Ukraine Appeal - Getting to Know Our Partners - Sanna of City Church, Lithuania
Getting to know our partners: Sanna Karosas of City Church (Lithuania)
Meet Sanna Karosas, a dynamic, lovely, and joyful Christian woman who is Pastor Saulius’ wife. Today (April 29) she received the Lithuanian Award of Merit from the President of Lithuania for her sacrificial work with Downs’ Syndrome children!
City Church has three congregations, each one providing various forms of humanitarian and spiritual compassion to Ukrainian refugees. It has been a significant and time-consuming project, with job training, networking for employment, arranging for health care and education, and organizing a hotel that is managed by the Ukrainians themselves. They are an example of what a healthy partnership looks like. I have included a picture of Saul with Pope Francis from last month. The Pope recognized Saul’s efforts to lead the evangelical church in Europe by hosting him and several other leaders of the evangelical movement in Europe for a three-day visit.
While Saul has been leading a significant war relief effort, Sanna has been focused on the children who have special needs, both among refugees and Lithuanians. Five years ago, God added to their family, Iva— a lovely baby girl with Downs’ Syndrome. Against the strong cultural current, they decided to embrace Iva as God’s gift. Doing so was not easy in that culture and nearly everyone thought they were crazy. There were virtually no resources for them. In Lithuania, there is a strong prejudice against people born with Downs’ Syndrome. As a result, such children are usually aborted before birth or put into the state orphanage system.
Three years later, they adopted Motiejus, a boy with Downs’ Syndrome. Using social media, Sanna has been a force for positive change and through her, God is working among Lithuanians to shift their attitudes. The Award of Merit she received declares to the nation that Sanna’s efforts are helping to transform attitudes about Downs’ Syndrome children.
Sanna is a shining example of a Christian woman who has obeyed God. Rather than complain or get bitter when life threw her a curve, Sanna showed her nation what Christ’s love looks like. This attitude has shaped their response to leading war relief efforts in Lithuania. I asked her why she did this. Her response is compelling. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Praise the Lord for people like Sanna and Saul!
From June 8-17, we will be meeting this lovely couple and their children during The Outreach Foundation’s visit to our war relief partners in the region. Please continue to pray for Saul and Sanna, that God would give them the strength to carry on with their sacrificial leadership. They have been planted in Lithuania for such a time as this and The Outreach Foundation stands with them.
To support the war relief efforts of City Church in Lithuania, please make your gift HERE or send a check to The Outreach Foundation, 381 Riverside Drive, Suite 465, Franklin, TN 37064.