Diaconal Workers’ Advocacy and Support for Ukrainian Refugees in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

The war in Ukraine has led to an increased number of refugees throughout Europe.We refer to Ukrainians in this study as "refugees" because of their legal status, which affords them the right to work and temporary protection, a unanimous decision in the whole EU.This meant that Ukrainians did not have to go through any asylum processes.In Finland, more than 50,000 Ukrainians have applied for temporary protection.This article is based on qualitative data collected via a survey among diaconal and other employees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) in 2022-2023.At the time, the displaced Ukrainians had only recently arrived and were settling in Finland.The article answers the following question: How did diaconal workers use advocacy as well as practical, spiritual, and emotional support to help Ukrainian refugees during their initial settlement in Finland?The findings suggest that advocacy included lobbying and networking to ease the orientation process for recently arrived Ukrainians in Finland.The service role of diaconia included various examples of practical support, such as providing meals and organizing summer activities.The spiritual and emotional support was rather sparse, partly because of a lack of a common language and partly because the recent refugees needed more advocacy and practical support just after coming to Finland.