At the European Congress on Evangelism in Berlin, evangelist Franklin Graham shared that he had met earlier that day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pray for peace amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The congress, organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association which Graham leads, assembled around 1,000 evangelical leaders from 56 countries to focus on proclamation evangelism.
Graham took the stage to announce the meeting and led the delegates in a prayer for the cessation of the war on Tuesday evening. “I thought I would just say a word about Europe,” Graham told the delegates. “We see war again on this continent. And I have had the opportunity in the past of meeting [Russian] President Putin and sharing with him what we as Evangelicals believe.”
“When I said that to him, he kind of listened very politely, but maybe it was the first time he understood. He was probably thinking this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know,” he added.
Graham revealed that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) had written to both Zelensky and Putin about the war, encouraging prayer for peace.
“Today, I had the privilege to meet with President Zelensky,” he said. “And I prayed with him that God will give them wisdom and that God will give them a path forward for peace.”
He acknowledged the “very difficult” circumstances caused by the “complications” in Ukraine and Russia, stating, “only God can solve this,” and urged the delegates to pray aloud for the situation. Several minutes were spent with delegates raising their voices in prayer for an end to the war, and Graham concluded the session with his own closing prayer.
“Prayer is the most important thing we can do,” Graham emphasized afterward, “and that is to pray for President Putin, President Zelensky, and the leaders in both countries that God would work in their hearts to find a solution to this war.”
He highlighted the horrific toll of the conflict, noting, “Thousands upon thousands of people have been killed. No one even actually knows the numbers, but we know it’s horrific. And it needs to come to an end. We need to pray for those, but we also need to pray for President Trump, who’s trying to help mediate it. You know, try to get them started at least talking to one another, and that’s so important to talk.”
“And so pray that God would somehow touch the hearts of these men and bring them to a point of reconciliation. And at least where the killing would stop, and they could negotiate instead of trying to blow each other up. And that's what I would encourage the church to do.”
