find myself returning most often to Nehemiah.
He did not go back because Jerusalem looked attractive.
He returned because he believed God was not finished with the city.
Many Ukrainians may soon face the same decision.
They will return to neighbourhoods that no longer feel familiar, churches that have changed, friendships that have been interrupted, and communities carrying different memories of the same war.
Coming home will not erase trauma.
It will begin another journey.
The global church has an opportunity to prepare for that journey before it begins.
If we see displaced people only as recipients of compassion, we will miss what God may be doing through them.
Like Nehemiah, many will become rebuilders.
Perhaps the greatest migration after this war will not be crossing another border.
It will be learning how to become neighbours again.
[1] Protection of Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine (2014) – Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Реєстраційні та оціночні дані ВПО станом на кінець 2014 року. https://khpg.org/en/1433405434
[2] Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Ukraine – UNHCR Ukraine (Official Portal). Офіційні дані щодо підтримки реєстрації та допомоги 1.5–1.6 млн ВПО з Криму та Донбасу з 2014 року. URL: https://www.unhcr.org/ua/en/internally-displaced-persons-idp
[3] Years After Crimea's Annexation: Integration of Ukraine's IDPs (2019) – Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Аналітичний огляд пікових показників переміщення першої хвилі (1.4–1.5 млн осіб). URL: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/journal/feature/years-after-crimeas-annexation-integration-ukraines-internally-displaced-population
[4] Resolution 2028 (2015): The humanitarian situation of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons – Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Резолюція ПАРЄ щодо 921,000 зареєстрованих ВПО та 524,000 зовнішніх шукачів притулку (переважно в РФ, а також Польщі й Білорусі). URL: https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=21480&lang=en
[5] The Displacement Crisis in Ukraine: Key Legal Issues (2022) – Groupe d'Études Géopolitiques. Аналіз перших місяців повномасштабного вторгнення (7.7 млн ВПО, 5.2 млн біженців за перші 2 місяці). URL: https://geopolitique.eu/en/articles/the-displacement-crisis-in-ukraine-key-legal-issues/
[6] Global Report on Internal Displacement 2023 (GRID 2023) – Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Статистичний звіт, що зафіксував рекордні 16.9 млн нових внутрішніх переміщень у межах України за 2022 р. URL: https://www.internal-displacement.org/publications/2023-global-report-on-internal-displacement-grid/
[7] Operational Data Portal: Ukraine Refugee Situation – UNHCR. Офіційна оперативна статистика щодо понад 6.5 млн біженців з України у світі. URL: https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
[8] Ukraine Country Profile & Displacement Tracking Matrix – ACAPS & International Organization for Migration (IOM). Аналітичні звіти та моніторинг стабілізації чисельності активних ВПО в Україні на рівні 3.7 млн осіб на кінець 2024 та у 2025 роках. URL: https://www.acaps.org/en/countries/ukraine
[9] Міграція в Україні: цифри і факти (2024–2025) — Міжнародна організація з міграції (МОМ / IOM Ukraine). Акредитована статистика МОМ щодо 1,4 млн біженців, які повернулися та проживають в Україні щонайменше 3 місяці. URL: https://ukraine.iom.int/uk/resources/mihratsiya-v-ukrayini-tsyfry-i-fakty-2024
[10] Українські біженці: майбутнє за кордоном та плани на повернення — Центр економічної стратегії (ЦЕС) & NISS. Соціологічні опитування щодо намірів повернення (43% дорослих), статево-вікового складу біженців та суперкомп'ютерне моделювання УВКБ ООН. URL: https://ces.org.ua/ukrainian-refugees-fifth-wave/
[11] Lives on hold: Intentions and Perspectives of Refugees from Ukraine #7 — УВКБ ООН (UNHCR
Operational Data Portal). Демографічний моніторинг (83–90% жінок з дітьми) та соціологічні дані щодо розділення родин під час війни (понад 70–80% заміжніх жінок без чоловіків). URL: https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/123284
Valentin Siniy, President of Tavriski Christian Institute, Kyiv