The Church as the Heart of the Community: How Priests Learned to Create Their Own Support Projects for Parishioners

On June 4-5, priests, priests’ wives, and active parishioners gathered in Lviv for the training “Assessing Community Needs for Social, Psychological, and Development Services” to learn not only how to identify community needs, but also how to design and launch projects that address them.

“This training helps participants understand how to make the church the heart of the community. Today, the church is increasingly becoming a place where people seek social and psychological support, humanitarian assistance, and a sense of belonging. Various social initiatives can grow from within the church. We explored how to identify and attract resources in order to provide more comprehensive support to communities,” explained Ella Sokolyuk, a clinical psychologist and national mental health trainer.

Over two days, participants analyzed the real needs of their parishioners, including older adults, veterans, internally displaced persons, children, and young people who are drifting away from church life. They learned how to assess existing community resources, identify gaps, and develop practical solutions. The training concluded with presentations of projects designed by the participants themselves.

Among the proposed initiatives were “Spiritual Support for Older Adults,” the spiritual and patriotic youth camp “Vita Nova,” a program aimed at engaging young people in church life, a mobile volunteer service, a children’s spiritual development center, youth camps, and several other community-based initiatives that participants plan to implement in their parishes.

Each project reflects the specific challenges and needs of a particular community. Together, they demonstrate that the church in Ukraine today is not only a place of prayer, but also a space where people can find practical support, care, and hope.

The project “Clergy and Communities in Support of Mental Health: Innovative Support Practices During the War in Ukraine” is implemented by Eleos-Ukraine in partnership with DanChurchAid and Norwegian Church Aid in Ukraine, with financial support from the Government of Norway (NORAD), in cooperation with the Kyiv and Lviv Orthodox Theological Academies.