Ministry of School without walls in Kharkiv, April 2011
Christian Life Church, students of School without walls, Christian drama group “Faceless people” http://facelesspeople.info/Bethesda_video.html, committed their prayers, time and resources to participate in the Easter worship celebration “House of Mercy!” at the remote village of Kharkiv region.
Mospanovo village, located as it may seem not so far from the city, only 70 km in reality represents hardly reached community. The lack of public transportation (bus comes in only 2 or three times a day max) cuts people from many things that common people have today without thinking of them. There is no hospital or any medical care in the village, no drugstore, regular utilities and clothes shops. The absence of the major necessities is often compensated by use of available alcohol, drugs and tobacco. At the same time more than 1,000 people live in the village, go to school and work for a very low payment of 50 dollars a month, often not paid timely, whereas in the city the general needed living wage must be at least 400 for a family to get by.
However there is elementary and high school in the village and recently opened kindergarten. There is also the small community church planted by Christian life church several years ago which is keeping on sharing good news of Jesus Christ. Thus, there is hope. There is hope for the future life of the village residents.
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| Palace of Culture |
The worship celebration “The house of Mercy!” has brought joy, hope and encouragement to people of Mospanovo. The celebration was organized in the local “Palace of culture”. Those of you who have been traveling overseas know what heritage was left form the past times in a sense of such places. But this is different story. Today these places are widely used for different events including Christian gatherings. More than 120 people came to celebration, heard the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ and the story of the resurrected Lord.Students of School Without walls prepared games for children and teens. Milana, author of Christian songs signed many gospels with her own words of encouragement and shared her life story. “Faceless people” showed bright, serious and healing drama “The house of Mercy!”
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| Games prepared for teens |
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| Drinks and pastry |
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| Fellowship with actors |
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| Sharing liturature |
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| Pictures with actors |
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| Pictures with actors |
At the end our team was able to share the drinks and pastry with everyone and had the opportunity to share the testimony, fellowship or give New Testament or Christian literature as a present. Participants of the celebration took New Testaments provided by Association for Spiritual revival back home to their families (about a 60 NT) as well as life changing stories and impressions of the event.
At this point we are praying for regular monthly meetings with people at Palace of culture and take some children and teens to camp this summer which is to be organized by Christian Life Church at the end of July.
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| Milana sharing her story |
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| Faceless people performance |
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| Faceless people performance |
Ministry of School without walls in Kharkiv, March 2011
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| Alex Kulemichev at Christian Life Church |
We had two seminars in the two groups in March. In Christian Life Church the seminar was held on contemporary mission of the church. The class was given by Alex Kulemichev, director of student ministry in Kharkov. Students discussed example of the first pioneer missionaries: Hudson Taylor, William Carey and David Livingstone. The students discussed problems the church faces in doing mission and the role of missionaries in spreading the Word of God. The was also an opportunity to view and discuss films about the mission in Ecuador, "On an Edge of the spear" and "E-Tau, contemporary mission to Africa. The seminar was well received.
In the "Kingdom of God" church was held seminar on transforming leadership. Seminar was conducted by Vladimir Nikolayev, the pastor-teacher of the Institute of Church Ministry in Odessa. The seminar addressed the following aspects of leadership: Biblical basis, the definition of spiritual guidance, the formation and character of a leader, etc. The seminar happened to be an answer to the increasing need of the church in training leaders. I would like to share the story of Vladimir Semashkin, SWW second year student.
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| Vladimir Semashkin |
Vladimir Semashkin's testimony
"Before I came to church, my life was running on the already established cycle. Release from prison - two months of freedom. Five years in prison and then again two months of freedom. It was repeated 3 times. I already spoke to friends at prison to await me back, and I was soon back again. All this was because of drugs. But the last time when they let me out completely changed my life. I found the "Kingdom of God" church and started rehabilitation program. After the 12 steps program I went with Christians on vacation and there I realized that there is a way out. Jesus said: "Know the truth and it will set you free." I was not free, though I always thought that I was strong. But the word of God reached my heart in such a way that I wept 2 weeks. Every night I was on my knees praying. The Epistle to the Romans brought me to the point when I repented and was baptized, enrolled in Bible school. I am very glad that there is School without walls program and different teachers. Just different teachers helped me understand my questions, and each time in the classroom, I found exactly the answer to the question that I needed. Now I'm going to be a counselor at rehabilitation center. I want to start a ministry. With love to all supporters of School without walls, Vladimir Semashkin
