Interesting, inspiring and informative: lifelong learning for leaders
One of UCM’s priorities is to support our pastors and church leaders to access training and development opportunities to equip them for their roles work. There are many seminaries and bible colleges in Ukraine, offering courses covering all aspects of church leadership, and several of our leaders are currently busy with studies.
Sergiy and Vika Kravets from Hope Church in Cherkasy, and Vitaly and Alina Lozovoy who lead Borguslavets Baptist Church, are part-way through a course at the Centre of Christian Life for Ukraine. This involves regular travel to Irpin, north of Kyiv, for seminars and study days with other pastors and leaders.
Classes restarted in September after the summer break and all four were glad to reconnect with their learning community. “The sessions are always interesting, inspiring and informative,” Vika says. “At this session there were many testimonies of what students did in the summer, and these testimonies can be applied and used in our church. We are taught about all kinds of ministries, such as running bible discovery groups and doing street evangelism, and in the sessions we practice how to conduct them.”
To mark the start of the academic year, the class was visited by Antonyuk Valeriy (Head of the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine) and his team, who brought a word of encouragement and a prayer of blessing for the students. There were numerous reports of how God had moved powerfully in the evangelistic meetings students had organised over the summer, resulting in many people hearing the gospel and coming to faith.
Although the course includes a significant amount of reading to complete and assignments to write, it also has a strongly practical element. “The emphasis is on the practice of evangelism, and on the practical application of what we have learned,” explains Vitaly.
Sergiy, Vika, Vitaly and Alina are all enjoying what they are learning, and they have all shared how much they value being able to study. On return from the September session Vitaly wrote, “I thank God - this trip was an encouragement and acquisition of fresh strength from the Spirit for Alina and me. Praise the Lord that it gives us the opportunity to continue studying and to be His servants, in His work of saving souls, for His Kingdom.”
As well as participating as students, it is great to see the pastors also using their skills as teachers. In September Oleg Panasenko, leader of Christmas Church in Cherkasy, taught the Spiritual Formation module of the Family Ministry programme at Kremenchuk Evangelical Seminary. For this course, which is designed to strengthen families to help them face the challenges of modern life, Oleg used a combination of bible teaching and practical exercises to share his message effectively. Students participated in discussions, analysed real-life situations, and shared their own experiences; the class was well-received and gave all those attending plenty to think about and new strategies to implement.
It is a privilege to invest in these opportunities for our leaders, and we look forward to seeing how God will use their personal and spiritual growth to strengthen all the churches we work with.
