How Beautiful … (August 2019 Update)
“And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’ (Romans 10:15). In Romans 9-11, Paul speaks about the sovereign work of God in election, calling and salvation. In fact, Romans 9 and Romans 11 are considered to be the strongest chapters on election and predestination in the Bible. However, sandwiched in between Romans 9 and 11 is Romans 10 – one of the strongest chapters on personal responsibility!
In Romans 10:9-13, Paul speaks about the necessity for every individual to choose Christ. He makes it clear that conversion takes place when “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” In other words, we must tell people to choose Christ. In Romans 10:13, he reminds us that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
But the responsibility is not just for individuals to choose Christ. He reminds us that they cannot choose Him if we do not share the gospel with them: “how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” He then shares a great passage from Isaiah 52:7: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
So, no matter what you think about election – we can never eliminate personal responsibility. It is our responsibility to share (“How shall they hear…?”). It is our responsibility to call people to believe in Jesus (“with the heart one believe unto righteousness”). It is their responsibility to call on the Lord (“for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”).
I love being able to teach and train others for ministry. But I also love the opportunity to share the gospel through English Clubs at the university and through English camps like the one we were able to be part of this past month. What a great joy to see the beautiful feet of those who preach the gospel and spread glad tidings of great joy!
Outreach Ministry in the Mountains …
At the end of July, we loaded up our car and traveled to Western Ukraine to help teach at an English Camp outreach in Svalyava near the border of Romania and Slovenia. Normally this church has a number of helpers coming from the UK to help with their camp. This year, they only had two English-speaking helpers so I taught English lessons and Bible lessons every morning. Katya helped with recreation activities for the afternoon and she was able to share her testimony at a special girl’s evening too.
The camp itself was rather small and spartan, even by Ukrainian standards but we found it to be an excellent place for ministry. They recently build a new building with a kitchen and meeting/dining hall and a second floor for girls housing. This was a great improvement over the old wooden buildings that the boys still slept in. I was surprised to learn that the camp director, Yura, was a former student at KTS. He works as a social worker to support his family but he gives his spare time to building and running this camp during the summer. The camp was originally his mother’s home before they transformed it into a camp!
But the camp atmosphere was the best! And this church is doing a great ministry. We had over 40 teen-age campers and only 3 were from their church and most were non-believers!
I had prepared to teach an upper intermediate class but, as often happens in ministry, they needed me to change to a beginner class at the last minute. So I had to throw away my lessons and adapt each day to teaching a group of beginners who could not understand or speak much English. Fortunately, I was able to understand most of their Ukrainian and we worked every day on practicing English and learning Bible lessons. By Friday, they were all speaking decently and without much fear! The change was remarkable. On Friday, my language helper (Victor) had to go to a dentist appointment so Katya substituted for him. She was impressed with their English improvements. It really was a great week and most became open to the gospel during the week. One girl made a very clear commitment to Christ during the week!
In the afternoons, we had various camp recreation activities. The creativity of the games and activities was great. They had sporting activities, water fights, ballon games, craft activities and even woodworking and auto mechanics for the boys! Katya and I were also asked to teach some dances each afternoon (Sorry – no pictures. We were too busy teaching to take pictures.) We focused on some line-dances for simplicity. Every day, the guys and girls were ready to dance and didn’t want to stop when the time was up!
We had a worship time every evening and the girls are still singing the songs, especially “They Will Know We Are Christians by our Love,” “Peace Like a River,” and “Oh, Happy Day” – in English and Ukrainian! Each evening Allan preached on the same topic that we studied in class and did a great job making the message clear and personal. The evening worship times were a special highlight for us!
On the final night, we had a bonfire and a time to celebrate and share. We had to leave early (about 11 pm?) to put kids to bed so we missed much of the sharing about how God was working in lives. But Vova shared some of the highlights with us at the leaders’ meeting the next day.
One great plus during the week was the leadership team. Allan and Jill from England were great to work with as was the whole team from Svalyava. The team was extremely well-prepared and adapted to every situation that came up without complaint. They were a great testimony by the love they demonstrated, not only to the youth but also to each other. We were especially grateful to be able to work with our friends, Vova and Nadia Molnar, who were the camp directors.
One extra special treat was the time our girls got to spend at the camp. It was a camp for teen agers but a Vova and Nadia’s daughter was there too and so was the camp director’s daughter. So these four little girls had the time of their lives playing together during the camp. They also had a great time with the teens too who treated them like their little sisters.
We also had some time to take a day-trip further into the mountains and one evening to spend with our new friends from the leadership team in Svalyava.
On our way back to Kyiv, we stopped in Lviv to spend a day together as a family. The girls got to ride in a carriage and climb on various statues and monuments. They also climbed to the top of the clock tower (over 400 steps! – I was exhausted!!!).
But probably their favorite part was visiting the chocolate factory. There they participated in a chocolate making class where they got to make and decorate their own chocolate!
Teaching Preparation and Classes …
I’m still working on Powerpoints and handouts for the evangelism class at the end of September and getting ready for teaching Prayer and Worship at KTS the first week of September. September and October will be especially busy for me this year. I will be teaching 3 classes in 5 weeks! I usually teach 1 class per month. In September, I will be teaching Prayer and Worship (KTS) the first week and then Evangelism (KTS) the final week. In the first week of October, I will travel to L’viv to teach the Prayer and Worship class at Ukrainian Baptist Seminary there.
Praying for Ukraine …
Please continue to pray for Ukraine. Russia is continuing to send more troops and supplies and there seems to be an increase in the fighting last month with many more Ukrainian soldiers being killed.
Thank you for your prayers for us as we ministered in Svalyava last month. It was a real blessing for us to see God working in so many lives. Also, thank you for praying for me as I prepare to teach next month! Thanks again for your prayers and your support so that the gospel is spread and people have the opportunity to trust Jesus!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya
Kristina and Nadia
Teaching Resources International 