Spring academic session of Rivne Bible College “Word of Grace”, which took place from the 13th until the 22nd of May, was a blessed time, when God was speaking to the hearts of listeners in a special way.
During five days, a missionary team from Kiev taught the course “Kairos”. The goal of the course is to help students better understand the meaning of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Mt. 28:19-20), work on their missionary vision, open their hearts for missionary work, and encourage them to work.
During lectures, 11 college students and 6 free listeners got to know the basic principles, strategies, and schematics of missionary ministry. During the practical part, they used role games to try to experience other cultures and even experience culture shock!
At the last evening, they had free communication time, praised God in Russian, Tatar, and Kazakh languages, and shared experiences of missionary work.
Evgenija NIkitina, course instructor: “When you hear about a missionary’s acts of bravery, you get encouraged with bravery and heroism. However, when you become a participant of the events, you realize that you are weak without God.”
Instead of an exam in the end of the course, students were offered time to spend alone with God to pray, to think about their role in missionary work, and to write God a letter. Here are some thoughts, which students shared with us:
Sergej, Zdolbuniv: “Missionary work is not a sprint, but a life-long marathon”.
Natalia, Novograd-Volinskij: “I was encouraged by the fact that a missionary can be inside the church, who works among other nations with prayer and finances”.
Instructors shared their opinions as well:
Igor Plyva, Kiev: “Missionary work is a part of God’s ministry. It is very important not to forget about following Jesus. It is not a “Great Suggestion”, as many think, but a “Great Commission” given by God.”
Igor Golub, Zdolbuniv: “The course is over, but interesting laboratory work is ahead of us, which God will do in everyone’s heart.”
During the weekends, college students participated in outreach through a picture exhibition. They located the exhibition in Rivne city center and communicated for three hours with people who came to look at the Biblical pictures of famous painters. In such an interesting way, we were able to share the Gospel with ordinary people, who were walking in the city park.
During the last three days, students studied the course “The Church structure.” Teacher Yurij Pilipovich, pastor of the church “Grace” in Brest, talked about church: its main functions and models. He paid his main attention to the fundamental principles of Biblical church building. He also talked about the importance of local church in the Church. The course discussed church discipline as well.
Regardless of the short term, this course made a special influence in students hearts:
Galia, Ivano-Frankivsk: “I understood how important church is in the life of a Christian and how valuable it is for Jesus Christ. The Church is His Bride.”
We join these words and are grateful to God for the time spent in college, and for all the work, which God did in our hearts!
Daria Derkach
