Many British Christians had their comfort zones disturbed recently when Pete Greig, founder of the 24-7 Prayer movement, sounded the alarm: "Prepare for war".
Speaking at the Wildfires Festival in August 2026 he described being impressed in his thoughts one day by those three ominous words.
Our comfortable world gets turned upside down... the future becomes unpredictable and lives... are threatened.
None of us like hearing that sort of warning. We’d rather not think about a scenario where our comfortable world gets turned upside down, where the future becomes unpredictable and where lives, perhaps those of loved ones, even ourselves, are threatened.
We’d rather dismiss such talk as the rantings of disreputable weirdos, not someone with the global standing and wide respect of someone like Pete Greig.
Eight years ago I found myself suppressing such thoughts while standing in Maidan, Independence Square, in the heart of Kyiv. That’s where the popular uprisings of the Orange Revolution (2004-5) and the Revolution of Dignity (2014-5) had set Ukraine on the path of democratic freedom with full independence from Moscow.
A disturbing realization floated into my consciousness.
As I took in the scene around me, of flags and monuments in memory of those fallen in the struggle for freedom, a disturbing realization floated into my consciousness that Putin would not sit by and allow a free, democratic republic to flourish on his southern border.
But I did not want to allow the thought of missiles perhaps one day smashing into the very buildings surrounding me at that moment. And yet that is now what is happening in this very moment.
Ukrainians of course have been living with air-raid sirens, destroyed homes, displaced families, funerals and the daily uncertainty of whether loved ones will return alive for nearly five years now. Actually for over twelve years, since the Crimean invasion. Their churches have become shelters, relief centers, kitchens, hospitals of the soul, and communities of hope.
A battle that will shape Europe’s future.
Far from being engaged in a distant conflict out of sight over the horizon, Ukrainians have long realized that they are on the frontline of a battle that will shape Europe’s future. The shape of the whole international order, in fact. They have been trying to wake us up for some time.
What is normal?
The past eighty years of peace... has been extraordinarily unusual.
We in the West have come to regard the abnormal as normal. The past eighty years of peace, prosperity, security, freedom to travel, expanding opportunities, supermarkets full of food, reliable electricity, holidays abroad, and the expectation that our children will enjoy lives better than our own, has historically has been extraordinarily unusual.
For centuries, European history was a succession of wars, invasions, epidemics, famines, persecution, and political upheavals. The peace we have enjoyed in much of Western Europe was a fragile achievement, sustained by values, institutions, alliances, economic cooperation, reconciliation, and sacrifices often forgotten by later generations.
A historical exception.
What we viewed as a permanent entitlement was a historical exception. We have mistaken comfort for blessing, security for salvation, and prosperity for progress. Some even declared we had reached the end of history with our liberal politics and capitalist lifestyle of twenty-four hour entertainment, streaming services, sporting spectacles, social media, shopping, celebrity gossip and endless distractions.
But we forgot the values on which that peace had been built: of forgiveness and reconciliation, trust and solidarity, dignity and respect, civic responsibility and choosing for the common good.
The Roman poet Juvenal complained that his compatriots had become preoccupied with panem et circenses (bread and circuses) while neglecting their responsibilities as citizens. And we all know what happened to Rome.
How should we prepare?
A moral re-armament.
Pete Greig’s prophetic warning has brought home to British Christian circles what political and military leaders have been saying over the past year, about Russia, China, and even America, as well as internal threats from extreme right parties. It is a healthy wake up call. Prior to World War Two as the nations began rearming themselves, Lutheran evangelist Frank Buchman called for a moral re-armament.
This raises the question, how should we prepare? What would a Christian wartime mentality look like? Again, Ukrainian Christians have much to teach us. They have had to radically reorder their priorities. Not an apocalyptic obsession with predicting the future. Not panic. Not hatred of enemies.
Like Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, when faced with an overwhelming threat, they have prayed: "We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." (2 Chronicles 20:12).
Prayer and practical action belong together.
For them, prayer and practical action belong together. Worship continues in bomb shelters. Churches distribute food and generators, care for the wounded, comfort the bereaved, and support displaced families. Pastors and chaplains accompany soldiers and civilians facing unimaginable pressures.
They wrestle with questions Western Christians can too easily avoid: how do we love our enemies while resisting aggression? How do we forgive without excusing injustice? How do we defend the vulnerable without surrendering to hatred? How do we sustain hope when suffering seems endless?
Everything takes on new meaning in wartime.
Everything takes on new meaning in wartime, like when someone receives a fatal diagnosis. Values and relationships become all important. Trivial disagreements lose their importance. Resources are redirected towards essential needs. Communities discover the necessity of mutual dependence. Sacrifice becomes normal. Courage, resilience, solidarity, and trust become indispensable.
Peter urged the early Christians to be sober-minded and watchful in prayer, to love one another deeply and to practice hospitality without grumbling (1 Peter 4:7–10).
God’s people are to be a community of hope.
Paul described the Christian life in terms of spiritual warfare, not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but fought with the weapons of truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, God’s word, and prayer. God’s people are to be a community of hope, not an army of hatred.
And hope is not optimism that everything will turn out comfortably. It is confidence that God remains faithful even when everything familiar is shaken.
(Appropriately, the evangelical churches of Ukraine were awarded the Hope Award in Albania early in October at the Hope for Europe Conference of the European Evangelical Alliance.)
Some practical changes
Let’s consider some very practical changes we can already begin to apply before the sirens ever start sounding.
Prayer as our first response.
First, recover prayer as our first response, not our last resort. Not as a substitute for action, but prayer that opens our eyes to reality, disciplines our fears, clarifies our loyalties and strengthens our courage.
Simplify our lives.
Second, simplify our lives. Reduce unnecessary consumption, indebtedness and dependence on constant comfort. Recover the disciplines of generosity, fasting, hospitality, and contentment.
Build reserves not simply for personal survival but to share with neighbors in need. A wartime mentality asks not merely, "What can I afford?" but "What can I do without so that others may have enough?"
Strengthen communities.
Third, strengthen communities. Churches should become places where people genuinely know and care for one another, where the elderly, disabled, lonely, and vulnerable are not forgotten. We need relationships that can withstand disruption, disappointment and danger. Such communities cannot be improvised overnight.
Costly discipleship.
Fourth, rediscover costly discipleship. Jesus called us to take up our cross, not to live comfortable lives. Are we teaching our young people, our children, and grandchildren merely how to succeed, or also how to suffer faithfully?
The common good.
Fifth, take responsibility for the common good. Christians cannot retreat into private spirituality while public institutions, democratic freedoms, and international law come under pressure.
We should be peacemakers, truth-tellers, defenders of human dignity, and advocates for justice. Yet we must never confuse the kingdom of God with any nation, political program, or military alliance.
Choose faithfulness.
Sixth, choose faithfulness, not fear. Jesus cautioned his disciples that they would hear of wars and rumors of wars, but warned them not to be alarmed (Matthew 24:6).
We do not know what the coming years will bring. A wider European war is not inevitable. Neither is the continuation of the peace and prosperity we have taken for granted. But uncertainty is no excuse for paralysis. The biblical alternative to complacency is watchfulness; the alternative to fear is faithfulness.
Let’s heed the warning and resolve to be a Church ready to live faithfully when life no longer goes on as normal. Watch… and pray.
Originally published by Weekly Word. Republished with permission.
Jeff Fountain and his wife Romkje are the initiators of the Schuman Centre for European Studies. They moved to Amsterdam in December 2017 after living in the Dutch countryside for over 40 years engaged with the YWAM Heidebeek training centre. Romkje was founder of YWAM The Netherlands and chaired the national board until 2013. Jeff was YWAM Europe director for 20 years, until 2009. Jeff chaired the annual Hope for Europe Round Table until 2015, while Romkje chaired the Women in Leadership network until recently. Jeff is author of Living as People of Hope, Deeply Rooted and other titles, and also writes weekly word, a weekly column on issues relating to Europe.
Weekly Word is an initiative of The Schuman Centre for European Studies. Jeff Fountain is a New Zealander holding a Dutch passport, is currently the director of the Schuman Centre for European Studies (www.schumancentre.eu), and lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Jeff graduated with a history degree from the University of Auckland (1972) and worked as a journalist on the New Zealand Herald (1972-3), and as travelling secretary for Tertiary Student Christian Fellowship (TSCF) (1973). He has lived in the Netherlands since 1975, and has travelled and spoken in almost every European country. For twenty years following the fall of communism, he was the European director for the international and interdenominational mission organisation, Youth With A Mission. He was chairman of the international, trans-denominational movement, Hope for Europe, for which he organised two pan-European congresses in Budapest in 2002 and 2011. In 2010, he established the Schuman Centre for European Studies (www.schumancentre.eu) to promote biblical perspectives on Europe’s past, present and future, to encourage effective engagement in issues facing Europe today.
