We made our first journey into the former Soviet Union in the early 1990’s. Our primary focus quickly became church planting. We saw thousands of people respond in evangelistic crusades, yet often we would be left feeling empty, as there were few churches for the people to attend, enabling them to grow in their new faith.
Our mission became clear: Plant churches and put tools in their hands that will help them grow into a healthy, self sustaining, growing Body of Believers. It is not difficult to start a church. The greater chanllenge is to see it develop to a place where it reaches its own people and others. This is evangelism brought to fruition. Therefore, our church planting efforts focus on:
Training Pastors and Leaders
We have three venues to help equip pastors and church leaders:
• The Bible School program
• We helped establish the Missionary Training Center in Kiev with Pastor Valeriy Reshetinsky. The center focuses on equipping emerging church leaders with tools to plant new churches.
• We sponsor periodic conferences to minister to the pastors and their wives. The conferences are generally hosted at a retreat center where the pastors and wives can relax and be treated a little bit extra special. In addition to teaching, we bless them with material and financial gifts. They deserve to be honored, as many of them minister in very difficult circumstances.
• The Bible School program
• We helped establish the Missionary Training Center in Kiev with Pastor Valeriy Reshetinsky. The center focuses on equipping emerging church leaders with tools to plant new churches.
• We sponsor periodic conferences to minister to the pastors and their wives. The conferences are generally hosted at a retreat center where the pastors and wives can relax and be treated a little bit extra special. In addition to teaching, we bless them with material and financial gifts. They deserve to be honored, as many of them minister in very difficult circumstances.
Giving Financial Assistance
Prior to the beginning of a new church a demographic and spiritual study of the community is conducted. The new pastor regularly reports to the church leadership. We commit to give financial support for the new church for one year. After one year we believe for them to be self supporting by teaching and practicing the principles of tithing, giving and alms (giving to the poor). The principles of God’s Word work in any country no matter its condition.
Helping the Poor
One of the most effective tools in helping a church is through touching their own community with humanitarian relief. You can read more on the humanitarian page.