Ukranian Delegate Glad to be United Methodist

By Sam Hodges

The Rev. Yulia Starodubets came to the United Methodist General Conference from Ukraine, which is more than two years into a grinding war with Russia.

Because commercial air travel in her country remains impossible, her husband, the Rev. Oleg Starodubets, drove her to Budapest, Hungary. From there she flew to Munich, then on to Charlotte for the church lawmaking assembly that began April 23 and concludes May 3.

Starodubets said she is glad to be a General Conference delegate for the Ukraine-Moldova Provisional Conference, and serves on both the Committee on Reference and the Committee on Faith and Order.

“It’s more peaceful, more friendly,” she said of this General Conference, her third.

United Methodists in Ukraine have inspired many in the church with their mission-minded response to the war, and Starodubets and her husband have a fan in Nordic-Baltic Area Bishop Christian Alsted.

“They are excellent and committed leaders,” Alsted said. “I have the highest admiration for them, how they’re able to do ministry under these circumstances, the stress they’re under.”

Not long before leaving for the U.S., Starodubets had another emotional lift. She, her husband and fellow United Methodists — including Alsted — gathered April 7 in the village Kamyanitsa, near the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, for the dedication of a new United Methodist center for internally displaced persons.

A $1.5 million grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief made possible the purchase of a former hotel that will, once certified, have a mission beyond housing.

“We all see it as a rehabilitation center in the future,” Starodubets said. “We want to receive people with physical and psychological trauma.”

Alsted noted that Starodubets is a pediatrician as well as a clergywoman. Indeed, she’s currently teaching remotely for a medical school in Kyiv..

Sam Hodges is a reporter for United Methodists News Service. Image: The Rev. Yulia Starodubets (center) votes on legislation during the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Starodubets is a delegate for the Ukraine-Moldova Conference. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.