A Christian outreach camp for teachers and education workers from different regions of Ukraine (Rivne region, Sumy, Poltava, Odessa, Donetsk, Lviv, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, etc.) was held in the village of Polyana, Transcarpathian region from July 28 to August 3, 2023. We studied the Bible course “Freedom from Fear,” which is extremely relevant today for people in Ukraine.
There were 70 participants in total: 46 adults, 16 children, and teenagers, 8 people from the camp team – members of evangelical churches, in particular, the pastor of the church of our Association from Dolyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region. 31 participants of the camp were there for the first time, 39 participants had already been there before.
Every morning and evening there was a corporate spiritual part: glorifying God with singing, preaching God’s Word, prayer, as well as Bible lessons. Also, every day each team prepared and presented a creative task, and there was a special time for sharing the experience of educators about teaching God’s Word to children in schools. After Bible lessons, they did crafts, and after lunch, they went on trips: to the thermal water pools in Berehove and Kosino or excursions (Schönborn Palace, “Kvitka Poloniny” sanatorium, “Palanok” castle in Mukachevo). Pastor Serhiy preached the gospel every evening based on the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. The camp-wide game “The Road Traveled by Love” (Jesus Christ’s Road to Calvary) was held on the last day.
Those who were there for the first time experienced a real cultural shock: tears flowed during the singing of evangelical songs while studying the Bible lessons, it was clear that some were studying the Bible for the first time and they were interested! The vast majority of teachers shared about a significant decrease in the opportunities for studying God’s Word in the schools of Ukraine due to teaching the subject “Fundamentals of Christian Ethics.” So, Natalia, a teacher and psychologist at one of the schools in Transcarpathia, said that she used to have classes of Christian ethics in all grades – from 1 to 11, but now she doesn’t have any. Some teachers now have classes only in 5-6 grades. Everyone agreed that this subject should be the main subject, along with mathematics, history, language, and literature.
The participants of the camp were members of the author’s team, which prepared new textbooks on the basics of Christian ethics for 5-6 grades. They shared their own experiences and how God led them along this path. So, Oksana Pavlova prepared her methodological developments under the conditions of occupation in Mariupol.
Last year, some educators came to the camp with their minor children. This was a forced step since parents could not go to the camp themselves during the war and constant shelling, they just couldn’t leave their children at home. The children also participated in the spiritual part in the morning and the evening, together with their parents they joined the needlework and went on all trips, and during Bible lessons, they were taught by mentor Iryna Sychyk. The Bible lessons they had were selected specifically for their age.
Review from camp participants:
The war that came to our homeland brought a lot of suffering and a lot of grief. But it is also a time when we should seriously consider our lives, our values, and our eternity. This period of difficult trials challenges us to convert, and to believe in the unconditional love that the Heavenly Father has shown in His beloved Son Jesus Christ!
All the days we were in the camp, we and all our colleagues-teachers, under the wise leadership of Arkady Valeriyovych, Mrs. Ruslana, and pastor Serhiy Kyrylenko, reflected on how we are blessed by the Lord. Thank you for the opportunity to pray together every day! Thank you to the very talented Levchuk couple who taught us to pray while singing to the incredibly penetrating musical accompaniment of the guitar and bandura, which touched my heart. I am deeply grateful for the invaluable experience generously shared by my colleagues about the valuable potential of subjects of moral orientation, about the importance of teaching courses in educational institutions of Ukraine for the future “generation of the relentless.” I am glad that I had the opportunity to share my work experience and present the author’s development of the topic “Christian Foundations of Forgiveness.” Special thanks for the well-organized work with the children, as I was with my daughter. We not only studied and shared experiences but also had a wonderful rest, improvement of health, and excursions. Unforgettable impressions and memories will be with me for another whole year! Thank you very much!
Natalia S., Transcarpathia
I am very grateful to the organizers for such a meaningful and rich program. I met people with different views and personalities, but in such a short period we became one family. I’m going back home with a heart full of joy and knowledge of the Bible. Every word of the pastor was etched in my memory. And the text of the songs convinced me once again that God is in everyone’s heart. I wish everything lasted longer… But, unfortunately, everything has its beginning and its end… I hope that God helps me to be in such a camp again. He brought me closer to the Lord and charged me with a new zeal for life – not to lose heart, believe, and live with hope!
Thank you again! Everything was great!
Tetyana D., Rivne region
